The Right to Legal Assistance at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda: a Review of Its Jurisprudence

2007 ◽  
pp. 125-157
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Legal Assistance ◽  
The Right

Commentary: The Assignment of Defence Counsel Before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

1999 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 957-968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaïl Wladimiroff
Keyword(s):  
Free Choice ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Legal Assistance ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
Defence Counsel ◽  
The Right

In light of serious problems with the assignment of counsel to defendants before the ICTR, this article examines the freedom of choice of assigned defence counsel before both ad hoc International Criminal Tribunals. International legal instruments guarantee free legal assistance for indigent defendants but do not recognize an unrestricted free choice of such counsel. International case law, however, recognizes that an effective defence can hardly arise from a client-counsel relation that is not based on trust and confidence. Trust and confidence are therefore decisive for a proper understanding of the right to have free legal assistance. Unlike the practice of the ICTY of recognizing the importance of these factors, the Registrar of the ICTR seems to give more weight to geographical distribution of lawyers and other discriminating factors. The Appeals Chamber of the ICTR dealt with this policy in the Akayesu case and overturned the decision of the Registry to refuse the counsel of the defendant's own choosing.

The Right of the Accused to Self-Representation Before International Criminal Tribunals

2004 ◽  
Vol 98 (4) ◽  
pp. 711-726 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina H. B. Jørgensen
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
Legal Assistance ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
Open Court ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Right

Conventional wisdom holds that a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client. Perhaps surprisingly, several of the highest profile accused persons before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) have received some form of legal training. Less surprisingly, it is precisely those accused who are asserting a right to self-representation. Slobodan Miloševic, for example, has a degree in law and by the end of his trial will have earned himself several years of advocacy experience. Vojislav Šešelj, a professor of law at Belgrade University, was somewhat affronted by the judge's suggestion that he should request legal assistance and exclaimed in open court, “I have never met a better lawyer dian I am in my whole life.” Are these accused fools to want to represent themselves? What about an accused with no legal experience at all who asserts this right in the face of charges of genocide and crimes against humanity? As one accused remarked when clarifying to the court that he did not wish to represent himself, “No. It would be insane if I did that ….”

scholarly journals Review of Some Procedural Witness Protective Measures at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (34) ◽  
pp. 251
Author(s):  
Romina Beqiri
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Fair Trial ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Protective Measures ◽  
Balkan Region ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

Given the spread terror and the abuses perpetrated in the Balkan region, many victims and witnesses of atrocities were deterred from testifying. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY or Tribunal) facilitated the appearance of witnesses and protected them in case of intimidation including by taking measures against those who would violate the confidentiality of the proceedings. This article aims to introduce some of the witness protective measures before the Tribunal, and particularly threats and risks they have faced in the context of the cases dealt with by the Tribunal. It reflects also upon groundbreaking measures of protection decided by the Tribunal and the challenges it has faced over the last two decades. It finally discusses the impact of such challenges on the right to a fair trial and how they were addressed.

The Broken Path to Reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina

2020 ◽  
pp. 571-582
Author(s):  
Rosa Aloisi
Keyword(s):  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
International Justice ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Divided Society ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Right ◽  
Vivid Description

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has delivered judgments adjudicating some of the most heinous crimes committed in the Balkans. As the Tribunal’s work comes to an end, judges leave behind a ‘memorial of words’ providing a vivid description of events and sites of atrocities. However, today local authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) use the same places where crimes were committed as a political tool of denial and battleground of ethnic divisions. This chapter assesses the tensions between the truth recounted by the ICTY and the construction of the local collective memory through an analysis of how the sites of atrocities are being used. This chapter argues that, while international justice offers some resolution to a post-war divided society, a full reconciliation is only possible when the communities acknowledge the occurrence of atrocities and the right of victims to visit these places to mourn and remember.

The Right to be Defended in Person or Through Legal Assistance and the International Criminal Court

2000 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 949-984 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Beresford ◽  
Hafida Lahiouel
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Legal Assistance ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
International Obligations ◽  
The Right

While the Statute of the International Criminal Court guarantees to suspects and accused the right to be defended in person or through legal assistance, it contains little guidance as to the extent to which this most fundamental right will be provided. In order to ascertain how broadly it should be applied, the authors examine the application of the right by the ad hoc international criminal tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. The authors note that the defence-orientated approach taken by the ad hoc Tribunals to the right to be defended in person or through legal assistance not only conforms with international obligations, but also in many respects goes beyond that required by international human rights law. It is, therefore, crucial that the ICC listens to the experience of the ad hoc Tribunals and adopts similar, if not identical, rules and regulations relating to the qualifications, conduct and assignment of counsel.

The Right of the Accused to Self-Representation Before International Criminal Tribunals: Further Developments

2005 ◽  
Vol 99 (3) ◽  
pp. 663-668
Author(s):  
Nina H. B. Jørgensen
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Trial Chamber ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
The Law ◽  
Developing Area ◽  
The Right

In its decision on assigned counsel's motion for withdrawal in the Milosevic case, the trial chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) observed “that assignment of counsel against the wishes of the accused is a developing area of the law both in national and international jurisdictions.” This area of law witnessed rapid development by international criminal tribunals in the latter half of 2004.

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY): Prosecutor V. Krnojelac

2004 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-380 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
The United States ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Indefinite Detention ◽  
The Right ◽  
And Control ◽  
The U.S

This case presents the question whether the Executive Branch may hold uncharged citizens of foreign nations in indefinite detention in territory under the "complete jurisdiction and control" of the United States while effectively denying them the right to challenge their detention in any tribunal anywhere, including the courts of the U.S. The issues we are required to confront are new, important, and difficult.

scholarly journals Muzzling the Press

2020 ◽  
pp. 307-336
Author(s):  
Audrey Fino ◽  
Sandra Sahyouni
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Freedom Of The Press ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Right

Chapter 16 deals with contempt cases against journalists. Restrictions on freedom of the press have been striking at international criminal tribunals, where violations of protective measures granted to, for example, witnesses have led to several landmark yet controversial prosecutions of journalists for contempt of court. This chapter examines these practices from a human rights law perspective, as part of the recognized exceptions to the principle of public trials. In doing so, it reviews the law and jurisprudence of international and hybrid tribunals, including the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), and the International Criminal Court (ICC). In addition, it surveys contempt of court, offences against the administration of justice, and the law on reporting restrictions in a number of common law and civil law domestic jurisdictions. It concludes that the right to freedom of the press in the context of international criminal trials is not absolute, and that limits ordered by international tribunals, despite the polemics they may cause, are actually fully in line with both human rights law and domestic legal trends.

scholarly journals The Impact of ECHR and the Case-Law of the ECtHR on the Development of the Right to Legal Assistance in International Criminal Courts (ICTY, ICTR, ICC)

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 188-204
Author(s):  
Mykhailo Buromenskyi ◽  
Vitalii Gutnyk
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Case Law ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Legal Assistance ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The European Convention on Human Rights and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights have a significant impact not only on national legal order but also on international criminal courts. The article is dedicated to analyzing that impact in the context of the right to legal assistance. We ascertain the purpose of the establishment of international criminal courts, the specificity of the right to legal assistance in the European system of human rights protection, the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights on the drafting of statutes of the international criminal courts and influence of the European Convention on Human Rights and case-law of the European Court of Human Rights on the interpretation of the right to legal assistance in the international criminal courts. Also the primacy of the right to legal assistance is proved, which is provided in the ECHR to the statutes of international criminal courts. At the same time, the international criminal courts, taking into account the purpose of their establishment and jurisdiction, give additional guarantees of the right to legal assistance.

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