The reception of individuals guilty of violations of international criminal law after a conflict differs greatly, ranging from bringing them to justice in war crimes trials to ignoring their crimes or even glorifying them as heroes. Such issues have led to controversies in many countries, including Australia, the United States, Germany, the Baltic states, Japan, and the former Yugoslavia.
By country
Australia
A book by Mark Aarons argues that Australia has been "a safe haven for war criminals" including Nazis, Khmer Rouge, former Chilean secret police, and those guilty of war crimes in the Yugoslav Wars.[1] Some have played a role in Australian politics or the intelligence services.[1][2]
In 2023, former Australian SAS soldier Oliver Schulz was arrested and charged with murdering unarmed Afghan civilian Dad Mohammad. He is the first person to be charged in connection with the Brereton Report, a report published by the Australian Defence Force on war crimes in Afghanistan. Schulz is also the first Australian soldier to ever be charged under Australian law with a war crime. In 2023, Australia's most decorated soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, lost a defamation suit he filed against several publications which had accused him of being a war criminal. The case is currently under appeal.[3]
Balkans
Former President of CroatiaIvo Josipović has highlighted that former Yugoslav countries were reluctant to prosecute their own nationals for war crimes because "everybody considers their own people to be heroes and only sees the victims on their own side".[4]
In Republika Srpska, memorials to victims of the Bosnian genocide are forbidden. Instead, memorials are erected to commemorate Serb perpetrators of war crimes such as Radovan Karadžić.[5] Secondary school textbooks discuss Karadžić without mentioning that he was convicted of war crimes and genocide.[6] In Serbia, convicted war criminals such as Vojislav Šešelj enjoy public support which goes along with Bosnian genocide denial as well as denial of other war crimes committed by Serbs.[7][8][9]
Johan Tarčulovski, the only Macedonian citizen to be convicted by the ICTY, was elected to Parliament in 2016 for the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party. A high-ranking member of the party told Balkan Insight, "He is our Macedonian hero and we are proud to have him among our ranks. Who best to work for Macedonian interests than Tarčulovski?"[14]
Cambodia
In Cambodia, Pol Pot's tomb has been the focus of cult activities.[15]
Germany
Some German war criminals were put on trial at the Nuremberg trials, although most escaped responsibility for their crimes.[16] Today Germany denounces the actions of Nazi war criminals and does not have memorials to them.[17] In contrast, there are many Holocaust memorials in Germany.[18]
Major Japanese war criminals convicted and executed by the Tokyo Trial are enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine.[20] Visits to the shrine by Japanese prime ministers have therefore been subjects of controversy.[21]
A number of Nazi war criminals immigrated to various countries in Latin America, including Josef Mengele, Klaus Barbie, and Franz Stangl.[22] In 1961, Argentina protested against Israel's abduction of Adolf Eichmann, who was responsible for the deaths of millions of Jews, and initially demanded his return to Argentina. Before his abduction, Eichmann openly discussed his crimes with other German immigrants.[23][24] Following his arrest a wave of antisemitic attacks were committed against Argentine Jews.[23]
Controversy has arisen around figures such as Adolfas Ramanauskas, Jonas Noreika, and Juozas Ambrazevičius, who are viewed as heroes due to opposing Soviet aggression against Lithuania but who have been accused of Nazi collaboration.[27][28][29] Noreika's involvement in the mass murder of Jews has been proven beyond any doubt. He directly gave the order to carry out the Plungė massacre, in which 1,700 Jewish men, women, and children were killed. In 1997, Noreika, who was executed by the Soviets in 1947, was posthumously the Order of the Cross of Vytis by the Lithuanian government.[30]
In 2019, Omar al-Bashir, who was previously indicted by the International Criminal Court for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity during the Darfur conflict, was deposed as President of Sudan and arrested.[35] In December 2019, he was convicted of corruption and sentenced to two years' imprisonment.[36] As of October 2020, the Sudanese government is exploring the possibility of a hybrid tribunal to try al-Bashir and others for war crimes.[35]
There are competing legacies of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, who is viewed as a national hero by some but who led an uprising that involved widespread massacres of Jews.[38] The World War II-era Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) is also controversial, being viewed by some Ukrainians as a national movement. However, the UPA in collaboration with the Nazis was responsible for mass killings of Jews and Poles during the Holocaust in Ukraine. Renaming of streets after Nazi collaborators and erection of monuments to them has been criticized by civil society groups.[39][40]
United States
Twenty soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor, the United States' highest military honor, for alleged "gallantry" and "bravery" during the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre in which hundreds of Lakota civilians were killed.[41] In 2019, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jeff Merkley introduced a bill to revoke the medals.[41]
President Donald Trump's use of pardon powers to pardon soldiers convicted of or charged with war crimes has attracted criticism.[44][45][46] According to law professor Stuart Ford, some of the pardons are illegal under international law, which requires that countries hold war criminals accountable.[47]
References
^ abAarons, Mark (2020). War Criminals Welcome: Australia, a Sanctuary for Fugitive War Criminals Since 1945. Black Inc. ISBN978-1-74382-163-3.
^Pettigrew, David (2018). "The Suppression of Cultural Memory and Identity in Bosnia and Herzegovina". Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Genocide and Memory. Springer International Publishing. pp. 187–198. ISBN978-3-319-65513-0.
^Ramet, Sabrina P. (2007). "The denial syndrome and its consequences: Serbian political culture since 2000". Communist and Post-Communist Studies. 40 (1): 41–58. doi:10.1016/j.postcomstud.2006.12.004.
^Kazyrytski, Leanid (2016). "Latvian SS-Legion: Past and Present. Some Issues Regarding the Modern Glorification of Nazism". Criminal Law Forum. 27 (3): 361–385. doi:10.1007/s10609-016-9286-3. S2CID148160519.
Pedaliu, Effie G.H. (2004). "Britain and the 'Hand-Over' of Italian War Criminals to Yugoslavia, 1945–48". Journal of Contemporary History. 39 (4): 503–529. doi:10.1177/0022009404046752. S2CID159985182.
Ristić, Katarina (2018). "The Media Negotiations of War Criminals and Their Memoirs: The Emergence of the "ICTY Celebrity"". International Criminal Justice Review. 28 (4): 391–405. doi:10.1177/1057567718766218. S2CID149665526.
Stover, Eric; Peskin, Victor; Koenig, Alexa (2016). Hiding in Plain Sight: The Pursuit of War Criminals from Nuremberg to the War on Terror. University of California Press. ISBN978-0-520-27805-9.
Wilson, Sandra; Cribb, Robert; Trefalt, Beatrice; Aszkielowicz, Dean (2017). Japanese War Criminals: The Politics of Justice After the Second World War. Columbia University Press. ISBN978-0-231-54268-5.