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The Effect of Legal Culture on the Development of International Evidentiary Practice: From the ‘Robing Room’ to the ‘Melting Pot’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2013

JOHN JACKSON  and
YASSIN M’BOGE
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Abstract

This paper draws on some of the preliminary findings of a small pilot study which aimed to discover what evidentiary challenges a range of practitioners with experience of different international trials faced in the cases they were involved in, and what practices were developed to deal with these challenges. The findings in this study are based on the data collected from The Hague-based institutions, the ICC, the ICTY, the ICTY and ICTR Appeals Chamber, and the Special Tribunal for the Lebanon (STL). It is argued that professionals moving from institution to institution are engaged in a process of cross-pollination which itself influences the practices that develop, although a common understanding of certain evidentiary issues in international trials remains fragmented and at times elusive.

Keywords

evidentiary challengesinternational criminal practicelegal cultureprofessional normsinternational courts
Type
HAGUE INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNALS: International Criminal Courts and Tribunals: Symposium: Expertise, Uncertainty, and International Law
Information
Leiden Journal of International Law , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , December 2013 , pp. 947 - 970
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation of the Leiden Journal of International Law 2013 

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References

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24 Respondent 5, Judge, The Hague, 21 September 2011.

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27 Jackson and Summers, supra note 5, 124–31.

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30 Respondent 2, Judge, The Hague, 20 September 2011.

31 Respondent 3, Court Official, The Hague, 20 September 2011.

32 Ibid.

33 Respondent 2, Judge, The Hague, 20 September 2011.

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39 Respondent 8, Prosecutor, The Hague, 22 September 2011.

40 Respondent 10, Prosecutor, The Hague, 21 September 2011.

41 Respondent 7, Prosecutor, The Hague, 21 September 2011.

42 Respondent 16, Prosecutor, The Hague, 16 April 2012.

43 Ibid.

44 Respondent 17, Prosecutor, The Hague, 17 April 2012. The ICTY eventually came to recognize a plea agreement procedure: see RPE62. See also V. Tochilovsky, ‘The Nature and Evolution of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence’, in Khan, Buisman, and Gosnell supra note 15, at 174–7.

45 Prosecutors’ powers to collect evidence and conduct investigations against the wishes of the state are limited: see Part 9 of the ICC Statute. See A. Alamuddin, ‘Collection of Evidence’, in Khan, Buisman, and Gosnell supra note 15, at 231, 246.

46 Respondent 8, Prosecutor, The Hague 22 September 2011.

47 Respondent 6, Prosecutor; Respondent 8, Prosecutor; Respondent 10, The Hague, 21–2 September 2011.

48 Respondent 8, Prosecutor, The Hague, 22 September 2011.

49 Respondent 8, Prosecutor, The Hague, 22 September 2011.

50 According to the Open Society Justice Initiative, ‘Intermediaries perform a range of functions which are necessary for the ICC to do its work effectively. This may include, for example, assisting prosecution or defense investigators in identifying evidentiary leads and helping to contact potential witnesses. Intermediaries may help to raise awareness among affected communities about the rights of victims to participate in ICC proceedings, and assist victims in filling out official paperwork, or in securing psychosocial services, security, and legal services. More generally, intermediaries help the Court conduct outreach or provide public information in countries in which ICC investigations are taking place.’ Open Society Justice Initiative, Briefing Papers, Intermediaries and the International Criminal Court: A Role for the Assembly of States Parties (December 2011). Available at www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/intermediaries-20111212.pdf.

51 Respondent 8, Prosecutor, The Hague, 22 September 2011.

52 Respondent 1, Defence, The Hague, 19 September 2011.

53 Respondent 7, Prosecutor, The Hague, 21 September 2011.

54 ICTY Statute Art. 18(3); ICTR Statute Art. 17(3); RPE 42(B) of both tribunals provides the questioning of a suspect during investigation shall not proceed without the presence of counsel unless the suspect has voluntarily waived his right to counsel. In case of waiver, if the suspect subsequently expresses a desire for counsel, questioning shall thereupon cease, and shall only resume when the suspect has obtained or been assigned counsel. See also Art. 55 ICC Statute.

55 Prosecutor v. Delalić, Decision on Zdravko Mučić's Motion for the Exclusion of Evidence, Case No. IT-96-21-T, 2 September 1997. Cf. Prosecutor v. Katanga (Decision on the Confirmation of Charges), ICC-01/04-01/07, 30 September 2008, paras. 97–99.

56 Respondent 7, Prosecutor, The Hague, 21 September 2011.

57 Respondent 7, Prosecutor, The Hague, 21 September 2011.

58 Respondent 1, Defence, The Hague, 19 September 2011.

59 Respondent 18, Prosecutor, The Hague, 17 April 2012.

60 Respondent 18, Prosecutor, The Hague, 17 April 2012.

61 Respondent 18, Prosecutor, The Hague, 17 April 2012.

62 Respondent 17, Prosecutor, The Hague, 17 April 2012.

63 Respondent 16, Prosecutor, The Hague, 16 April 2012.

64 See ICTY RPE 71.

65 Respondent 17, Prosecutor, The Hague, 17 April 2012. Art. 56 Rome Statute governs the role of the pre-trial chamber in relation to a unique investigative opportunity.

66 Respondent 17, Prosecutor, The Hague, 17 April 2012.

67 Prosecutor v. Haradinaj, Decision on Defence Request for Audio-Recording of Prosecution Witness Proofing Sessions, Case No. IT-04-84-T, 23 May 2007, para. 8.

68 See Vasiliev, S., ‘Liberal Extremity to Safe Mainstream? The Comparative Controversies of Witness Preparation in the United States’, (2011) 9 (1)International Commentary on EvidenceGoogle Scholar.

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71 Prosecutor v. Lubanga, Decision on the Practices of Witness Familiarization and Witness Proofing, ICC-01/04-01/06-679, 8 November 2006; Prosecutor v. Lubanga, Decision Regarding the Practices Used to Prepare and Familiarize Witnesses for Giving Testimony at Trial, ICC-01/04-01/06, 30 November 2007.

72 Respondent 18, Prosecutor, The Hague, 17 April 2012.

73 Respondents 6. 8, 12, 16, 17, The Hague, 21–2 September 2011; 16–17 April 2012.

74 Respondent 16, Prosecutor, The Hague, 16 April 2012.

75 On 18 November 2010, TC III adopted a protocol submitted by the Victims and Witnesses Unit (VWU) on witness familiarization aimed at assisting witnesses prior to and during the trial. See Decision on the Unified Protocol on the Practices Used to Prepare and Familiarise Witnesses for Giving Testimony at Trial, ICC-01/05-01/08-1016, 18 November 2010, at www.icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/doc/doc969083.pdf. See also ‘Victims and Witnesses Unit's Unified Protocol on the Practices Used to Prepare and Familiarise Witnesses for Giving Testimony at Trial’, 22 October 2010, ICC-01/05-01/08-972, at www.icc-pi.int/iccdocs/doc/doc957501.pdf.

76 Respondent 12, Prosecutor, The Hague, 23 September 2011.

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79 See Prosecutor v. Popović, Decision on Appeals against Decision on Impeachment of a Party's Own Witness, Case No. IT-05-88-AR73.3, A.C., 1 February 2008.

80 Respondent 1, Defence, The Hague, 19 September 2011.

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83 Respondent 6, Prosecutor, The Hague, 21 September 2011; Respondent 18, Prosecutor, The Hague, 17 April 2012.

84 Respondent 5, Judge, The Hague, 21 September 2011.

85 Respondent 6, Prosecutor, The Hague, 21 September 2011.

86 Respondent 6, Prosecutor, The Hague, 21 September 2011.

87 Respondent 14, Court Official, The Hague, 23 September 2011.

88 Respondent 18, Prosecutor, The Hague, 17 April 2012.

89 Respondent 12, Prosecutor, The Hague, 23 September 2011.

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91 Respondent 7, Prosecutor, The Hague, 21 September 2011.

92 Respondent 2, Judge, The Hague, 20 September 2011; Respondent 5, Judge, The Hague, 21 September 2011. In the first case before the Rwandan tribunal, the Trial Chamber ordered all available prosecution written statements to be submitted to the tribunal (Prosecutor v. Alayesu, Decision by the Tribunal on Its Request to the Prosecutor to Submit the Written Witness Statements, Case No. ICTR 96-4-T, 28 January 1997) and in the later case of Prosecutor v. Dokmanović, Order of 28 November 1997, Case No. IT-95-13a-PT, TCH, 28 November 1997 the ICTY followed suit.

93 Respondent 2, Judge, The Hague, 20 September 2011.

94 Respondent 6, Prosecutor, The Hague, 21 September 2011.

95 Respondent 2, Judge, The Hague, 20 September 2011.

96 For instance Respondent 5, Judge, The Hague, 21 September 2011.

97 Respondent 20, Defence, The Hague, 18 April 2012.

98 Respondent 20, Defence, The Hague, 18 April 2012.

99 Respondent 3, Court Official, The Hague, 20 September 2011.

100 Respondent 8, Prosecutor, The Hague, 22 September 2011.

101 Prosecutor v. Bemba Gongo, Judgment on the Appeals of Mr Bemba Gombo and the Prosecutor against the Decision of Trial Chamber III Entitled ‘Decision on the Admission into Evidence of Materials Contained in the Prosecution's List of Evidence’, ICC-01/08OA5OA6, A. Ch., 3 May 2011.

102 Respondent 10, Prosecutor, The Hague, 21 September 2011.

103 McEvoy, K., ‘What Did the Lawyers Do during the War? Neutrality, Conflict and the Culture of Quietism’, (2011) 74 MLR 350CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

104 Ibid., 379.

105 Respondent 7, Prosecutor, The Hague, 21 September 2011.

106 Respondent 7, Prosecutor, The Hague, 21 September 2011.

107 Respondent 7, Prosecutor, The Hague, 21 September 2011.

108 Respondent 17, Prosecutor, The Hague, 17 September 2012.

109 Respondent 17, Prosecutor, The Hague, 17 September 2012.

110 Respondent 12, Prosecutor, The Hague, 23 September 2011.

111 Respondent 16, Prosecutor, The Hague, 16 April 2012.

112 International Law Association Study Group, ‘Hague Principles on Ethical Standards for Counsel Appearing before International Courts and Tribunals’, (2011) 10 Law and Practice of International Courts and Tribunals 1Google Scholar.

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114 Respondent 1, Defence, The Hague, 19 September 2011.

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116 UNICRI, ICTY Manual on Developed Practices (2009).

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