The ‘Grotian Style’ in International Criminal Justice

Grotiana ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 304-334
Author(s):  
Frédéric Mégret
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
International System ◽  
International Community ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
The Law ◽  
Ongoing Dialogue ◽  
Law Making

Abstract This article envisages how one might conceptualize the ‘Grotian Style’ in international criminal justice as a practice of adaptation spearheaded by international judges rather than as actual changes occurring in the international system. It foregrounds the emblematic career of Antonio Cassese at the ICTY as epitomizing the trajectory of a scholar on the bench intent on seizing a historic opportunity to reframe the law. The contours, origins, and prospects but also limitations of the ‘Grotian style’ are then discussed. The problem with the Grotian style is not primarily that it runs roughshod over defense rights, but that it appropriates a law-making authority which, in the international system, is better understood as primarily vested in states. In the process, it risks exposing its hubris and shallowness, especially when deciding on normatively intractable issues. In a context where international criminal justice is increasingly being normalized, the time may have come to reconceptualize judges’ role along more global constitutional lines as rooted in an ongoing dialogue with the international community of states and an emerging separation of powers.

scholarly journals Sudan, Resolution 1593, and International Criminal Justice

2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT CRYER
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Security Council ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International System ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
Incomplete Reaction

The UN Security Council has recently referred the situation in Darfur, Sudan, to the International Criminal Court. This has been hailed as a breakthrough in international criminal justice. However, aspects of the referral resolution can be criticized from the point of view of their consistency with both the Rome Statute and the UN Charter. The limitations of the referral with respect to whom the Court may investigate also raise issues with respect to the rule of law. In addition, Sudan has accused the Security Council of acting in a neo-colonial fashion by referring the situation in Darfur to the Court. This article investigates these criticisms against the background of the international system in which international criminal law operates, and concludes that although the referral cannot be considered neo-colonial in nature, the referral can be criticized as selective and as an incomplete reaction to the crisis in Darfur. The referral remains, however, a positive step.

scholarly journals The Value of International Criminal Justice: How Much International Criminal Justice Can the World Afford?

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-213
Author(s):  
Ernst Hirsch Ballin
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Community ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
Legal Development ◽  
The World

International criminal justice, and in particular the icc, has been overburdened by the unrestrained idealism underlying the ambitions inscribed in its fundaments. However, the resulting acts of legal development have not been without value. On the contrary, it is only when idealism sharpens our view on reality that progress can be achieved. Striving to gradually strengthen international criminal justice is therefore worthwhile. Our best bet is to seek to understand where shortcomings in the existing system are grist to the mill for cynicism and to look for opportunities to make international criminal justice more credible in the eyes of victim populations. The question of how much criminal justice the world can afford is the wrong question to ask. Rather, we should be asking whether the international community, if it is still concerned about establishing trust and peace among nations, can afford to do away with international criminal justice.

The Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone. Rationale and Challenges

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiyanjana Mphepo
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Community ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
Residual Functions ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Government ◽  
Insight Into

This article provides an insight into the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone (RSCSL), which was established by an agreement between the United Nations and the Government of Sierra Leone, to carry out the essential residual functions of the Special Court for Sierra Leone when it closes. The RSCSL epitomizes the commitment of the UN, the Sierra Leone Government, and the international community to ensure the continued protection of witnesses, the proper enforcement of the sentences of persons convicted by the SCSL, the continued respect of the rights of such persons by providing them with a sound judicial mechanism for the review of convictions and sentences, and that there is no impunity for the sole remaining SCSL fugitive after the closure of the SCSL. If the RSCSL manages to overcome the challenges identified in this article, it will become an important pillar of the new architecture of international criminal justice.

Disclosure before the ICC: The Emergence of a New Form of Policies Implementation System in International Criminal Justice?

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Caianiello
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
Legal Traditions ◽  
New Form ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law Of Evidence ◽  
Trial Phase

AbstractThe use of theoretical models, the most famous of which is the distinction between accusatorial and inquisitorial, is decisive in testing the intrinsic consistency of a specific procedural system. The aim of this work is to analyse some aspects of the law of evidence provided for by ICC sources, specifically the disclosure provisions, and ascertain whether the blending of different legal traditions may be regarded as successful or subject to criticism. For this purpose, in his analysis the Author employs the widely known Damaška partition between coordinate vs. hierarchical officialdom, in the administration of the process. The conclusion reached in this work is that some amendments to the sources of the ICC concerning the law of evidence would be advisable, in order to rectify certain inconsistencies. Among them, the author proposes the adoption of an official Prosecutor's file in the pre-trial phase.

Roots

2021 ◽  
pp. 3-30
Author(s):  
Theodor Meron
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Due Process ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
Unique Role ◽  
The World ◽  
The Law

This chapter provides a brief biography of the author and his road to Judgeship. Being a Judge allowed him to put into practice his commitment to accountability, rule of law and due process. The chapter then sketches out the contours of international criminal justice. International criminal courts, in many ways, resemble criminal courts in national jurisdictions around the world. They weigh evidence, follow due process, ensure the parties are heard and apply and abide by the law and respect human rights. At the same time, international criminal courts—and the cases they hear—are extraordinary. Because of their unique role and the nature of the crimes charged, international criminal courts are also often seen as something more than criminal courts. Their judgements are sometimes expected to be definitive histories of the conflict.

Justice pénale internationale pour la paix et la réconciliation

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 391-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Ayat
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
International Community ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
The Past ◽  
International Tribunals ◽  
Judicial Recognition

AbstractInternational criminal justice has made a tremendous leap forward since the mid-1990s. Gradually, it tends to reacting more and more to situations of armed conflict with declared objectives aiming at restoring peace and bringing about reconciliation among people. To what extent have these objectives been achieved?This article is revolves around this important question. The analysis is particularly focused on the case of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where the author has been working for the past ten years. Ad hoc international tribunals have helped formalizing the judicial recognition by the international community of crimes that go against the conscience of the entire mankind. They consecrate their disapproval of the commission of such offences. In so doing, they contribute towards fighting impunity, which has for long been associated with those offences. They function in an environment where conventional national jurisdictions would have found it difficult to operate with efficiency. The author is neither overestimating nor underestimating their contribution. It is presented as one of the components in a reply that is inescapably of a multiple nature, to some complex situations where a remedy is as difficult as the illness to be cured. It is in this perspective that such contribution is indeed appreciated.

scholarly journals The admissibility of improperly obtained evidence: The universality of the problem and the diversity of approaches to solving it

Pravovedenie ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 460-480
Author(s):  
Pavel P. Stepanov ◽  
◽  
Gleb E. Besedin ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Due Process ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Law

The article focuses on the issue of acknowledging inadmissible evidence obtained in violation of the law. According to the authors, this issue can be encountered, in one way or another, in any procedural system (both at the national and international levels). In this regard, the authors substantiate the relevance and ambivalence of the issue for the Russian criminal proceedings. Also, the authors use the scientific works of scholars belonging to the Soviet, early post-Soviet and modern periods of the development of Russian criminal proceedings, as well as materials of judicial practice from various years in order to demonstrate the evolution of approaches to the solution of the topic. In order to demonstrate universality of the issue, the authors analyze, in a comparative legal sense, the approaches of leading foreign procedural systems. It is concluded that there is a tendency that foreign legal systems are searching for the recognition criteria of evidence obtained in violation of the law to achieve a balance between the two areas of criminal procedural policy: ‘due process of law’ and ‘crime control’. Usually, the violation of human rights committed in obtaining evidence per se does not entail the finding of such evidence as unacceptable. The authors focus on the same issue, but in the scope of international criminal justice which combines the approaches of both the investigative (inquisitorial) and the accusatory (adversary) criminal procedure traditions. It is indicated that the bodies of international criminal justice (in particular, the International Criminal Court), when forming their position on the issue under consideration, are guided in many respects by the law enforcement practices of international bodies for the protection of human rights (primarily, the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights). The authors conclude that it is possible to use the criteria for the inadmissibility of evidence specified in the Rome Statute and the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights for Russian criminal proceedings due to the transitional nature of the criteria.

Politics of Inter/National Denial of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda

Postgenocide ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 179-208
Author(s):  
Andrew Wallis
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Community ◽  
Economic Outcomes ◽  
International Criminal Justice

This chapter charts the proponents of denial of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, which began contemporaneously with the crimes themselves. In exile from August 1994, the genocidal interim regime ‘rebranded’ itself to the international community to downplay guilt, avoid prosecution, and obtain support for its ultimate aim—a return to power in Kigali. This grouping, heavily based within former francophone and Flemish supporters (legal, political, Church, diplomatic, media, NGOs), has since used a campaign of disinformation, disassociation, and false narratives to confuse and threaten truth. The analysis shows how the failure of international criminal justice—at the ICTR and in states such as France, UK, Belgium, and the Vatican—have wittingly and unwittingly assisted denial. The denial campaign has become more strident during recent years. If unchallenged, such denial has the potential to threaten future positive judicial, political, and economic outcomes for the country and its people.

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