The International Criminal Courts

International criminal law constitutes a novelty in the panorama of international law, which, for a long time, has seen the different courts intervene only in disputes between States. In fact, only after the Second World War, the project to refer those responsible for the most serious crimes (genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity) to an international court.

The International Criminal Tribunals, therefore, they were conceived as judicial bodies, competent for the repression of individual activities harmful to property protected by international law.

In this sense, The team of International Lawyers Associates Law Firm It has offered, and continues to offer, its assistance also in the field of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression, guaranteeing the defense of any individual.

The common characteristic of these bodies is their constitution, which occurs after the commission of the crimes they must judge, the limited territorial and temporal jurisdiction, and finally their temporary nature; in fact, they are destined to be extinguished when their function is exhausted.

For the reasons stated above, International Criminal Tribunals established over the years by the Security Council are defined as "special" or ad hoc international criminal tribunals, and their establishment is based on competence for the maintenance of international peace and security; In this they differ from the International Criminal Court, which, on the other hand, has general jurisdiction and a permanent character.

In this sense, we must pay close attention and distinguish these Courts from the so-called "mixed" or internationalized criminal courts that arise from cooperation between a State and the UN and combine elements of domestic law and international law (examples of these Courts have been crimes committed in Sierra Leone, East Timor, Cambodia, Lebanon).

Anyone wishing to receive legal assistance involving serious and competent international legal cooperation can contact the International Lawyers Associate Law Firm Team; This team of lawyers has the collaboration of some of the best specialized lawyers to represent the client before the most authorized national and international authorities.

Legal assistance in this field requires constant updating and in-depth knowledge of all international legislation; all the skills that Law Firm ILA International Lawyers Associates, coordinated by the Criminal Lawyer Alexandro Maria Tirelli, is capable of providing in an extremely serious and qualified way.

The first experiences of international criminal tribunals were represented by the 1945 Nuremberg and Tokyo Military Tribunals, in which Nazi and Japanese war criminals were tried.

Later, in 1949, the UN International Law Commission drew up a "draft" code on crimes against the peace and security of mankind and, at the same time, appointed a Committee to codify these crimes.

However, it was not until 1989 that the UN General Assembly resumed work on the International Criminal Court.

However, at the same time, between 1993 and 1994, bloody conflicts broke out in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide (in the form of "ethnic cleansing") made the situation was more relevant than ever. question of international criminal law; In light of this, the Security Council decided to establish "ad hoc" tribunals - in The Hague (1993) and Arusha (1994) - to try those responsible for these atrocities.

The first, established in 1993, is based in The Hague and is competent to try those responsible for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, the second, established in 1994, with headquarters in Arusha, it is competent to try the same crimes, committed in the territory of Rwanda in 1994, or if by Rwandan citizens, also in the territory of neighboring states.

The establishment of the two ad hoc tribunals has certainly highlighted the will of the States to repress these crimes through the creation of supernational jurisdictions, since the attribution to exclusively internal courts of a State of the competence to repress similar crimes, could result unsatisfactory. Reasons: economic, social and cultural backwardness of the state community, not perfect independence from the judges, and minimal, not total impartiality.

Subsequently, then, the bloody terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York and Washington and the war in Afghanistan reopened the debate on the functioning of justice at the international level.

Before article 8 of the Rome Statute codified the elements of the crimes of the main cases of international criminal law, the two tribunals mentioned above were the only international tribunals that could be used to reconstruct the cases of the most heinous crimes. until that moment. moment defined only at an exclusively customary level, all in the absence of a permanently operative International Criminal Court.

The establishment of UN Courts for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda (which to date have practically exhausted their activity) and the subsequent creation of the International Criminal Court they have undoubtedly represented essential steps in the assertion that international crimes perpetrators have individual criminal records. responsibility.

From what is illustrated on this subject, it is possible to deduce, with extreme ease, how such a demanding subject, which is linked to international issues, requires experience and seriousness: therefore, it is better to have real professionals like his. law firm International Lawyers Associates ILA.

When the ad hoc Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda were created, probably no one thought that they would actually work, however, over the course of fifteen years, these Tribunals have shown that justice can be done independently and impartially while ensuring the highest standards. high with regard to the rights of the defense.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has already concluded the trials against more than sixty people (nine defendants have been acquitted, fifty-five have been convicted, some have already served their sentences in full), other proceedings are ongoing or are about to start.

In all, four defendants remain at large (including well-known Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic). The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda tried thirty defendants (three acquitted and twenty-eight convicted), including the prime minister of Rwanda at the time of the genocide and numerous members of the government and administration; other processes are currently in progress or about to start. Thirteen defendants remain at large, the best known of whom is undoubtedly Félicien Kabuga, a wealthy and powerful Rwandan businessman who, among other things, allegedly imported the machetes with which the genocide was committed.

Today it is possible to affirm that thanks to the Cortes a highly articulated system has been developed in the field of repression of international crimes.

Obviously, the fact that these organs had been created through a purely emergency instrument has always aroused perplexity and "overshadows" their work. In this regard, the failure of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to carry out in-depth investigations into the crimes committed by NATO during the bombing of Kosovo has drawn much more than criticism. In addition to this, it has always been questioned that so far no investigation has been made public against members of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, which took over the country's government after the genocide.

Naturally, the aforementioned Tribunals were established from the beginning as a measure for the restoration and maintenance of peace in the regions involved; once this objective had been achieved, it was foreseeable that the Security Council would decide to terminate its activities. However, this in no way means that the need for justice has ceased. In this sense, the Permanent International Criminal Court was established, with broad and non-selective jurisdiction, precisely to try to disprove the criticisms directed at the ad hoc Tribunals and to substantiate the need for a pre-existing judicial mechanism regarding the execution of crimes. .

In this sense, it is of fundamental importance not to overlook that the Courts leave a very rich set of experiences that should not be lost. It involves legal experience (through procedural decisions, judgments, regulatory norms), but also practical experience (in the field of investigations, in terms of organizing special witness protection programs, in relation to the management of the system of information for the presentation of evidence, etc.) and humans. In this sense, a total handover between these ad hoc bodies and the Permanent Criminal Court, established in Rome in 1998, and which is now fully operational, would be desirable.

Logically, "doing justice to the stopwatch" is very difficult; Certainly, justice requires speed, but it must be reconciled with the need to proceed to an accurate reconstruction of reality.

In this context, so complicated and constantly evolving, the Italian and International Criminal Law Office ILA can perform, through its professionals, who deal specifically with national and international law, a fundamental role of support and advice.

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