The Special Criminal Court of the Central African Republic

It is a well-known fact that the International Criminal Court (ICC) operates on the basis of the principle of complementarity. Practically this means that the primary competence to investigate, prosecute and try (IPT) the criminal behaviour of individuals coming into the ICC’s ambit (namely, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide) lies with the state in whose territory they were allegedly perpetrated, while the ICC’s competence comes into the play when the former is unable and/or unwilling to carry out its IPT duties. A variation of this state of affairs, which arguably has not been envisaged in the Rome Statute, is for the ICC to pursue investigations and, thereafter, prosecutions and trials which run parallel to the criminal proceedings taking place in the territory of a contracting party.