Challenges of Criminal Prosecution of Perpetrators of International Crimes during the Conflict in Sierra Leone

The paper examines the experience of international justice in Sierra Leone The aim of this work is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the transitional justice model in Sierra Leone in all its elements and build a clear picture of the relationship between its goals, deficiencies and results. To fulfill this aim, certain goals need to be reached. I need to analyze the factors which contributed to the specificity of this case, then analyze how they were approached by the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), and then synthesize the relationship between this approach and the results of international justice there. My hypothesis is that despite the functioning of a dual system: an internationalized court (the SCSL) and national courts, the goal of bringing to justice perpetrators of international crimes was not fully realized for a variety of legal and practical reasons. Although many of these elements have been thoroughly studied already, little research has been made in trying to analyze the achievements and failings of this system through the prism of indigenous circumstances, which also is a big part of this research. The object of this paper is the work of the “hybrid” system of international justice in Sierra Leone. The subject of the paper is international humanitarian and criminal law.