Zur Zulässigkeit der Tötung von Kombattanten im bewaffneten Konflikt
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Zur Zulässigkeit der Tötung von Kombattanten im bewaffneten Konflikt
Im Gedenken an Albin Eser
Zeitschrift für Lebensrecht, Vol. 34(2025), Iss. 3 : pp. 179–192 | First published online: October 17, 2025
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Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Kai Ambos, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Lehrstuhl für Straf- und Strafprozessrecht, Rechtsvergleichung, internationales Strafrecht und Völkerrecht Platz der Göttinger Sieben 5 37073 Göttingen, Deutschland
Abstract
One of the main concerns of Albin Eser, the great German scholar of comparative and international criminal law who died in January 2023, was to establish a human-orientated criminal law and a more humane law in general. In particular, he was concerned with the question of the killing of combatants in war or armed conflict. Eser explored this question – and related issues of so-called collateral damage, the use of drones and the state responsibility of Germany – in four articles between 2010 and 2020; he completed a further, yet unpublished article shortly before his death. In this article, I will concentrate exclusively on the question of the legality of killing combatants in armed conflict, which is hardly ever dealt with in the German debate. I will first present Eser’s questioning of the dominant position, which takes the admissibility of such killings for granted (I.), in order to then critically assess his position (II.). Ultimately, I am not able to follow Eser, but I hope to have done justice to his humanitarian concern by drawing attention to the question posed by him.
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zur Zulässigkeit der Tötung von Kombattanten im bewaffneten Konflikt | 179 | ||
| Im Gedenken an Albin Eser | 179 | ||
| I. Esers Infragestellung der Zulässigkeit der Tötung von Kombattanten im bewaffneten Konflikt | 180 | ||
| II. Würdigung | 183 |