Geneva Conventions Act 1957

1 Grave breaches of scheduled conventions.

(1) Any person, whatever his nationality, who, whether in or outside the United Kingdom, commits, or aids, abets or procures the commission by any other person of, any such grave breach of any of the scheduled conventions as is referred to in the following articles respectively of those conventions, that is to say—

(a) article 50 of the convention set out in the First Schedule to this Act;

(b) article 51 of the convention set out in the Second Schedule to this Act;

(c) article 130 of the convention set out in the Third Schedule to this Act; or

(d) article 147 of the convention set out in the Fourth Schedule to this Act,

shall be guilty of felony and on conviction thereof—

(i) in the case of such a grave breach as aforesaid involving the wilful killing of a person protected by the convention in question, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life;

(ii) in the case of any other such grave breach as aforesaid, shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.

(2) In the case of an offence under this section committed outside the United Kingdom, a person may be proceeded against, indicted, tried and punished therefor in any place in the United Kingdom as if the offence had been committed in that place, and the offence shall, for all purposes incidental to or consequential on the trial or punishment thereof, be deemed to have been committed in that place.

(3) Neither a court of quarter sessions nor, in Scotland, the sheriff shall have jurisdiction to try an offence under this section, and proceedings for such an offence shall not be instituted in England except by or on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions or in Northern Ireland without the consent of the Attorney General for Northern Ireland.

(4) If in proceedings under this section in respect of a grave breach of any of the scheduled conventions any question arises under article 2 of that convention (which relates to the circumstances in which the convention applies), that question shall be determined by the Secretary of State and a certificate purporting to set out any such determination and to be signed by or on behalf of the Secretary of State shall be received in evidence and be deemed to be so signed without further proof, unless the contrary is shown.

(5) The enactments relating to the trial by court-martial of persons who commit civil offences shall have effect for the purposes of the jurisdiction of courts-martial convened in the United Kingdom as if this section had not been passed.