Ukraine's War Crimes Courts Need a New Legal Blueprint
A legal scholar proposes splitting how Ukraine prosecutes war crimes: let international law define what counts as a war crime, but let domestic criminal law handle the rest. The approach could reshape how other countries handle similar trials and create more predictable outcomes for victims seeking justice.
Originaltitel: War Crimes Trials Before Domestic Courts in Ukraine – Making the Case for a Differentiated Approach to International Law
<p>This article analyses domestic war crimes prosecutions in Ukraine in terms of the scope of Ukraine’s war crimes statute and the applicability of domestic general criminal law principles. As part of analysing Ukraine’s war crimes statute, the article creates a typology of approaches to criminalizing war crimes, which is relevant for domestic jurisdictions beyond Ukraine. Moreover, the article argues for a differentiated approach in Ukraine and other domestic jurisdictions, meaning that international humanitarian law should have a decisive role in defining the scope of the specific war crimes, whereas general principles of criminal law should be governed by domestic law.</p>