Why I did this I have no idea.
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Hiring a PMC isnât illegal 
I love that targets conspire to overthrow foreign governments, spark riots, harbouring terrorists, kidnapping, organ traffickingâŠoh and lying on a resumĂ© 
nice touch making the sentencing fit the jurisdictions
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How is De Santisâ sentence harsher than Caruso? They literally did the same crimes except Caruso added murder on top of that :x
Also Parvati would probably be liable for some crimes under Sri Lankaâs jurisdiction for her past as a Tamil Tiger?
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Sexist sentencing guidelines in Italy, apparently!
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Thatâs why Parvati has a base life sentence-it actually could be brought up to death depending on how deep her involvement was.
I gave Caruso a lighter sentence due to his mental illness.
Love the detail too! But from what Iâve checked in relation to the French and Italian legal systems, hiring a PMC, especially one like CICADIA, which we know did doggy things during the Yugoslav Wars, is probably illegal. I also should have booked the targets (barring the Colorado ones because Mericaâ) for gunrunning as their security has firearms which are illegal in the countries the missions take place in. Please tell if Iâm wrong though, Iâd love to hear more feedback.
I believe it would come down to who is accountable for the actions of the PMC/security team. For example, if you hired a bodyguard (legal), but they brought a concealed firearm into a country where itâs illegal (illegal), you wouldnât be liable for it because thatâs an action the bodyguard took. It might be different if you specifically order the bodyguard to do so, but even then itâs unlikely because itâs a âif I told you to jump off a cliffâ scenario.
To my knowledge, clients arenât directly culpable for the actions of the companies they hire, unless they directly hire them to break the law. A good example is the Nisour Square massacre, where contractors of the Blackwater PMC (hired by the US government) opened fire on a group of civilians. As these were independent actions taken by the contractors themselves, the client wasnât directly responsible. But if theyâd hired them specifically to target those civilians, they would be.
PMCs do a lot of non-combat work like translation, hostage negotiation, threat assessment, etc. So youâd be hiring a legitimate company, the question is what for 
I see where youâre coming from. Maybe instead of the charge being for hiring a PMC in general, it should be for hiring CICADA. I would assume that after what they did in Bosnia, theyâre not necessarily a legal organisation.
Unless the client is implicated in the actions of the PMC, Iâm not sure there is actually a charge? And as far as Iâm aware, CICADA is still legal - just as the aforementioned Blackwater still is despite the massacre of civilians, the murder of journalists and weapons smuggling. 7 months ago, they got a major contract with ICE!
@wincenworks might be able to answer this, as I believe they have a law degree. Whether someone like Viktor Novikov (or anyone) would be liable for the actions taken by CICADA PMC, unless when directly ordered to carry them out?
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I obviously canât go into the specific laws but generally speaking thereâs 2 ways someone like Viktor could be legally liable for contracted security did:
Involvement. If Viktor tells them to shoot up a bus full of nuns, or helps them shoot up a bus full of nuns directly - he would be considered a direct participant in the crime. He doesnât necessarily directly order them to massacre people, he just needs to be a driving factor in the decision and aware that heâs doing it (think the scene in James Bond: The Quantum of Solace where Dominic Greene says âThen why is he looking at me!?â and covers his face until one of his goons executes the guy from Special Branch).
Negligence. If Viktor hires a bunch of CICADA guys, tells them to bring their weapons and be ready to use lethal force then doesnât take reasonable precautions to make sure they donât shoot up a bus full of nuns because they thought it The Saints barging in - then he could be liable to a lesser degree.
Grey area. This does leave a middle area where itâd be murky but heâd also certainly be investigated, like the scenario where (pun intended) he had Lucas Grey assassinate a FSB officer to hide his past of wrong-doing, thus is certainly responsible to some degree for the death but itâs unclear to what degree.
The legality of CICADA as an organization could still sustain despite involvement in numerous crimes due to failure/unwillingness to prosecute, inability to prove it was the company responsible (not just rogue officers) for the crimes, and the general difficulty that can happen in prosecuting a crime where very rich and powerful people donât want it prosecuted.
So even in the event that CICADA shoots up a bus full of nuns of Sanguine, they would likely stonewall all investigations to prevent it reaching their clients or the company itself. So in theory Viktor could be liable but in practice heâd have to do something quite extraordinary and be very clumsy in leaving evidence.
The CICADA agents on the Paris level are generally pretty removed from crowds and donât normally cause too much collateral damage⊠at least when I play, so I think heâs fairly safe.
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Great take, itâs such a complicated matter, ainât it?
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