Part 6 The Trial: Le Procès, Art.74 Requirements for the decision/Conditions requises pour la décision

Subject(s):

Judges — Elements of crimes — Pre-Trial Chamber — International criminal law, conduct of proceedings — Evidence

This chapter comments on Article 74 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 74 deals with several aspects of the trial itself. It requires members of the Trial Chamber to be present at all stages of the trial, but also allows for alternates to be designated. It indicates that the decision be adopted by a majority, and that the deliberations remain secret. The decision must contain a full and reasoned statement. This is far more specificity than any other international criminal tribunal has required. The Charter of the International Military Tribunal said that the judges must ‘give the reasons on which it is based’. Nowhere did it specify whether the deliberations should be in secret, or whether the decision should be by majority or unanimity, or whether there should be dissenting opinions, yet the judges did essentially what is provided for in article 74 of the Rome Statute.