Aspects of Testimony in International Criminal Proceedings

No doubt, testimony is one of the most significant evidence in proving a criminal case. This is true of both domestic and international criminal proceedings. The latter are generally used by the international community in the aftermath of internal conflicts and massive and flagrant breaches of human rights and humanitarian law as a device for maintenance and restoration of peace and strengthening element of justice in materialization of peace and preventing commission of such crimes in the future. In these proceedings testimony becomes more important since the fear of giving testimony by eye-witnesses leads to rejection of prosecutor’s case against accused. On the other hand internationally established standards, embodied in different human rights conventions, grant the accused some rights generally categorized as “right to fair trail”. Thus two necessity i.e. observing the accused rights and protecting witnesses. Creating a reasonable balance between these two necessity makes a trial qualified as “fair”.