scholarly journals A Comparative Study of War Crimes Prosecutions by Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 100-119
Author(s):  
Eleanor Whitchurch
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
Ethnic Composition ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Effectiveness And Efficiency ◽  
Future War

This paper contrasts the diverging war crimes prosecution efforts of Serbia and of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the aim of determining which factors played a role in the radically different outcomes, and to what extent. It will measure three elements: the effect of international incentives, structural judicial challenges, and ethnic composition, in order to establish which element played the most prominent role in the strikingly lower effectiveness and efficiency of war crimes prosecutions by Serbia in comparison to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The findings suggest that ethnic composition has the strongest influence over the degree to which war crimes prosecutions are pursued, and that this can consequently determine the effectiveness of international incentives. These findings will allow for a better understanding of the success of past post-conflict criminal prosecutions. This enhanced understanding will in turn inform future war crimes prosecutions and help shape measures that could be taken to mitigate the destructive effects of the most prominent spoiling components.

The “Kouwenhoven” Case

2019 ◽  
Vol 181 ◽  
pp. 568-704
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Criminal Activity ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Arms Embargo ◽  
Witness Statements

Economics, trade and finance — Economic sanctions — Liberia — UN Security Council Resolutions 1343 (2001) and 1408 (2002) — Implementation of arms embargo under Dutch law — Whether sanctions regime violatedInternational criminal law — Difference between perpetrator and accomplice liability — Complicity in war crimes — Requirement that defendant promoted or facilitated the commission of war crimes — Conditional intent — Whether defendant consciously accepted the probability that war crimes would be committed in connection with his material support — Risk of doing business with a government engaged in international criminal activityInternational criminal law — Evidence — Admissibility and weight of witness statements — Factors relevant to assessing witness statements obtained in post-conflict environment — Coercion of witnesses — Whether inconsistencies in witness statements requiring acquittalInternational criminal law — Circumstances excusing unlawful conduct — National emergency — Whether violations of arms embargo and laws and customs of war justified by right to self-defence under international lawJurisdiction — Universal jurisdiction — War crimes — Prosecution of a Dutch national for offences committed abroad — Whether conduct of investigation by Dutch authorities making prosecution inadmissible — Whether amnesty scheme in Liberia barrier to prosecution — No violation of fair trial rightsWar and armed conflict — Existence of armed conflict — Whether armed conflict international or internal — Limited gap between norms applicable to international versus non-international armed conflict — Whether violations of laws and customs of war giving rise to individual criminal liability under Dutch law — The law of the Netherlands

An Age-Old Question: Optical (A)llusions, (In)Decency, and (In)Justice in the Trial of Japanese War Criminals

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
James Burnham Sedgwick
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Logic ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
International Justice ◽  
World War ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
War Criminals ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Aesthetic

Abstract Timing complicates all dimensions of post conflict redress. Moving too fast suggests prejudice. Going too slow delays accountability and closure. This paper challenges the temporal logic of international justice. The prosecution of aged defendants created aesthetical dilemmas for war crimes operations in post-World War ii Asia. The unsettling optical allusions of frail perpetrators in court — shadows of their former selves — left many observers conflicted: it looked indecent, it felt unjust and underwhelming. The unseemly punishment of weak defendants undercut prosecution attempts to brand perpetrators as monsters. Disappointed reporters and trial authorities fixated on the shabby dress, waning physique, and benign senescence of once-sinister villains. Few questioned the accused’s guilt. Many felt unnerved by the optics. Ultimately, this paper shows how the staging and performance of justice impacts a court’s effectiveness. Unrelenting accountability, bringing all war criminals to justice, feels right. Yet, the aesthetic complications of prosecuting aged accused may not be worth it.

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