Principles on Admissibility of Evidence in International Criminal Justice

This chapter considers the evidentiary principles applied in core crimes trials before international courts, particularly the ICC, and examines the impact of the premises specific to international criminal justice on the content of these principles. It finds that, firstly, video-link is made available whenever necessary as a facilitator of live testimony rather than an exception to the orality principle, considering the ICC’s premise that crime scene is remote. The use of previously recorded statements has been greatly expanded, as there are many cases where witnesses are not available or are subject to interference. Secondly, with regards to the exclusionary rule, it requires balancing while emphasizing compliance with internationally recognized human rights standards, in which the gravity of the core crime itself does not affect the consideration. Since the application of the exclusionary rule does not take violations of or compliance with national laws into account, the issue is how to deal with domestic rules on investigative that differs from State to State. This chapter highlights that exceptions have been devised with regards to the orality principle and the exclusionary rule, considering the wide variety of special circumstances in international criminal justice, but the direction of the impact of these special circumstances on these principles is different.