The Legality of Judicial Courts Convened by Non- State Armed Groups

Establishing courts in territories under domination of non-state armed groups is one of the first actions of that groups for making order and law in that places to trial opposition soldiers, civilians and their own members. In this paper, it is tried to examine the legality of this kind of courts in International Humanitarian Law, International Human Rights Law and International Criminal Law. Some of the necessary requirements for legality of these courts are impartiality, independence, judicial guarantees of civilized nations, enjoyment of experienced judges, etc. In a Swedish court, the criminal responsibility of a person was raised for murdering several people in Syria on the basis of a verdict issued by courts held by non-state armed groups. The Swedish court, however, denied the legitimacy of the verdict issued by such courts.