From the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to the International Criminal Court
North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation, Vol. 26, p. 407, 2001
51 Pages Posted: 4 Feb 2011
Date Written: Spring 2001
Abstract
First, the United Nations Security Council established two ad hoc international tribunals: the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Japanese war criminals accused of crimes after World War II were tried before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (Tokyo Tribunal), whose Charter was based largely on the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal. The ICTY Statute specifically establishes the jurisdiction of the Tribunal with respect to grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, war crimes including violations of the laws or customs of war, genocide, and crimes against humanity. Because the Statute does not provide for a separate judicial body to review indictments, the Trial Chamber performs this and other pretrial functions, such as issuing arrest warrants and other orders. As with common law systems, the ICC is not strictly bound to peremptory rules of procedural law and can adopt evaluations tending to verify whether the immediate proceedings constitute a violation of the right to a fair trial. Rights of the Accused Specific attention is devoted by the Rome Statute to safeguarding the rights of the accused person, with reference both to the investigations stage preceding the indictment, and to the trial stage. Article 67(1) (a) through (g) reproduces, almost literally, the corresponding provisions of the 1966 Covenant listed above: the right of the accused to be informed promptly and in detail of the charges, the right to have adequate time and facilities to prepare the defense, the right to be tried without delay, the right to be present at the trial and to have legal assistance, the right to examine the witnesses against him and to obtain the examination of witnesses on his behalf, the right to have the assistance of an interpreter, and the right not to be compelled to testify or to confess guilt.
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