ABSTRACT
The most difficult issues related to the role of the prosecutor in transitions to democracy arise with respect to abuses by security forces that operate with relative autonomy, and the author's own observations will focus on the challenges posed by those situations. This chapter addresses the peculiar challenges that a prosecutor confronts when investigating such abuses during the volatile period of transition from military rule to democratic governance and considers the prosecutor's dilemma from the vantage point of international law and policy. Issues relating to prosecution of military abuses are at the heart of the broader dilemmas surrounding transitions from prolonged periods of military dictatorship to democratic government. Several years ago, when the dilemmas confronting Latin America's growing roster of nascent democracies first engaged the attention of the foreign policy and international human rights communities, the conceptual framework dominated the international community's policy debates.
