22 octobre 1991

Doc. 6526

R E P L Y

from the Committee of Ministers

to Written Question No. 314

by Mr BRUTON

on the amendment of Article 1

of the European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism

I.       Question (23 April 1990, Doc. 6208)

      Mr BRUTON,

      To ask the Committee of Ministers,

If they will propose amendments to Article 1 of the European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism to include murder, the use of a non-automatic firearm, the illegal possession of a bomb, grenade, rocket, automatic firearm and/or letter or parcel bomb amongst the offences which would not be regarded as political offences, or offences inspired by political motives, within the meaning of the convention.

II.       Reply by the Committee of Ministers (11 October 1991)

1.       The Committee of Ministers is sympathetic to the purpose of the proposal by Mr Bruton, i.e. to make Article 1 of the European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism applicable to murder, to the use of non-automatic firearms and the possession of bombs and other instruments. However, for the following reasons it cannot support these proposals.

2.       The European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism is a "closed" Convention; only Council of Europe member states are entitled to ratify it (Article 11 of the Convention). If in respect of a murder extradition is requested by a member state, it is in most states likely that such a request would not be denied by a like-minded member state which has the same conception of the "political offence exception". Should extradition in an exceptional case be refused, the requested state might wish to take jurisdiction and institute its own criminal proceedings for murder according to the principle "Aut dedere, aut iudicare".

3.       With regard to the possession of bombs and other instruments, it should be borne in mind that Article 1, sub-paragraph (f) assimilates as an extraditable offence, for the purposes of the Convention, "participation as an accomplice of a person who commits or attempts to commit" any of the enumerated offences. The term "accomplice" covers in the French text both "co-auteur" and "complice". A person who possesses a bomb or any other instrument would therefore, already under the present Convention, be covered under its rules regarding participation. To the extent that such a person is not covered, it would seem to be an offence which would not be of such a serious nature as to warrant inclusion in the Terrorist Convention.

4.       In view of these and other difficulties, the Committee of Ministers is of the opinion that the prospects of successfully drafting, agreeing and implementing an additional protocol, possibly for the sole purpose of introducing a reference to non-automatic firearms, are not sufficiently good to justify a new activity. The main value of the Convention lies in principle not in the enumeration of the kind of offences in Article 1 but rather in the political message which is conveyed by the Convention.