Part III The Trial, 8 Admissibility of Evidence

The point of departure for determining whether evidence is admissible during a trial at the ICC, ICTY, and ICTR rests on three cardinal criteria: relevance, probative value, and prejudice. The statutory instruments of each tribunal, particularly as originally adopted, generally avoided more categorical or specific rules. Trial chambers were thus given a wide discretion to determine whether evidence was admissible and, in the early years of their proceedings, this discretion usually translated into a flexible and permissive threshold of admissibility. Over time,...