Article
The Unlikely Prospect of Non-adversarial Trials at the International Criminal Court
Journal of International Criminal Justice
(2018)
Abstract
Although the procedural law of the International Criminal Court (ICC) allows for the prospect of judge-led proceedings, the task of leading trials held by the ICC has thus far belonged to the parties. In 2015, Judge Håkan Friman expressed an opinion that this approach is likely to continue, as the adversarial trial model ‘is also the prevailing practice of most international criminal tribunals’. This contribution uses Håkan Friman’s prediction as a frame of reference. It considers how the dominance of the adversarial model in international criminal practice may potentially impact future ICC proceedings, as well as the likely effect that the prevailing practice has had on the Court’s trials to date. In so doing, it demonstrates why proponents of judge-led international criminal proceedings face significant challenges at the ICC and beyond. At the same time, it posits that the developing model may insufficiently account for the Court’s reliance on a party-driven construct.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2018
Citation Information
Megan A. Fairlie. "The Unlikely Prospect of Non-adversarial Trials at the International Criminal Court" Journal of International Criminal Justice Vol. 16 Iss. 2 (2018) p. 295 - 313 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/megan-fairlie/13/