61 behalf of German special forces (SD or Einsatzkommandos). The court found 172 that Menten in fact behaved as a member of the German forces and consequently was criminally liable for these crimes. 173 144. Other cases also prove that private individuals acting within the framework of, or in connection with, armed forces, or in collusion with State authorities may be regarded as de facto State organs. 174 In these cases it follows that the acts of such individuals are attributed to the State, as far as State responsibility is concerned, and may also generate individual criminal responsibility. 175 171 Public Prosecutor v. Menten, 75 International Law Reports 1987, pp. 331 ff. The court stated the following: “Since Menten, on the orders of the Befehlshaber of the Sicherheitspolizei in Poland, was dressed in the uniform of an under-officer of this branch of the [German] police when he was dem Einsatzkommando als Dolmetscher zugeteilt [assigned to the Special forces as interpreter], the [District] Court [of Amsterdam in its judgement of 14 December 1977] was justified in assuming that his position in the Einsatzkommando and his performance in within it of a more or less official character. Thus the relationship to the enemy in which Menten rendered incidental services was of such a nature that he could be regarded as a functionary of the enemy.” (ibid., p. 347. The English translation has been slightly corrected by the Appeals Chamber to bring it into line with the Dutch original, which can be found in Nederlandse Jurisprudentie, 1978, no. 358, p. 1236). The court concluded that: “from the above-mentioned evidence, taken together with the other evidence that in July 1941 Menten, dressed in a German uniform and in company with a number of other persons also so dressed, came to Podhorodce [...] and was present at the killings, [it can be inferred] that he was there with members of the German Staff and that he rendered services to this Staff at the time of and in connection with these killings.” (ibid., p. 348). 173 Menten was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment by the District Court of Rotterdam (Judgement of 9 July 1980, ibid., p. 361). It should be pointed out that the Dutch Court of Cassation had been obliged to investigate whether Menten was "in military, state or public service of or with the enemy" as this was an ingredient of the relevant Dutch law (ibid., p. 346). The Appeals Chamber holds, however, that the Menten case is in line with the rules of general international law concerning the assimilation of private individuals to State officials. 174 See, e.g., the Daley case, where the Iran U.S. Claims Tribunal attributed international responsibility to Iran for acts of five Iranian “Revolutionary Guards” in “army type uniforms” (18 Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal Reports, 1988, p. 238, at para. 19). 175 In this connection mention can be made of the Stocké case brought before the European Commission of Human Rights. A German national fled from Germany to Switzerland and then to France to avoid arrest in Germany for alleged tax offences. He was then tricked into re-entering Germany by a police informant and was arrested. He then claimed before the European Commission of Human Rights that he had been arrested in violation of Article 5(1) of the ECHR. The Commission held that: “[i]n the case of collusion between State authorities, i.e. any State official irrespective of his hierarchical position, and a private individual for the purpose of returning against his will a person living abroad, without consent of his State of residence, to the territory where he is prosecuted, the High Contracting Party concerned incurs responsibility for the acts of the private individual who de facto acts on its behalf. The Commission considers that such circumstances may render this person’s arrest and detention unlawful within the meaning of article 5(1) of the Convention” (Stocké v. Federal Republic of Germany, Eur. Court H. R., judgement of 19 March 1991, Series A, no 199, para. 168 (Opinion of the Commission). 172 Case No.: -94-1-A 15 July 1999