Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

WAR CRIMES ACT 1945 - SECT 6

(1)

An act is a serious crime if it was done in a part of Australia and was, under the law then in force in that part, an offence, being:

(a)

murder;

(b)

manslaughter;

(c)

causing grievous bodily harm;

(d)

wounding;

(e)

rape;

(f)

indecent assault;

(g)

abduction, or procuring, for immoral purposes;

(h)

an offence (in this paragraph called the variant offence ) that would be referred to in a preceding paragraph if that paragraph contained a reference to:

(i)

a particular intention or state of mind on the offender's part; or

(ii)

particular circumstances of aggravation;

necessary to constitute the variant offence;

(j)

an offence whose elements are substantially the same as the elements of an offence referred to in any of paragraphs (a) to (h), inclusive; or

(k)

an offence of:

(i)

attempting or conspiring to commit;

(ii)

aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the commission of; or

(iii)

being, by act or omission, in any way, directly or indirectly, knowingly concerned in, or party to, the commission of;

an offence referred to in any of paragraphs (a) to (j), inclusive.

(2)

In determining for the purposes of subsection (1) whether or not an act was, under the law in force at a particular time in a part of Australia, an offence of a particular kind, regard shall be had to any defence under that law that could have been established in a proceeding for the offence.

(3)

An act is a serious crime if:

(a)

it was done at a particular time outside Australia; and

(b)

the law in force at that time in some part of Australia was such that the act would, had it been done at that time in that part, be a serious crime by virtue of subsection (1).

(4)

The deportation of a person to, or the internment of a person in, a death camp, a slave labour camp, or a place where persons are subjected to treatment similar to that undergone in a death camp or slave labour camp, is a serious crime.

(5)

Each of the following is a serious crime:

(a)

attempting or conspiring to deport or intern a person as mentioned in subsection (4);

(b)

aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the deportation or internment of a person as so mentioned;

(c)

being, by act or omission, in any way, directly or indirectly, knowingly concerned in, or party to, the deportation or internment of a person as so mentioned.

(6)

For the purposes of subsections (3), (4) and (5), the fact that the doing of an act was required or permitted by the law in force when and where the act was done shall be disregarded.