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Guilty Until Proven Guilty: Rule 61 Of The Icty, Aleksandra B. Stankovic

Aleksandra B Stankovic

The following article critiques the pre-trial procedure of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, (ICTY) a topic of great significance at the moment, as the trial of Radovan Karadzic, one of the ICTY’s most well-known fugitives, has recently commenced in the Hague. This article argues that the ICTY’s Rule 61 procedure, which an absent Karadzic was subject to over ten years ago, severely degrades the defendant’s right to a fair trial in two ways. First, it effectively functions as a trial in absentia, contravening the ICTY statute and depriving the defendant of the right to be present at …