LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES AND REPARATION FOR HARM CAUSED BY WAR CRIMES

War crimes are the most serious criminal offences, which in terms of their characteristics are related to violations of the rules of international law during a war, armed conflict and occupation. One of the consequences of the commission of war crimes is material and non-material harm, caused as a rule to a large number of people. Therefore liability for damages and reparation of the harm caused to the victims of war crimes is equally as important as the criminal prosecution of the perpetrators themselves. In the territory of the Republic of Croatia and neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, wars and armed conflicts were waged in recent history, and war crimes were committed. Still today criminal proceedings and proceedings for pay ment of damages and reparation for the harm that was caused are being conducted against the perpetrators and the responsible persons. Regarding liability for damages for the war crimes committed, the state will very often appear alongside the wrongdoer as the responsible person, and as a result the question will arise of the expiration of the statute of limitations for reparation tow ards a state. It is also important to differentiate war damage and acts of terrorism from a possible war crime and, regarding payment of damages to victims of war crimes, it is necessary to conduct rapid and efficient compensation proceedings. The subject of this paper is an analysis of the legislation and case law related to liability for damages and the harm caused by war crimes. The paper first explains the terminology and the differences between a war crime, war damage and an act of terrorism, and then liability is discussed for the harm caused by war crimes and reparation of that harm.