Double subsumption, crimes against humanity and principle of legality. Special reference to the Colombian case.

Abstract

The commentary shows how the Supreme Court of Justice, Criminal Cassation Chamber, in convicting former congressman Dr. César Pérez García, made a double subsumption of the conducts he was accused of, either as internal crimes or as crimes against humanity, without complying with the requirements of Article 7 of the Rome Statute. Furthermore, it is said that such a way of dealing with these phenomena implies a violation of the principle of legality, especially if one resorts to international norms that did not exist at the time the acts were committed, when the normative compendiums of the time handled structures different from the contemporary concept, which even required that the acts were committed in the midst of the armed conflict. Finally, it is noteworthy that when conceptualizing the category of unlawfulness, elements of natural law are used as a basis, since it is claimed that the philosophy of human rights can be the foundation of a purely legal judgment, such as the protection of legally protected legal interests.