Duration
02 Jul 2018 - 13 Jul 2018
All international criminal courts and tribunals are created and operate in a specific political context. This Master Class will focus on the following six selected aspects of this reality:
(1) political circumstances that made selected courts possible (for example why Lebanon, Kosovo and Cambodia BUT NOT Syria)
(2) over-prosecution and under-prosecution: why some individuals have been charged with everything possible, some with limited charges and some not indicted at all
(3) inside interventions in the legal process by lawyers, judges, investigators, witnesses to influence the proceedings (for example why genocide charges have been made in some cases but avoided in other cases, why certain individuals have been indicted or not indicted)
(4) outside interventions in the legal process through, for example, measured and controlled cooperation by states in the production of documents and by suppression of documents and interference with investigation
(5) politics behind rules of procedure, interim judgments, verdicts and sentencing range (from time served to life sentence)
In addition to a full set of topical lectures and presentations by academics, practitioners and politicians, the participants will be working in Working Groups on one of the following case studies:
- International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT)
- International Criminal Court (ICC)
- Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL)
- Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)
- Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office
Participants will be asked in advance to choose one of the Working Groups. Instructions with the objectives of the Working Group assignments will follow. Participants are expected to read basic reading material prior to the course to be able to fully benefit from the lectures and contribute to the Working Group discussions.
* Programme offer ECTS points