The duty to punish human rights violations of a prior regime under international law : post-communist transitional cases

The thesis traces the concepts of such crimes under international law as genocide and crimes against humanity, of individual and collective responsibility for these crimes, and identifies the place of crimes of former communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe among them. The thesis examines the sources of a duty to investigate and to punish human rights violations of a prior regime in international treaty and customary law which is not affected by a succession of States. An analysis of different methods by which post-communist democracies of Central and Eastern Europe come to terms with their past gives evidence of lustration (screening); condemning a previous regime and banning its ruling party as a criminal organization, and criminal proceedings against Communist Party officials. With specific reference to the example of Ukraine, where there exist valid grounds for accountability of the previous communist regime, it is argued that during the transitional period, justice could be achieved by way of outlawing the Communist Party of Ukraine. The accountability of the previous communist regime would be much facilitated by involving international law standards and international investigating bodies