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Part III Prosecutorial Policy and Practice, 17 Accountability of International Prosecutors

Jenia Iontcheva Turner

From: The Law and Practice of the International Criminal Court

Edited By: Carsten Stahn

From: Oxford Public International Law (http://opil.ouplaw.com). (c) Oxford University Press, 2023. All Rights Reserved.date: 26 March 2023

Subject(s):
Prosecutors — International criminal law, conduct of proceedings — Right to fair trial

The dilemma of holding prosecutors accountable while ensuring their independence was at the centre of the debates surrounding the establishment of the ICC and has been a recurring question ever since. Drastic judicial remedies against prosecutorial misconduct have the potential of harming other interests of international criminal justice, including deterrence, retribution, and the establishment of an accurate historical record. On the other hand, non-judicial mechanisms may compromise the principle of prosecutorial independence and create the risk that politics would influence disciplinary decisions. This chapter examines how the ICC has approached this accountability dilemma in its first years of operation. It advances that the Court should adopt a structured balancing approach in determining remedies for prosecutorial misconduct to include internal bureaucratic controls within the OTP, judicial intervention, and disciplinary measures by the ASP, the IOM, and national or international bar associations.

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