This case  1   marks the first pronouncement by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the obligation to extradite or prosecute ( aut dedere aut judicare ) in international law. It is the second contentious case in which the ICJ has held the defendant country in breach of its obligations under a human rights convention. The ICJ both added to the corpus of norms it has formally recognized as peremptory norms ( jus cogens ) and also reinforced the principle that former heads of state are subject to universal jurisdiction for grave violations of international law.