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Acquaviva, Guido --- "Written and oral evidence" [2013] ELECD 377; in Carter, Linda; Pocar, Fausto (eds), "International Criminal Procedure" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013) 99

Book Title: International Criminal Procedure

Editor(s): Carter, Linda; Pocar, Fausto

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857939579

Section: Chapter 4

Section Title: Written and oral evidence

Author(s): Acquaviva, Guido

Number of pages: 26

Abstract/Description:

This chapter mainly focuses on the system of rules regulating the admission of evidence into the trial record in international criminal proceedings. Particular reference will be made to the practices of the main international criminal courts and tribunals – the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), the International Criminal Court (ICC) – as well as certain unique facets of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). As mentioned in the Introductory chapter of this volume, legal systems based on the common law tradition (adversarial systems) developed strict sets of exclusionary rules for the admission of evidence, for instance limiting the admission of written statements and hearsay in criminal proceedings. These rules were premised, inter alia, on the assumption that, in the courtroom, juries should generally be exposed only to first-hand knowledge of the events in question.