War and Justice

Dedicated to Ben Ferencz, the youngest chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, who spent his entire life fighting to replace war with justice.

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. Shortly afterwards, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the alleged deportation of Ukrainian children and related suspected war crimes. Eighteen months later, on 7 October 2023, Hamas carried out a devastating attack on Israeli civilians. Israel responded with its largest military offensive in Gaza to date. The conflict threatened to escalate further. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan travelled to the Middle East and announced that the Court would investigate and prosecute all forms of war crimes, regardless of who committed them. The documentary WAR AND JUSTICE tells the 25-year history of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its mission to end the most serious crimes against humanity. But can war crimes truly be prevented during times of war? Or was Ben Ferencz, former prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, right when he said that the greatest crime is war itself? The film focuses on three key figures: Benjamin Ferencz, Luis Moreno-Ocampo from Argentina, who became the ICC’s first chief prosecutor in 2003, and Karim Khan, the current ICC prosecutor. Directors Marcus Vetter and Michele Gentile follow Luis Moreno-Ocampo around the world as he gains the support of Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie and, together with Ferencz and Khan, works against wars and injustice in countries including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, Palestine, and Ukraine. Throughout the film, a complex legal process becomes personal and understandable. It explores why acts of aggression—the “crime of crimes”—are so difficult to bring before a court, especially when major powers such as China, Russia, India, and the United States still do not recognise the ICC as a global court.

In April 2023, Ben Ferencz died at the age of 103. In his honour, Moreno-Ocampo and Khan continue their work with renewed determination to end wars of aggression. Because wars create cycles of revenge. Justice does not.