The United Nations War Crimes Commission and the Prosecution of War Criminals in Yugoslavia

Abstract

Abstract To understand the different developments that shaped the Yugoslav war crimes policy it is important to analyse the impact of international discussions on the Yugoslav criminal law and the Yugoslav involvement in the United Nations War Crimes Commission (UNWCC). During the Second World War two different institutions claimed to be the legal representatives of the Yugoslav people: The Yugoslav government in exile in London and the communist led AVNOJ (The Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia). With this in mind, this paper analyses Yugoslav war crimes policies from different perspectives and in different settings. It shows that the Yugoslav`s discussion about the punishment of war criminals was influenced by power struggles, geopolitical aims, and legitimacy. While Yugoslav government in exile got lost in internal nationalist struggles, it was the Yugoslav representative at the UNWCC, and the communist led State commission to investigate the crimes of the occupiers and their accomplices who took the active role and shaped the Yugoslav war crimes policy. In consequence the Yugoslav national law for prosecuting war crimes was developed from different sources: pre-WWII traditions, Soviet law, and the UNWCC.