Abstract
Immunities of State officials from foreign criminal jurisdiction are governed by customary international law whose exact scope is often debatable both in theory and practice, particularly in connection with the reinvigorated international effort to end impunity for the most serious crimes under international law (genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, including torture, abduction and enforced disappearances, etc.)- The development of international criminal law and justice, from the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg until the permanent International Criminal Court, indicates exceptions, i.e. excluding the official status of perpetrators of crimes under international law as the reason for their exemption from the jurisdiction of these international courts.