Challenges of Domestic Prosecution of War Crimes with Special Attention to Criminal Justice Guarantees

The book examines the legal ambiguities that appear during domestic prosecution of war crimes, as a result of the application of international law within the domestic system. The objective is to demonstrate the legal issues that, especially in light of the principle of legality, may raise problems for the domestic judge during war crimes trials. This question cannot be answered without analyzing the different techniques of national implementation and the possible pitfalls that could emerge. The book also deals with examining other considerations that may have an influence on national criminal procedures, namely certain political or practical aspects – such as the training of judges, or structural mechanisms, like war crimes units, that could enhance war crime trials. Finally, it wishes to outline that domestic judges cannot be left to deal with the difficulties of the application of international law – a strange body within the domestic legal sphere and often based on different legal concepts – in domestic law, but the inevitable collision resulting from the joint application of the two sets of rules must be dealt with, in the first place, by domestic legislation. At the same time, it is established that the existence of adequate implementing legislation does not necessarily imply that judges would not have to apply international law directly.