Criminal Code Act 1995

Schedule - The Criminal Code  

Section 3

CHAPTER 8 - OFFENCES AGAINST HUMANITY AND RELATED OFFENCES  

Division 268 - Genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes against the administration of the justice of the International Criminal Court  

Subdivision D - War crimes that are grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and of Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions  

SECTION 268.29   War crime - destruction and appropriation of property  

(1)    
A person (the perpetrator ) commits an offence if:

(a) the perpetrator destroys or appropriates property; and

(b) the destruction or appropriation is not justified by military necessity; and

(c) the destruction or appropriation is extensive and carried out unlawfully and wantonly; and

(d) the property is protected under one or more of the Geneva Conventions or under Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions; and

(e) the perpetrator knows of, or is reckless as to, the factual circumstances that establish that the property is so protected; and

(f) the perpetrator ' s conduct takes place in the context of, and is associated with, an international armed conflict.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 15 years.

(2)    
Strict liability applies to paragraph (1)(d) .