Section 3
of Geneva Conventions Act 1962
Section 3
Any person, whatever his citizenship or nationality, who, whether in or outside Malaysia, 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:
(a)
article 50 of the convention set out in the First Schedule;
(b)
article 51 of the convention set out in the Second Schedule;
(c)
article 130 of the convention set out in the Third Schedule;
or
(d)
article 147 of the convention set out in the Fourth Schedule, shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction,
(i)
in the case of such a grave breach as aforesaid involving the wilful killing of a person protected by the convention in question, be sentenced to imprisonment for life;
(ii)
in the case of any other such grave breach as aforesaid, be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.
(2)
In the case of an offence under this section committed outside
Malaysia, a person may be proceeded against, charged, tried and punished therefor in any place in Malaysia 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)
No Magistrates’ Court shall have jurisdiction to try any offence under this section.
(4)
Proceedings for an offence under this section shall not be instituted except by or on behalf of the Public Prosecutor.
9
Geneva Conventions
(5)
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 Minister and a certificate purporting to set out any such determination and to be signed by or on behalf of the Minister shall be received in evidence and be deemed to be signed without further proof, unless the contrary is shown.
(6)
The written law relating to the trial by court martial of persons who commit civil offences shall have effect for the purposes of the jurisdiction of court martial convened in Malaysia as if this section had not been passed.