Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 The Evidence Supporting International Criminal Convictions
- 2 Questions Unanswered: International Witnesses and the Information Unconveyed
- 3 The Educational, Linguistic, and Cultural Impediments to Accurate Fact-Finding at the International Tribunals
- 4 Of Inconsistencies and Their Explanations
- 5 Perjury: The Counternarrative
- 6 Expectations Unfulfilled: The Consequences of the Fact-Finding Impediments
- 7 Casual Indifference: The Trial Chambers' Treatment of Testimonial Deficiencies
- 8 Organizational Liability Revived: The Pro-Conviction Bias Explained
- 9 Help Needed: Practical Suggestions and Procedural Reforms to Improve Fact-Finding Accuracy
- 10 Assessing the Status Quo: They Are Not Doing What They Say They Are Doing, but Is What They Are Doing Worth Doing?
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Conclusion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 The Evidence Supporting International Criminal Convictions
- 2 Questions Unanswered: International Witnesses and the Information Unconveyed
- 3 The Educational, Linguistic, and Cultural Impediments to Accurate Fact-Finding at the International Tribunals
- 4 Of Inconsistencies and Their Explanations
- 5 Perjury: The Counternarrative
- 6 Expectations Unfulfilled: The Consequences of the Fact-Finding Impediments
- 7 Casual Indifference: The Trial Chambers' Treatment of Testimonial Deficiencies
- 8 Organizational Liability Revived: The Pro-Conviction Bias Explained
- 9 Help Needed: Practical Suggestions and Procedural Reforms to Improve Fact-Finding Accuracy
- 10 Assessing the Status Quo: They Are Not Doing What They Say They Are Doing, but Is What They Are Doing Worth Doing?
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
Although this book has presented a troubling picture of international criminal fact-finding, it is largely a retrospective picture. I have closely examined the work of three international tribunals – the ICTR, the SCSL, and the Special Panels. One of those tribunals – the Special Panels – closed its doors in 2005 and was never taken very seriously even during its short lifetime. The other two tribunals are still in existence, having been afforded longer life spans and more plausible resources, but their prosecutions also are coming to an end. Certainly, it is useful to know about the fact-finding challenges that a subset of international tribunals have had to confront, but the findings and recommendations appearing in this book will be of lasting consequence only if those challenges will also afflict the ICC and the new generation of ad hoc tribunals. Sadly, early indications suggest that the ICC and Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) are already contending with just the sort of fact-finding impediments that have plagued their predecessors. Indeed, the very first witnesses in the ICC's and ECCC's very first trials have had difficulty understanding compound questions and basic terminology and have had difficulty answering questions seeking dates, duration, distance, numerical estimations, and other details about the crimes and their subsequent investigations. These very early transcripts have also featured serious inconsistencies between testimony and pretrial statements and even perjury.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Fact-Finding without FactsThe Uncertain Evidentiary Foundations of International Criminal Convictions, pp. 365 - 374Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010