Citation

Berkowitz R. Law Cult. Humanit. 2011; 7(3): 346-351.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Association for the Study of Law, Culture and the Humanities, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1743872111418172

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Assassination has always been part of war and in recent years it has played increasingly important roles in United States military policy. The assassination of Osama bin Laden offers itself as an example of an assassination that nevertheless claims to be just. Comparing the bin Laden assassination with the assassination of Simon Petlura by Sholom Schwartzbard in 1927 and the kidnapping and trial of Adolf Eichmann in 1961, this article argues that assassinations, which under certain conditions are justified under international law, can also be just, but only when they are accompanied by the risk of a jury trial.