Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

WAR CRIMES ACT 1945 - SECT 7

  (1)   A serious crime is a war crime if it was committed:

  (a)   in the course of hostilities in a war;

  (b)   in the course of an occupation;

  (c)   in pursuing a policy associated with the conduct of a war or with an occupation; or

  (d)   on behalf of, or in the interests of, a power conducting a war or engaged in an occupation.

  (2)   For the purposes of subsection   ( 1), a serious crime was not committed:

  (a)   in the course of hostilities in a war; or

  (b)   in the course of an occupation;

    merely because the serious crime had with the hostilities or occupation a connection (whether in time, in time and place, or otherwise) that was only incidental or remote.

  (3)   A serious crime is a war crime if it was:

  (a)   committed:

  (i)   in the course of political, racial or religious persecution; or

  (ii)   with intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such; and

  (b)   committed in the territory of a country when the country was involved in a war or when territory of the country was subject to an occupation.

  (4)   Two or more serious crimes together constitute a war crime if:

  (a)   they are of the same or a similar character;

  (b)   they form, or are part of, a single transaction or event; and

  (c)   each of them is also a war crime by virtue of either or both of subsections   ( 1) and (3).