Principles of Criminal Evidence before ICTS

Abstract

Criminal evidence attempts to balance two antagonistic elements, namely that of the (defense) rights of the accused on the one hand and the legal interests of society to suppress criminality on the other. The integrity of international criminal trials is especially challenged within the ambit of criminal evidence, which is complex in terms of its sources, content, presentation and application. This chapter looks into four major themes related to criminal evidence before International Criminal Tribunals (ICTS), namely: requisite standard of proof in the various statutes and Rules of Procedure and Evidence (RPE) of ICTS throughout all stages of the proceedings; disclosure of evidence, the collection and admissibility criteria of said evidence, including the phenomena of hearsay evidence and anonymous witnesses and circumstantial evidence; and the presentation and appreciation of evidence before ICTS; special attention will be paid to expert witnesses and forensic evidence at trials before ICTS.Keywords: criminal evidence; forensic evidence; hearsay evidence; international criminal trials; International Criminal Tribunals (ICTS); Rules of Procedure and Evidence (RPE)