This chapter highlights the most significant features of investigation and trial procedure before international criminal courts. It assesses how fairness has been balanced with effectiveness in the unique and challenging context of conflict or post-conflict environments.
Chapter
20. Investigation and trial before international criminal courts
Antonio Cassese, Paola Gaeta, Laurel Baig, Mary Fan, Christopher Gosnell, and Alex Whiting
Chapter
21. Appeals and enforcement
Antonio Cassese, Paola Gaeta, Laurel Baig, Mary Fan, Christopher Gosnell, and Alex Whiting
The right of defendants to appeal against conviction or sentence is normally regarded as a fundamental human right. At present this right is laid down in numerous international treaties on human rights, as well as in the Statutes of international courts. The notion and purpose of appellate proceedings vary in national systems. Subject to a number of specifications and exceptions, in civil law countries, that is countries of Romano-Germanic legal tradition, these proceedings amount largely to a retrial by a court of appeal. In contrast, in most common law countries appellate proceedings do not lead to a retrial. Appeals courts, which do not have any jury, do not review facts, but decide on the basis of the trial record. In international criminal proceedings neither the common law system nor the civil law model have been upheld. Rather, a mixed system has been accepted, which is discussed in this chapter.
