Ebook: A History of Political Trials: From Charles I to Saddam Hussein

Acknowledgements 11; Introduction 13; 1 The Trial of Charles I and the Last Judgement 21; 2 The Trial of Louis XVI and the Terror 35; 3 War Guilt after World War I 51; 4 Defeat in the Dock: the Riom Trial 63; 5 Justice as Purge: Marshal Pétain Faces his Accusers 77; 6 Treachery on Trial: the Case of Vidkun Quisling 91; 7 Nuremberg: Making War Illegal 103; 8 Creating Legitimacy: the Trial of Marshal Antonescu 119; 9 Ethnic Cleansing and National Cleansing in Czechoslovakia, 1945-1947 129; 10 People's Justice in Liberated Hungary 143.;The modern use of international tribunals to try heads of state for genocide and crimes against humanity is often considered a positive development. Many people think that the establishment of special courts to prosecute notorious dictators represents a triumph of law over impunity. In A History of Political Trials, John Laughland takes a very different and controversial view. He shows that trials of heads of state are in fact not new, and that previous trials throughout history have themselves violated the law and due process. It is the historical account which carries the argument. By examin.