Dystopian justice is no fantasy. Around the world, unfair trials are wielded as weapons of war, leading to indefinite detention and summary executions. The Dagger Beneath the Robe is the first book to offer a comprehensive legal analysis of the war crimes of denying judicial guarantees, drawing on doctrinal reconstruction, practice-oriented guidance, and the landmark Al Hassan case before the International Criminal Court. It navigates the tension between legality and chaos, criminal law and armed conflict, and proposes a coherent framework for interpreting these under-prosecuted offences. In doing so, it establishes international criminal justice as a credible and carefully calibrated means of protecting fair trial rights in wartime.