The Figure of the Witness in International Criminal Tribunals

The Figure of the Witness in International Criminal Tribunals
Author: Benjamin Thorne
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2022-10-05
Genre: Law
ISBN: 100059095X

This book analyses how international criminal institutions, and their actors – legal counsels, judges, investigators, registrars – construct witness identity and memory. Filling an important gap within transitional justice scholarship, this conceptually led and empirically grounded interdisciplinary study takes the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) as a case study. It asks: How do legal witnesses of human rights violations contribute to memory production in transitional post-conflict societies? Witnessing at tribunals entails individuals externalising memories of violations. This is commonly construed within the transitional justice legal scholarship as an opportunity for individuals to ensure their memories are entered into an historical record. Yet this predominant understanding of witness testimony fails to comprehend the nature of memory. Memory construction entails fragments of individual and collective memories within a contestable and contingent framing of the past. Accordingly, the book challenges the claim that international criminal courts and tribunals are able to produce a collective memory of atrocities; as it maintains that witnessing must be understood as a contingent and multi-layered discursive process. Contributing to the specific analysis of witnessing and memory, but also to the broader field of transitional justice, this book will appeal to scholars and practitioners in these areas, as well as others in legal theory, global criminology, memory studies, international relations, and international human rights.

A Fair Trial at the International Criminal Court?

A Fair Trial at the International Criminal Court?
Author: Elmar Widder
Publisher: PL Academic Research is
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016
Genre: Criminal procedure
ISBN: 9783631675663

This book approaches the question of whether or not the court procedure at the International Criminal Court (ICC) can be regarded as fair from two angles: First, does the ICC provide a fair trial according to the accepted standards of international human rights law? Secondly, is it substantively fair so as to establish the legitimacy of the court on a sound footing? Practitioners and academics are increasingly conscious of the need for an approach to evidence which spans civil law and common law traditions, national and international law. This is what this monograph does, in meticulous detail, for the law of confrontation and disclosure.

The Position of Witnesses before the International Criminal Court

The Position of Witnesses before the International Criminal Court
Author: Sylvia Ntube Ngane
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 430
Release: 2015-08-25
Genre: Law
ISBN: 900430195X

The book is an evaluation of the doctrine and practice of international criminal courts and tribunals on the position of witnesses against a theoretically informed ideal of a cosmopolitan world order. It seeks to ascertain that there is a cosmopolitan international community, with shared values, that are instantiated in the international criminal tribunals, and that is what justifies the exercise of jurisdiction over witnesses who provide false testimony or engage in other forms of contempt of court. The book evaluates the practice of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Writing History in International Criminal Trials

Writing History in International Criminal Trials
Author: Richard Ashby Wilson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2011-03-07
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1139498266

Why do international criminal tribunals write histories of the origins and causes of armed conflicts? Richard Ashby Wilson conducted research with judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and expert witnesses in three international criminal tribunals to understand how law and history are combined in the courtroom. Historical testimony is now an integral part of international trials, with prosecutors and defense teams using background testimony to pursue decidedly legal objectives. In the Slobodan Milošević trial, the prosecution sought to demonstrate special intent to commit genocide by reference to a long-standing animus, nurtured within a nationalist mindset. For their part, the defense called historical witnesses to undermine charges of superior responsibility, and to mitigate the sentence by representing crimes as reprisals. Although legal ways of knowing are distinct from those of history, the two are effectively combined in international trials in a way that challenges us to rethink the relationship between law and history.

Research Handbook on Transitional Justice

Research Handbook on Transitional Justice
Author: Cheryl Lawther
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 547
Release: 2023-08-14
Genre: Law
ISBN: 180220251X

Providing a refreshing take on transitional justice, this second edition Research Handbook brings together an expanse of scholarly expertise to reconsider how societies deal with gross human rights violations, structural injustices and mass violence. Contextualised by historical developments, it covers a diverse range of concepts, actors and mechanisms of transitional justice, while shedding light on new and emerging areas in the field.

The Legacy of Nuremberg

The Legacy of Nuremberg
Author: David A. Blumenthal
Publisher: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2008
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9004156917

In this new collection of essays the editors assess the legacy of the Nuremberg Trial asking whether the Trial really did have a civilising influence or if it constituted little more than institutionalised vengeance. Three essays focus particularly on the historical context and involve rich analysis of, for example, the atmospherics of the Trial itself and the attitudes of German society at the time to the conduct of the Trial. The majority of the essays deal with the contemporary legacies of the Nuremberg Trial and attempt to assess the ongoing relevance of the Judgment itself and of the principles encapsulated in it. Some essays consider the importance of the principle of individual criminal responsibility under international law and argue that the international community has to some extent failed to fulfil the promise of Nuremberg in the decades since the Trial. Other essays focus on contemporary application of aspects of the substantive law of Nuremberg - particularly the international crime of aggression, the law of military occupation and the use of the crime of conspiracy as an alternative basis of criminal responsibility. The collection also includes essays analysing the nature and operation of a number of international criminal tribunals since Nuremberg including the permanent International Criminal Court. The final grouping of essays focus on the impact of the Nuremberg Trial on Australia examining, in particular, Australia's post-World War Two war crimes trials of Japanese defendants, Australia's extensive national case law on Article 1(F) of the Refugee Convention and Australia's national implementing legislation for the Rome Statute.

Legacies of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Legacies of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
Author: Carsten Stahn
Publisher:
Total Pages: 673
Release: 2020
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0198862954

This edited volume provides a multidisciplinary perspective on the contribution of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to law, memory, and justice. It explores some of the accomplishments, challenges and critiques of the ICTY, as well as some of its less visible legacies.

The International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court
Author: Roy S. Lee
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2001
Genre: International crimes
ISBN: 9781571052094

Through the eyes of those who actually conducted the negotiations, each of the 28 chapters chapter focuses on how the Elements and Rules were negotiated, what the main issues were, why certain provisions were included, and why certain proposals were deliberately left out. In the absence of any official travaux preparatoires, this work facilitates a better understanding of the legislative intent and serves as a guide to future application of the Statute by the Court.

The International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court
Author: William A. Schabas
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 2251
Release: 2017-01-19
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0191060305

Established as one of the main sources for the study of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, this volume provides an article-by-article analysis of the Statute; the detailed analysis draws upon relevant case law from the Court itself, as well as from other international and national criminal tribunals, academic commentary, and related instruments such as the Elements of Crimes, the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, and the Relationship Agreement with the United Nations. Each of the 128 articles is accompanied by an overview of the drafting history as well as a bibliography of academic literature relevant to the provision. Written by a single author, the Commentary avoids duplication and inconsistency, providing a comprehensive presentation to assist those who must understand, interpret, and apply the complex provisions of the Rome Statute.This volume has been well-received in the academic community and has become a trusted reference for those who work at the Court, even judges. The fully updated second edition of The International Criminal Court incorporates new developments in the law, including discussions of recent judicial activity and the amendments to the Rome Statute adopted at the Kampala conference.