Abstract

The protection of witnesses occupies a prominent place in 10 years of practice of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). This paper sketches certain elements of the ICTR law on this matter. Among other things, it demonstrates that this law is flexible and has resulted in the provision of protective measures as a matter of routine, without much regard for the principles of public trial. It is furthermore critical as to the practical effect of protective measures, arguing that enforcement mechanisms in the form of contempt procedures are highly unattractive, and the continuing expansion of protective measures is undesirable from the perspective of the rights of the accused. A final point of criticism addressed in this paper concerns the apparent lack of interest of the ICTR in the protection of a particular category of witnesses, namely witnesses detained in Rwanda.

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