The Right to the Truth in Atrocity Trials before Municipal Courts (International Criminal Justice Series, 40)

This book explores the place and the role of the right to the truth in municipal trials for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.Using a definition of the right to the truth derived from international human rights jurisprudence, it analyses judgments, trial records and contemporaneous reports about municipal trials for crimes related to the Second World War, the Latin American human rights crisis in the late 20th century, and the Balkan Wars of the 1990s.The book argues that recognition of the right to the truth has helped courts unveil previously unknown facts about mass atrocities.Procedural mechanisms protecting the right to the truth have made it possible for some trials to take place and have made available to the courts significant amounts of evidence.The volume further contends that recognition of the right to the truth has furthered the trials’ ability to reaffirm the values ruptured by the crimes and to strengthen social solidarity. This monograph offers a novel pe