Principles Prohibiting Trials in Absentia

This chapter considers the principle of prohibition of trials in absentia in international criminal justice and examines the impact of premises specific to international criminal justice on the scope of exceptions to the principle. It first confirms the two theoretical bases of the principle of prohibition of trials in absentia: accuracy of trial and the rights of the accused to be present. Through an analysis of the substantive impact of the identified legal principles on the particularities of the field of international criminal justice, it finds that the impact of the premises of international criminal justice on the current version of the principle is very limited. On the other hand, a one-sided trial that violates the rights of suspects and accused persons cannot be justified and cannot fulfil the purposes of the “punitive performance”. A common understanding is that the ICC should not allow distortion of legal principles on the grounds of practical obstacles, such as the lack of cooperation from States and the inability to make arrests.