NATO's Intervention in Kosovo and the Decision of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia Not to Investigate: An Abusive Exercise of Prosecutorial Discretion?

摘要

Prosecutors will have to exercise their discretionary powers in total impartiality, avoiding the semblance of appearing on the side of the victors or the powerful. When the member states of NATO decided to initiate Operation Allied Force, few governments probably contemplated that they risked defending their actions before an international court. The increasing presence and importance of international courts appear to be the way of the future, whether one likes it or not. The ICTY [International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia] is one court before which NATO leaders will not have to appear. Although the Court clearly had jurisdiction, the prosecutor at the Court decided to follow the advice of the Committee that no formal investigation be initiated.