Paramilitaries on trial: Examples from the former Yugoslavia, within the panel ‘Dialogues of Justice and Reconciliation: the Experience of the former Yugoslavia'

In the past twenty years, paramilitary commanders and members have been indicted and prosecuted at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, but also before domestic courts in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. This paper drew on those cases in order to establish what specific challenges exist when putting paramilitary members on trial. The contribution further addressed some of the key evidence related to paramilitaries, that was presented in leadership trials at the ICTY (e.g. the so-called ‘Scorpions video’). Given the amount of violations committed by irregular forces and paramilitaries in contemporary conflicts, these insights contribute to understanding what is needed for efficient prosecutions in the future.