Bijzonder bestraft: context, analyse en waardering van de bijzondere rechtspraak door de Kamer Groningen van het Bijzonder Gerechtshof Leeuwarden en van cassaties in Groningse zaken

During the Second World War the Dutch government in exile in London had enacted Decrees under Subjective (unwritten) State Emergency Law. In 1943 and 1944 a set of Decrees were established to be able to sentence people who had committed war related crimes, international war crimes or had collaborated with the German occupiers of the Netherlands. Special Criminal Courts and a Special Court of Cassation were to be installed to sentence war related crimes and international war crimes. By the beginning of 1946 all chambers were functioning. In this study all the sentences by the Groningen Chamber of the Special Court Leeuwarden and Cassation of the Groningen cases are analysed and valued Apart from the analysis and valuation of the sentences of the Groningen all the Decrees on special jurisdiction and the related Acts, Laws and Decrees are described. Furthermore, all the actors in the Special jurisdiction are extensively described. The conclusion of this study is that the Chamber Groningen and the Special Court of Cassation have sentenced fairly and the sentences were proportionate. In view of the problems identified in this study it would be wise to examine the current acts on state emergency and punishment after a war.