Crimes against humanity during occupation is to be prosecuted applying criminal law if the national law at that time did not foresee such a possibility?

The destruction of 20 th century occupational regimes and new cases of such aggression leaves an ample space for discussions not only about the rights and duties acquired by the governmental subject but also about how this regime should be judged after the nation had reconstituted its usurped rights and renewed its nationhood. It is especially important in cases of encountering examples of repressions offending the civilized nations’ humanity principles against people in the occupied territories. In such a case there has to be analyzed and legally evaluated not only the policy of the government itself but also raised the issues of criminal prosecution of separate individuals who had implemented it. If the person’s criminal act is in compliance with the repressive policy in the occupied territory, however, there is a reasonable doubt if the person who in one way or another contributed to the implementation of such policy could possibly foresee that consequences of his actions would incur criminal responsibility after the end of the occupation. Moreover, the applicable laws shall not breach the principle nullum crimen sine lege (no crime without law) which means that only the law shall define the criminal actions and punishments thereof. As the occupational government legitimized the violations of human rights or if in the occupied territory there were no legislation that would allow the prosecution of the person who had committed the above mentioned crimes, such a process is possible if only international community determines that a person’s acts in the occupied territory is illegitimate in the point of view of international law. [...]Teisės fakultetasVytauto Didžiojo universiteta