July 25, 1945
6. The following acts shall be deemed criminal violations of International Law, and the Tribunal shall have power and jurisdiction to convict any person who committed any of them on the part of the European Axis powers.
(a) Violation of the laws, rules or customs of war. These include but are not limited to murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war; atrocities against and violence towards civilian populations of conquered or occupied countries; deportation of civilians for slave labor; plunder or spoliation.
(b) Persecutions, exterminations, or deportations on political, racial or religious grounds, whether or not in violation of domestic law of the country where perpetrated, when in pursuance of a common plan, enterprise or policy to prepare for or wage a war of aggression.
(c) Invasion, attack or initiation of war against another state in breach of treaties, agreements or assurances, or otherwise in violation of International Law.
(d) Launching a war of aggression.
(e) Entering into a common plan or enterprise aimed at subjugation of other nations, which plan or enterprise did involve or was reasonably likely to involve in its execution any of the foregoing acts or a combination of such acts with lawful ones.
No political, military, economic or other consideration may serve as an excuse or justification for any such action. Exercise of the right of legitimate self-defense, that is to say, resistance to armed invasion or attack, or action to assist a State which has been subjected to armed invasion or attack, shall not constitute a war of aggression.
| Source: International Conference on Military Trials : London, 1945 Report of Robert H. Jackson, United States Representative to the International Conference on Military Trials : London, 1945 International organization and conference series; II European and British Commonwealth 1 Department of State Publication 3080 Washington, DC : Government Printing Office, 1949 |