Public online lecture: Christian Axboe Nielsen “Leadership Analysis in International Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions”

The webinar lecture series “Karistusõiguse Jutla" is arranged by the Penal Law Department of the School of Law at the University of Tartu. The seminars take place regularly, approximately once a month on a weekday, with a duration of about two hours. Depending on the topic, the speakers include faculty members from the University of Tartu School of Law or guest experts from outside the university. The audience consists of University of Tartu faculty and students, practicing lawyers, and other interested participants depending on the topic. The webinar session of Karistusõiguse Jutla are typically held via the same Zoom link.

February 28, 2025  

10.00-11.30 AM (UTC+2)

The public lecture of our series is “Leadership Analysis in International Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions”” by Assoc. Prof. of History and Human Security Christian Axboe Nielsen at Aarhus University in Denmark.

International criminal cases typically focus on civilian or military leadership figures.  The accused are usually geographically far removed from the victims and crime sites.  Many often confusing layers of actors stand between the accused and the crimes for which they stand accused.  This presentation explains how leadership analysis reconstructs command structures and provide the court with the necessary context and understanding to prosecute complex international criminal cases. 

Christian Axboe Nielsen  is an Associate Professor of History and Human Security at Aarhus University in Denmark. He has worked as an analyst at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and at the International Criminal Court, and has appeared as an expert witness in international and domestic criminal and civil cases, including the trials of Momčilo Krajišnik, Mićo Stanišić, Stojan Župljanin, Goran Hadžić and Radovan Karadžić. 

He has also worked as a consultant for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and for the Ministry of Justice in Canada and for the Federal Prosecutor in Germany. His books include Making Yugoslavs: Identity in King Aleksandar’s Yugoslavia (University of Toronto Press, 2014) and Yugoslavia and Political Assassinations: The History and Legacy of Tito’s Campaign Against the Émigrés (Bloomsbury/I.B. Tauris, 2020) and Mass Atrocities and the Police: A New History of Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bloomsbury/I.B. Tauris, 2022). 

He has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals on Yugoslav history, football hooliganism, mass violence and genocide. is an Associate Professor of History and Human Security at Aarhus University in Denmark. 

He has worked as an analyst at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and at the International Criminal Court, and has appeared as an expert witness in international and domestic criminal and civil cases, including the trials of Momčilo Krajišnik, Mićo Stanišić, Stojan Župljanin, Goran Hadžić and Radovan Karadžić. 

He has also worked as a consultant for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and for the Ministry of Justice in Canada and for the Federal Prosecutor in Germany. His books include Making Yugoslavs: Identity in King Aleksandar’s Yugoslavia (University of Toronto Press, 2014) and Yugoslavia and Political Assassinations: The History and Legacy of Tito’s Campaign Against the Émigrés (Bloomsbury/I.B. Tauris, 2020) and Mass Atrocities and the Police: A New History of Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bloomsbury/I.B. Tauris, 2022). He has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals on Yugoslav history, football hooliganism, mass violence and genocide.

Join the webinar via Zoom