Procedural Safeguards for the Accused of an International Crime at the Trial Stage

Abstract

The Statute of the International Criminal Court, in Article 67 under the heading “Rights of the accused”, sets out a range of safeguards guaranteed to the accused.
Through this study, we analyse these safeguards and explain the particularity of each during this sensitive procedural stage, which is decisive for the interests of the accused: it may lead to conviction on the charges brought, and it may also end in acquittal.
Criminal justice requires viewing the accused as a human being endowed with dignity and rights, entitled to a fair trial regardless of the act attributed to him or her, or his or her social or political status. This can only be achieved through recognising a set of legal safeguards that secure those rights at every stage of proceedings.