Part 4 Composition and Administration of the Court: Composition et Administration de la Cour, Art.41 Excusing and disqualification of judges/Décharge et récusation des juges

Subject(s):

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

This chapter comments on Article 41 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 41 provides the mechanism to ensure the protection of judicial independence and impartiality that is affirmed in article 40. It distinguishes between ‘excusing’, which refers to a request by the judge to the Presidency, and ‘disqualification’, which describes an application by the Prosecutor or the accused person. The Presidency is without authority to raise issues of impartiality proprio motu, given that‘[n]either the Statute nor the Rules of Procedure and Evidence make provision for the pre-emptive control by the Presidency of the impartiality of the judges’.