Mugwanya, George William --- "Trial and appeal processes" [2016] ELECD 1520; in de Brouwer, Anne-Marie; Smeulers, Alette (eds), "The Elgar Companion to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016) 290

Book Title: The Elgar Companion to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

Editor(s): de Brouwer, Anne-Marie; Smeulers, Alette

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781784711696

Section: Chapter 10

Section Title: Trial and appeal processes

Author(s): Mugwanya, George William

Number of pages: 38

Abstract/Description:

The trial and appeal processes of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (Tribunal, or ICTR) are regulated by the Tribunal’s Statute and Rules of Procedure and Evidence (RPE). The Statute, adopted by the UN Security Council, contains few provisions respecting the Tribunal’s processes. Details are enshrined in the RPE adopted by the judges. Article 14 of the Statute mandated the ICTR judges to adopt the RPE of the Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), with such changes as deemed necessary, ‘for purposes of the proceedings before the International Criminal Tribunal’, regarding ‘the conduct of the pre-trial phase of the proceedings, trial and appeals, the admission of evidence, the protection of victims and witnesses and other appropriate matters […]’. The Tribunal’s trial and appeal processes have been widely litigated. The jurisprudence engendered elucidates the processes, and has enriched the corpus of international criminal procedure. It has been invoked as persuasive jurisprudence by other courts, including the ICC. The Tribunal’s processes are adversarial in nature in the sense that both the prosecution and the defence have equal opportunity to present their cases, and are extensive. This discussion only addresses some core aspects. It does not repeat, but appropriately refers to some cross-cutting issues that are covered by other contributors to this book, such as the rights of the accused, the rights of victims and sentencing. The Tribunal establishes a two-level judicial inquiry before which the prosecution and the defence present their cases.