Farewell 'specific direction' : aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity in Perišić, Taylor, Šainović et al., and US Alien Tort Statute jurisprudence

It is not an overstatement to posit that international criminal law (ICL) has never seen anything quite like what has been dubbed the 'specific direction saga'. The drama began when the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Perišić1 case acquitted the accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes on the basis that the actus reus of aiding and abetting required not only that he substantially contributed to the commission of crimes (by providing practical assistance, encouragement, or moral support), but also, since he was remote from the crimes, that such acts needed to be specifically directed towards the commission of crimes.2 This was the first time that such an element had been applied to this effect in the history of the ICTY and ICL. The rest, as they say, is history, as discussed in detail this chapter.