Original scientific paper
The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals: Functions and the Relationship With Croatian Judiciary
Marin Bonačić
; Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals was established in 2010 to take over the execution of certain functions (so called residual functions) of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) after their closure. The paper describes the road to Residual Mechanism, followed by a discussion of its functions and structure. Although by its establishment the international community demonstrated a commitment to carry out lasting obligations, which the establishment of international tribunals entail, certain criticism may be directed at the selected solutions.
The paper also deals with the relationship of the Residual Mechanism with the Croatian judiciary. In this part, the author primarily points to the lack of implementing legislation under which Croatian judicial authorities would fulfill their international legal duty to cooperate. Also, it has been pointed out that the Croatian Criminal code does not sanction all conduct encompassed by the contempt of court, and that it is not possible to bring an indictment without investigation and to use the evidence gathered by the procedural rules of the Residual Mechanism unconditionally, which can impede referral of such cases to the Croatian judiciary.
The Residual Mechanism is expected to efficiently perform the residual functions of the ICTY and the ICTR, in a manner that will not jeopardize their legacies. Regardless of the indicated criticisms, the set goal can be achieved. On the other hand, there is a possibility of an even greater role of the Residual Mechanism in the future by its transformation into an administrative platform for residual mechanisms of other international and internationalized criminal courts.
Keywords
international criminal law; international criminal tribunals; closure of the court; residual functions; residual mechanism
Hrčak ID:
132641
URI
Publication date:
16.12.2014.
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