Why are (seemingly) so many war crimes Tried by Germany? Why aren’t they tried by other countries like the US, UK or France?
To clarify: I’m not talking about NAZI war crimes but crimes commited by Syria for example where there have been a couple high profile trials in the last few years.
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Last year a German Federal Court ruled that war crimes comitted abroad could be tried in Germany. “The decision stemmed from the trial of a former Afghan officer who was given a suspended sentence for dangerous bodily harm and a war crime at a higher regional court in Munich.” This only applies to certain war crimes and some crimes against humanity. Full article [here](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.dw.com/en/top-german-court-rules-war-crimes-committed-abroad-can-be-tried-in-germany/a-56368645)
I could be wrong, but I don’t believe Germany has tried more individual Syrians for war crimes in Germany more than anywhere else, it’s probably simply that you read or heard about them more for some reason.
France and other UK and other countries have tried Syrian jihadists in their courts.
It could also be that individual countries try their own citizens fro crimes committed in Syria, or try people who have been charged of crimes that affected a given country’s citizens.
I am not sure if the part with “many war criminals tried” really holds up, but in general Germany is part of the International Criminal Court and has several systems in place to persecute criminals even if the crime did not happened on German soil (piracy trials for example).
SYL
Are you thinking of The Hague, in The Netherlands?
Courts can only try people if they have jurisdiction. That means countries usually only prosecute crimes that happened on their territory, or by their citizens. The details differ from country to country. People who committed crimes in a foreign country are extradited (sent back) instead of being put on trial.
One big exception are crimes against humanity. Many countries (but not all!) hold that there is universal jurisdiction for these especially heinous crimes. That means that all courts everywhere may prosecute these criminals, no matter who they are or where they committed their crimes. This is laid down in the Rome Statue.
In Germany, this is laid down in the *Völkerstrafgesetzbuch* (“Code of Crimes against International Law”).
German prosecutors **must**, by law, bring all suspected crimes to trial, except very minor ones. German prosecutors have gone to jail for not prosecuting. This is very different from the situation in the US, for example. Germans do not have the reputation of being sticklers for rules for nothing.
Then, of course, Germany takes in many refugees. Among them are witnesses and possibly criminals. There are more suspects in Germany than in other countries with similar laws.
Germany offered to host extra hearings in their courts so other countries took them up on it.
But the most famous international court is the Hague in the Netherlands. They have done the most over the years
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