Browsing by Author "Koivurinne, Sami"

Following a long tradition of international criminal justice, the Office of the Prosecutor (“OTP”) of the International Criminal Court (”ICC”) has also directly targeted high-level international perpetrators to end impunity for the most serious crimes. However, after over two decades in action, the ICC has convicted only five international criminals, none of whom can be considered most responsible for the crimes, and has constantly intervened with the atrocities too slowly. The ICC’s ineffectiveness and the finding that domestic courts also struggle to prosecute international cases suggest that many international perpetrators may currently go completely unpunished, thus creating the so-called “impunity gap” for international crimes. Therefore, the OTP must no longer directly target the high-level offenders but instead consider a different approach for pursuing the same goal. Taking a socio-legal approach, this thesis aims to propose a new strategy for the OTP within an existing legal framework and to examine whether it could solve the problems causing the ICC’s ineffectiveness. With examples from the United States and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, this thesis proposes that the OTP must first prosecute several lower-level offenders while actively using plea bargaining to incentivize them to cooperate against their superiors to prosecute the high-level offenders successfully. This thesis argues that implementing the new strategy is crucial for the ICC to hold the most senior international offenders accountable and to build peace in war-torn regions as intended. At the center of this thesis is the finding on how the new strategy could help the OTP overcome its main investigative difficulties in terms of sufficient evidence and reliable witness testimonies. This thesis further argues that because the new strategy would allow the ICC to use its resources more effectively and grow more efficient, it can succeed better despite having a limited budget and global scope. However, the lack of political support and State cooperation limits the impact of the proposed strategy indicating flaws in the Rome Statute. This thesis also argues that the new strategy allows the ICC to produce a more significant deterrent effect while motivating the States to prosecute international cases more effectively. In conclusion, while the results of this thesis suggest that the OTP should implement the proposed strategy, as it would allow the ICC to narrow the impunity gap on behalf of the ICC itself and behalf of national courts, amending the Rome Statute to include provisions for enforcing the cooperation with the States might be required for better results.