The ''tu quoque'' defense () asserts that the authority trying a defendant has committed the same crimes of which they are accused. It is related to the legal principle of
clean hands,
reprisal
A reprisal is a limited and deliberate violation of international law to punish another sovereign state that has already broken them. Since the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (AP 1), reprisals in the laws of war are extremel ...
, and "
an eye for an eye". The ''tu quoque'' defense does not exist in
international criminal law and has never been accepted by an international court.
''Tu quoque'' was invoked during the
Nuremberg trials. In the trial of Nazi war criminal
Klaus Barbie, the controversial lawyer
Jacques Vergès argued that during the
Algerian War
The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...
, French officers such as General
Jacques Massu had committed war crimes similar to those with which Barbie was being charged, and therefore the French state had no moral right to try Barbie. This defence was rejected by the court, which convicted Barbie.
See also
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Superior orders
Superior orders, also known as the Nuremberg defense or just following orders, is a plea in a court of law that a person, whether a member of the military, law enforcement, a firefighting force, or the civilian population, should not be considere ...
*
Tu quoque
*
Victor's justice
References
{{reflist
International criminal law
Criminal defenses