The Reality of Conducting a War Crimes Trial

Since proceedings at the international criminal tribunals areessentially adversarial in nature they inevitably are party-led,rather than judge-led. The inherent challenges of conductinga large-scale war crimes trial are further exacerbated whenthe accused chooses to represent himself. However, the authorbelieves the bench has the opportunity, by robust applicationof a number of rules already available, to exert considerableinfluence over the course of events at all stages of proceedings,thereby ensuring fair and expeditious war crimes trials. Thereal benefits of the judicial process are to be found in thesuccessful prosecution of the guilty and exoneration of theinnocent: in view of the massive size of cases before the tribunals,that is only achievable by judicial control and focus on thereal issues in dispute, even if this implies that the tribunalscan no longer satisfy some of the original expectations withwhich they were set up. The author identifies a number of practicalissues, to which judges at tribunals should always be alert,and illustrates some by reference to events during the trialof Slobodan Miloevi, as well as current proceedings before theICTY.