The Individuals

These are not abstractions. These are people with names who made choices. Some were convicted by international tribunals. Some were indicted and never tried. Some died in comfort. Some are in power now.

Each entry states what is documented — convictions, indictments, findings of fact by international bodies, and the historical record.

Currently in Power

Donald Trump

President of the United States (2017–2021, 2025–present)

Launched the 2026 war on Iran without congressional authorization. A U.S. Tomahawk missile struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab, killing at least 168 children and teachers — the Pentagon’s own preliminary assessment found the U.S. likely responsible. [1][2] Threatened to destroy “a whole civilization” on Easter Sunday 2026. [3] Threatened to bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges — infrastructure serving 90 million civilians. [4] The International Committee of the Red Cross declared the threats incompatible with international humanitarian law. [5] Amnesty International called for urgent global action to prevent atrocity crimes. [4]

Benjamin Netanyahu

Prime Minister of Israel (1996–1999, 2009–2021, 2022–present)

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu in November 2024 for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, including the use of starvation as a method of warfare, and the crimes of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts. [6] The ICC Prosecutor found reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu bears criminal responsibility for the killing of civilians and the destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza. [6] As of April 2026, Israel has jointly participated in the U.S.-led war on Iran, striking civilian infrastructure including bridges, railways, and petrochemical facilities. [3]

Vladimir Putin

President of Russia (2000–2008, 2012–present)

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March 2023 for the war crime of unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia. [7] Launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 — the largest land war in Europe since 1945. Ordered the bombardment of Ukrainian cities, hospitals, and civilian infrastructure. Previously directed the Second Chechen War (1999–2009) and Russian military intervention in Syria (2015–present), where Russian forces struck hospitals and civilian targets documented by the UN Commission of Inquiry. [7]

Kim Jong-un

Supreme Leader of North Korea (2011–present)

The 2014 UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the DPRK found that North Korea commits systematic, widespread, and gross human rights violations amounting to crimes against humanity, including extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortion, persecution, enforced disappearance, knowingly causing prolonged starvation, and the deliberate and massive transfer of populations. The Commission found these crimes are committed pursuant to policies established at the highest level of the state. [8] The political prison camp system (kwanliso) holds an estimated 80,000–120,000 people. [8]

Min Aung Hlaing

Chairman of the State Administration Council, Myanmar (2021–present)

Seized power in a military coup on February 1, 2021. The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar found in 2018 that Myanmar’s military committed genocide against the Rohingya people, including mass killings, sexual violence, and the burning of villages, and recommended that senior military officials including Min Aung Hlaing be investigated and prosecuted for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. [9] Since the 2021 coup, his forces have conducted airstrikes against civilian villages and detained thousands of political prisoners. [9]

Mohammed bin Salman

Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia (2017–present)

U.S. intelligence assessed that MBS personally approved the operation that resulted in the murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. [10] Led Saudi Arabia’s military intervention in Yemen (2015–present), where the UN documented thousands of airstrikes on civilian targets including hospitals, schools, weddings, and funerals. The UN called Yemen the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with an estimated 377,000 deaths by the end of 2021. [10]

The Convicted and Indicted

Slobodan Milošević

President of Serbia (1989–1997), President of Yugoslavia (1997–2000)

Indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Kosovo, Croatia, and Bosnia. Died in his cell at The Hague in 2006 before the trial concluded. [11] The Srebrenica massacre of July 1995 — in which over 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were systematically murdered — occurred under policies his regime enabled. [11]

Ratko Mladić

Commander of the Army of Republika Srpska (1992–1996)

Convicted by the ICTY in 2017 of genocide for the Srebrenica massacre, persecution, extermination, murder, and other crimes against humanity. Sentenced to life imprisonment. The Appeals Chamber confirmed the conviction in 2021. [12] He personally oversaw the fall of Srebrenica and the separation of men and boys from their families. [12]

Omar al-Bashir

President of Sudan (1989–2019)

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for al-Bashir in 2009 and 2010 for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in Darfur. [13] He is the first sitting head of state to have been indicted by the ICC. An estimated 300,000 people died and 2.5 million were displaced in the Darfur conflict. [13] Overthrown by his own military in 2019 and detained in Sudan.

Pol Pot

Leader of the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia (1975–1979)

Under his regime, between 1.5 and 2 million Cambodians — approximately one-quarter of the population — died through execution, forced labor, starvation, and disease. [14] The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia convicted senior Khmer Rouge leaders Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan of genocide in 2018. Pol Pot himself died in 1998 without facing trial. [14]

Historical Record

Adolf Hitler

Führer of Nazi Germany (1933–1945)

The Holocaust: the systematic, state-sponsored murder of six million Jews and millions of others — Roma, disabled people, political prisoners, homosexuals, Slavic peoples — across occupied Europe. [15] Launched World War II, which killed an estimated 70–85 million people. Found guilty in absentia by history; died by suicide in his bunker on April 30, 1945.

Benito Mussolini

Dictator of Italy (1925–1943)

The inventor of fascism — the word, the ideology, the machinery. Dissolved parliament, banned opposition parties, and ruled by decree. Invaded Ethiopia in 1935 and used mustard gas against civilians and Red Cross field hospitals in violation of the Geneva Protocol; an estimated 382,000–760,000 Ethiopians were killed during the occupation. [23] Established concentration camps in Libya where an estimated 40,000–70,000 Libyans died. [23] Allied with Hitler, entered World War II, and participated in the deportation of Italian Jews to Nazi death camps. Shot by Italian partisans on April 28, 1945, and hung upside down at a gas station in Milan.

Joseph Stalin

General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1924–1953)

The Holodomor (1932–1933): a man-made famine in Ukraine that killed an estimated 3.5–7.5 million Ukrainians, recognized as genocide by multiple nations and the European Parliament. [16] The Great Purge (1936–1938): an estimated 750,000 executed. The Gulag system held an estimated 18 million people over its existence, of whom an estimated 1.5–1.8 million died in the camps. [16]

Mao Zedong

Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (1949–1976)

The Great Leap Forward (1958–1962) caused a famine that killed an estimated 15–55 million people — the deadliest famine in human history. [17] The Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) resulted in an estimated 500,000 to 2 million deaths through political persecution, factional violence, and mass executions. [17]

Leopold II of Belgium

King of the Belgians (1865–1909), Sovereign of the Congo Free State (1885–1908)

Personally owned the Congo Free State as a private colony. Under his regime of forced rubber extraction, an estimated 10 million Congolese people died through murder, starvation, disease, and a plummeting birth rate. [18] Workers who failed to meet rubber quotas had their hands cut off. The international outcry over the Congo atrocities produced one of the first modern human rights campaigns. [18]

Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il

Founders of the North Korean dynasty (1948–1994, 1994–2011)

Kim Il-sung established the political prison camp system and the cult of personality that has imprisoned North Korea for three generations. Kim Jong-il maintained and expanded the system. During the North Korean famine of 1994–1998, an estimated 240,000–3.5 million people died while the regime diverted resources to the military and the ruling elite. [8]

Idi Amin

President of Uganda (1971–1979)

An estimated 100,000–500,000 people were killed during his regime. [19] Expelled the entire Asian population of Uganda — approximately 80,000 people — in 1972, seizing their property and businesses. His regime was characterized by ethnic persecution, extrajudicial killings, and the use of state security forces as instruments of terror. [19] Overthrown in 1979 and lived in exile in Saudi Arabia until his death in 2003, never facing trial.

Augusto Pinochet

Military dictator of Chile (1973–1990)

Seized power in a U.S.-backed military coup on September 11, 1973, overthrowing the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende. The Rettig Commission documented 2,279 deaths attributable to his regime; the Valech Commission documented over 40,000 victims of political imprisonment and torture. [20] Indicted on human rights charges in 1998 but died in 2006 without conviction.

Bashar al-Assad

President of Syria (2000–2024)

The UN Commission of Inquiry documented the Syrian government’s systematic use of torture, extrajudicial execution, chemical weapons attacks on civilian areas, siege and starvation of civilian populations, and deliberate targeting of hospitals and medical facilities. [21] An estimated 500,000 people died in the Syrian civil war. The regime used sarin nerve gas and chlorine barrel bombs against civilians, documented by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. [21]

Saddam Hussein

President of Iraq (1979–2003)

The Anfal campaign (1986–1989) against the Kurdish population of northern Iraq killed an estimated 50,000–182,000 people and was ruled genocide by the Iraqi High Tribunal. [22] The regime used chemical weapons against the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988, killing an estimated 3,200–5,000 civilians. [22] Convicted of crimes against humanity for the 1982 Dujail massacre and executed on December 30, 2006.

The Pattern

Some were elected. Some seized power. Some inherited it. All chose to use it against the people they claimed to lead or the people they claimed to protect themselves from.

The consistent feature is not ideology — this list includes fascists, communists, monarchists, theocrats, and democrats. The consistent feature is the willingness to treat human beings as expendable material in pursuit of power.

Bibliography