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International criminal responsibility for severe economic crimes committed in transitional period (PhD project presentation)

Research has its focus on the concept of qualifying severe (transitional) economic offences as international crimes. It aims at exploring legal and social preconditions under which severe (tranasitional) economic offences could be qualified as crimes under international law. Accordingly, possible amendments to expand the International Criminal Courts´ ratione materiae jurisdiction will be proposed. Placing more emphasis on the indivisibility of human rights and on the importance of including the protection of economic rights in the Statute of ICC could be seen as the next necessary step in order to correspond with the new global development and the concept of human security. Furthermore, the project is exploring whether it is possible at all to aim to achieve security and “well-being of the world” in today´s global world without prosecuting severe economic crimes, especially ones that were occurring in transitional period. Not seldom have serious economic crime offences been neglected in criminal proceedings, and/or reports of Truth Commissions, that followed economic transitions or war conflicts. Although those economic crimes resulted in substantial loss of profit and had a major effect on overall economy, society and rule of law, they were not prosecuted enough. The Balkan region is no exception to this rule. In order to answer research questions, the Croatian experience in addressing severe transitional economic offences will be taken as an example. Croatia abolished the status of limitations for transitional economic offences with retroactive effect with the justification that those crimes are regarded “as extremely grave crimes for which it is necessary, right and justified to rule out application of statute of limitations, particularly having in mind the time, circumstances of perpetration and consequences caused.”

serious economic crimes; crimes under international law; transitional justice

Lecture at special panel: PA2-9 MAX PLANCK PARTNER GROUP FOR “BALKAN CRIMINOLOGY” (part 2) Panel Chair: Hans-Jörg Albrecht (Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law, Germany)