First Decisions on the Admission of Evidence at ICC Trials: A Blending of Accusatorial and Inquisitorial Models?

Caianiello, Michele

doi:10.1093/jicj/mqr011

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…In this process, the judges adhere to the principle of free evaluation of evidence . They are allowed to take into consideration any factors deemed important for determining the evidentiary weight of a particular witness’s testimony, unburdened by formal rules or procedures (Boas, 2001: 84; Caianiello, 2011: 302). The statutory frameworks of the ICCTs provide remarkably little guidance, and they are silent on the matter of evidence evaluation apart from the instruction to take into account witness credibility and the reliability of their evidence (ICC Rules, 2013: Rule 140(2)(b)).…”

Section: Assessments Of (Insider) Witnesses At the Icctsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suspicious minds? Empirical analysis of insider witness assessments at the ICTY, ICTR and ICC

Chlevickaite

Holá

Bijleveld

2021

European Journal of Criminology

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The testimonies of insider witnesses are often key to prosecutions of international crimes, despite significant trustworthiness concerns. However, we know little about the practice of judicial assessments of insider testimonies, that is, which factors the judges consider relevant to relying on insider testimony. With this article, we set out to provide a comprehensive, explorative examination of the insider witness assessment factors used by the trial judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court in 1996–2019. By using multiple correspondence analysis, we show that the factors related to insider witness assessment outcomes are generally similar across the tribunals and tend to focus on the contents of the testimonies, with less attention given to credibility or competence concerns. This research constitutes the first systematic quantitative analysis and cross-institutional comparison of insider witness assessment practice at an international level.

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Section: Assessments Of (Insider) Witnesses At the Icctsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suspicious minds? Empirical analysis of insider witness assessments at the ICTY, ICTR and ICC

Chlevickaite

Holá

Bijleveld

2021

European Journal of Criminology

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“…However, whether practitioners follow this approach is not known. Judges at ICCTs are allowed “free evaluation of evidence” (Caianiello, 2011; McIntyre, 2014), which unbinds them from any regulations on the factors or aspects of witnesses or their evidence to take into account. Others, such as prosecutors, defence, victims’ lawyers, investigators, and analysts, may resort to internal guidelines, if available, or rely on their individual, professional experience and expertise.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a Model of (Insider) Witness Assessments in International Crime Cases: An Experimental Vignette Study

Chlevickaite

2023

International Criminal Justice Review

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Trials of international crimes frequently rely on a complex type of witnesses: insiders or accomplices. While harnessing essential knowledge, insiders pose serious challenges to the decision-makers assessing their credibility. Prior research suggests that judges dismiss a sizeable proportion of insider testimony during trials of international crimes. While some reasons might lie with the witnesses, a closer look at the professional practices is warranted. This study aimed to examine the process of insider witness statement assessments by international criminal justice professionals and to analyze how they resolve the tension between the concerns about witness truthfulness and the quality of the testimony. One hundred sixty practitioners took part in an experimental vignette survey. Results of qualitative analyses demonstrate that the assessments of the witness and the statement contents are interrelated: across all experimental conditions, respondents drew inferences about the quality of the testimony based on their assessment of the witness and vice versa. Furthermore, the same indicators were given various, at times contradictory, meanings, highlighting individual differences in professional practice and the noise in decision-making.

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“… This “creative investigative strategy” has been made possible by the evidentiary procedures of the ICC and international law more generally. For a discussion of the evidentiary rules and their problematic effects on the rights of the accused, see Michel Caianiello (). He argues that “the ICC risks evolving in the direction of the worst hypothetical scenario: the creation of a system with a general accusatorial structure, though with specific inquisitorial provisions in crucial passages of the proceeding” (Caianiello :409). …”

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confidence: 99%

The Politics of Drawing: Children, Evidence, and the Darfur Conflict

Aradau

Hill

2013

Int Polit Sociol

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Drawing has been largely neglected in discussions of visuality, conflict, and violence. In 2007, the International Criminal Court accepted 500 children's drawings depicting the conflict in Darfur as contextual evidence for war crime trials against Sudanese officials. Starting from this event, and the attention that the Darfuri children's drawings have garnered internationally, this article explores the role that drawings, and children's drawings in particular, play in the visualization of conflict and violence. Rather than focusing primarily on the relation between image and text, the article argues that visuality needs to be understood as both an aesthetic and social object, whose production, circulation, and reception transform its political effects. It then shows how children's drawings are both differentially produced, and productive of difference and ambivalence, in the “truthfulness” of conflict.

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First Decisions on the Admission of Evidence at ICC Trials: A Blending of Accusatorial and Inquisitorial Models?

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

Suspicious minds? Empirical analysis of insider witness assessments at the ICTY, ICTR and ICC

Suspicious minds? Empirical analysis of insider witness assessments at the ICTY, ICTR and ICC

Towards a Model of (Insider) Witness Assessments in International Crime Cases: An Experimental Vignette Study

The Politics of Drawing: Children, Evidence, and the Darfur Conflict

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