Shinkaretskaya G.G. The lawfulness of establishment and activity of the international criminal courts

Abstract: This article reviews the genesis of the establishment of international criminal courts, as well as the question of universal jurisdiction. Research is conducted on the example of criminal prosecution of Augusto Pinochet in Spain and United Kingdom. The author states that international criminal courts are a product of modern times. They emerged in the last decade of the 20th century, and are founded on the determination of the entire humanity to ensure that severe and mass violations of human rights do not go unpunished. This was infl uenced by the humanistic values, when norms of international criminal laws developed as a part of international legal system. The tendency to create special criminal courts for criminals acting on behalf of governments has coincided with the spreading and progression of the idea of universal jurisdiction. The classic international law regulated the relations only between nations; the modern international law however, deeply intervenes into the internal affairs. The problem of inability of the national courts to prosecute persons who have committed crimes justifi ed the need to establish international criminal trial.

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