Part 5 Investigation and Prosecution: Enquête Et Poursuites, Art.54 Duties and powers of the Prosecutor with respect to investigations/Devoirs et pouvoirs du procureur en matière d’enquêtes

Subject(s):

Elements of crimes — International criminal law, conduct of proceedings — Evidence

This chapter comments on Article 54 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 54 sets out the powers and duties of the Prosecutor with respect to investigations. Article 54 is an effort to strike the balance, to ‘build a bridge between the adversarial common law approach to the role of the Prosecutor and the role of the investigating judge in certain civil law systems’. Paragraph 1 sets out the ‘duties’ of the Prosecutor, whereas paragraphs 2 and 3 discuss the ‘powers’. Although the ‘powers’ refer specifically to the investigative phase, the nature of the duties suggests that they apply to the work of the Prosecutor overall, whatever the stage of proceedings.