M.1. A crime was committed by a person or persons other than the perpetrator.

M.1.1. A principal crime was committed or attempted.

M.1.2. A principal crime was committed by a person or persons other than the perpetrator.

M.1. A crime was committed by a person or persons other than the perpetrator.

Perpetration by means is indirect perpetration in that the person who actually commits the crime is used as an instrument or tool of someone in the background. (Elies Van Sliedregt, The Criminal Responsibility of Individuals for Violations of International Humanitarian Law (2003), p. 68; Kai Ambos in Triffterer (ed.), Commentary on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, article 25, para. 9) Black’s Law Dictionary defines the direct perpetrator as the party whose actions satisfy the relevant offence’s definitional requirements, and an indirect perpetrator as the one who, rather than using his or her own hands, uses those of an (innocent) agent to commit a crime. (K.J.M. Smith, A Modern Treatise on the Law of Criminal Complicity, p. 27; Elies Van Sliedregt, The Criminal Responsibility of Individuals for Violations of International Humanitarian Law (2003), p. 69). The perpetration by means doctrine operates to impose liability on the background perpetrator.

To incur liability through perpetration by means, the indirect perpetrator must fulfil all statutory elements of the crime through another. (A. Eser in A. Cassese, P. Gaeta and J.R.W.D. Jones (eds.), The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court vol. 1, p. 794).

"[W]ith regard to system criminality like genocide, where the major criminals are behind the scene rather than at the scene of the crime, complicity liability may not be wholly satisfactory to ‘describe’ system responsibility. The differentiated participation model adopted in Article 25(3) of the ICC Statute is a move away from these problems." (Elies Van Sliedregt, The Criminal Responsibility of Individuals for Violations of International Humanitarian Law (2003), p. 82).

Where co-perpetration has already been shown, perpetration by means need not be proven to impose liability.

M.1.1. A principal crime was committed or attempted.

M.1.2. A principal crime was committed by a person or persons other than the perpetrator.