8 The Trial

The trial is the core of the entire prosecution process. At its end, the question of the individual criminal responsibility of the accused will be answered and the amount of punishment—upon a guilty verdict—will be determined. The rules for the procedure, which will in the end lead to the answer, vary greatly according to national legal systems. They depend heavily on the cultural heritage and the socio-historical circumstances. As we have seen, international criminal procedure has no such basis to rely upon, so it must be construed in such a way that is...