VARAZDAT SUKIASYAN
PhD in Law,
Lecturer at the Department of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure
Law Institute of Law and Politics of the Russian-Armenian University
ADELINA SARGSYAN
PhD in Law,
Lecturer at the Department of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure
Law Institute of Law and Politics of the Russian-Armenian University
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59546/18290744-2025.7-9-94
Annotation.
This article has analyzed in detail the cases of the use of general principles of law and principles of national law in the decisions of international criminal courts and tribunals. It has shown the cases when international criminal courts and tribunals have based themselves on principles of national law and then turned them into principles of general law. Particular attention has been paid to the phased process of the transfer of legal principles.
The article concludes that international criminal courts and tribunals have confirmed the existence, content, and scope of general principles of law not only by resorting to the usual auxiliary means of determining the norms of international law (i.e., by referring to the decisions of international courts and tribunals) but also by deriving them directly from national legal systems.
The complex legal nature of international criminal law, its changing nature, and dynamic pace of development actualize the importance and necessity of studying general principles of law, their applicability in national legislation, and their possibilities to fill existing gaps. The role of general principles of law in the formation of uniform practice of international criminal courts and tribunals, as well as in ensuring respect for inalienable rights and free of charge: The authors address the application of the provisions of international criminal law in national criminal law and the possible difficulties of this process. Despite the correct statement that the transfer of the principles of national law to the international plane should not be mechanical, it is also true that international criminal courts and tribunals have rarely refused to apply the principles of national law to international criminal law due to their incompatibility. Even if the warnings of the International Criminal Court in the case of the former Yugoslavia on mechanical transportation sometimes seem exaggerated or erroneous, it is nevertheless true that the transfer of the general principles of national law to the international dimension should be carried out with caution. It is extremely important to constantly monitor the practice of international criminal courts and further study the general principles of law in order to increase the effectiveness of criminal justice in combating international crimes.
