Available in Russian
Author: Aleksandr Evseev
DOI: 10.21128/2226-2059-2023-4-17-36
Keywords: victimization; compensation; international criminal justice; International Criminal Court; victim; crimes against humanity
The article examines the phenomenon of the victim as a key figure, endowed with independent procedural status, in international criminal justice. The historical evolution of the normative consolidation of this status in national and international law is traced. The procedural rights granted to holders of this status in international criminal justice bodies are described in detail. The article reaches the conclusion that over time, the role of victims in legal proceedings conducted at the international level has decreased significantly. This change can be seen in, among other things, limitations on financial expenditures for victims’ legal representation. The practice of the permanent International Criminal Court is analyzed, as the Rome Statute creating it first provided for the procedural figure of the victim. These procedural rules are detailed in the Court’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence. In particular, Rule 86 lays down the so-called “general principle” that the Chamber, when making any decision or order, and other organs of the Court, when discharging their functions under the Statute or the Rules, shall take into account the needs of all victims and witnesses, and, in particular, children, elderly persons, people with disabilities, and victims of sexual or gender violence. In addition, these Rules regulate the procedure for the participation of victims in the proceedings. Data on the amount of compensation payments assigned based on the results of consideration of particular cases are provided. Their symbolic nature is evident in cases where they are insufficient to make amends for the harm caused to a person during an armed conflict. Nonetheless the very appearance of the victim on the international stage and his endowment with even limited procedural rights testify to the humanization of the world system. The article comes to the conclusion that, contrary to the popular perception of the International Criminal Court as a “court for victims,” in it the latter have a very limited range of procedural rights to defend their interests. This is reflected, among other things, by limitations on the expenses of legal representatives, as a result of which one lawyer or member of the Victims and Witnesses Unit might represent the interests of several hundred victims. The figure of a “victim with dual status” has also become widespread, that is, the victim also acting as a witness for the prosecution. This somewhat weakens the world community’s long-term efforts to ensure that victims of international crimes are recognized as victims.
About the author: Aleksandr Evseev – Candidate of Sciences (Ph.D.) in Law, Associate Professor, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia.
Citation: Evseev A. (2023) Protsessual’noe polozhenie zhertvy v mezhdunarodnom ugolovnom pravosudii [Procedural position of the victim in international criminal justice]. Mezhdunarodnoe pravosudie, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 17–36. (In Russian).
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