Plea Agreements in War Crimes Cases: A Critical Analysis of Negotiated Justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Transitional Context
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22197/rbdpp.v12i1.1255Parole chiave:
criminal law, war crimes, genocide, transitional justice, plea agreement, Bosnia and HerzegovinaAbstract
Considering all the transformations of state regimes in the last forty years and all the conflicts that became past and lasting ones, without any doubt, transitional justice has and will have an essential role in the legal systems of the countries of the world. Establishing the truth and reconciliation are critical tasks. This article correlates transitional justice to the criminal justice procedural institute of “plea agreement” and tests how this institute within one of its mechanisms may become an obstacle in achieving its goals. A case study of its application in the cases of war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be conducted to test if and how plea agreements have been applied in the cases of those gravest criminal offenses and if its application may achieve the goals of criminal law in one hand, and transitional justice on other. Normative, historical, and comparative scientific methods, in addition to the case study, will be used.
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