The principles of primacy and complementarity. A necessary conciliation between national and international criminal authorities’ powers

Abstract

As they are international crimes, it is fundamental to specify the powers of international and national courts. For this matter, two principles have been structured, both primacy and complementarity. To be able to understand its reach, this work examines what occurred with the International Military Court –the Nuremberg Trials– and the ad hoc criminal courts –for ex Yugoslavia and Rwanda–. At the same time, the reasons for implementing a complementarity principle in the International Criminal Court are examined, rejecting the idea of its primacy over national courts.