Truth Commissions and Criminal Courts

This detailed evaluation of the relationship between trials and truth commissions challenges their assumed compatibility through an analysis of their operational features at national, inter-state and international levels. Alison Bisset conducts case-study analyses of national practice in South Africa, East Timor and Sierra Leone, evaluates the problems posed by the International Criminal Court and considers the challenges presented by the possibility of bystander state prosecutions. At each level, she highlights potential operational conflicts and formulates targeted proposals to enable effective coexistence.

1. Truth commissions and trials within the transitional justice framework; 2. Truth commissions and international jurisdiction to prosecute; 3. Coordinating truth commissions and trials at the national level; 4. Coordinating truth commissions and ICC operations; 5. Coordinating truth commissions and prosecutions in bystander states; 6. Conclusion: coordinating truth commissions and trials in the ICC era.

Alison Bisset is a lecturer in law at the University of Reading.