Symposium |
Prosecuting the Perpetrators of International Crimes
What Role May Defence Counsel Play?
1 Attorney at law, Paris. Former President of the Fédération international des droits de l'homme. Editor, with E. Duverger, of La Cour Pénale Internationale: Le Statut de Rome (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 2000). [bourdonvoituriez{at}wanadoo.fr]
Prior to the establishment of the two ad hoc International Criminal Tribunals, the prosecution of alleged war criminals in France had been limited to the atrocities committed during the Second World War. As national legislation was required to implement the statutes of the two Tribunals, national courts became empowered to investigate and prosecute the international crimes contained in the Statutes of the two Tribunals. However, despite the active involvement of victims and victims' associations in filing private complaints with French prosecutors against alleged perpetrators, national courts have met with mitigated success due to the recalcitrance of courts and investigative bodies alike. Victims and their lawyers faced substantial difficulties in prompting public authorities to initiate investigations, as they were left with the burden of locating and proving the presence of the alleged suspect on French territory. Such obstacles, coupled with the highly sensitive political nature of the cases in question, have hampered efforts towards ending impunity for the alleged perpetrators of international crimes. The implementation of the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court may provide a welcome breakthrough in this respect, although lawyers and civil society in general must continue to exercise great vigilance over this process and its practical outcome.