Complementarity Analysis of National Sentencing

Abstract

The ICC-complementarity principle, the principle of legality, the execution of sanctions, and the relation of the supranational system to domestic systems such as the Rwandan gacaca, are all topics to be thoroughly discussed. The uplifting of a penal system from a relatively small community – an individual state – with relative agreement on basic aspects of punishing, to the mondial, per definition heterogeneous, level, where no such agreement exists, reveals many controversies. Opinions on all aspects of sanctioning differ widely all over the world. As seen recently in the context of the criminal proceedings held by Rwandan national courts and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), those political and military leaders who are ultimately responsible for the bloodshed may end up being tried by an international tribunal where the death penalty is not an option, whereas lower level perpetrators will be tried by national courts and subject to the death penalty. Due to the material limitations of the International Criminal Court (ICC), this phenomenon may also take place in the context of the ICC.