The Congo Trials in the International Criminal Court

An insightful account of the international court's efforts to make sense of African conflicts in completing its first three trials.

Richard Gaskins (Author)

9781108488013, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 October 2020

475 pages
15.5 x 23.5 x 3 cm, 0.82 kg

'When confronted with the workings of any new court, the uninitiated need confident, articulate guides. In Gaskins, readers have one who knows his stuff but also understands, from long experience working with students, exactly where they are likely to struggle. Compassionate yet incisive, he explains where the high-minded idealism of the human rights world grates against the frustrating, banal realities of evidence-collection and the administration of justice in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo. It's an account drafted by an expert with a big heart, a meticulous grasp of the workings of universal law, and an empathetic understanding of the vagaries of human behaviour.' Michela Wrong, author of In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz and It's Our Turn to Eat

This is the first in-depth study of the first three ICC trials: an engaging, accessible text meant for specialists and students, for legal advocates and a wide range of professionals concerned with diverse cultures, human rights, and restorative justice. It introduces international justice and courtroom trials in practical terms, offering a balanced view on persistent tensions and controversies. Separate chapters analyze the working realities of central African armed conflicts, finding reasons for their surprising resistance to ICC legal formulas. The book dissects the Court's structural dynamics, which were designed to steer an elusive middle course between high moral ideals and hard political realities. Detailed chapters provide vivid accounts of courtroom encounters with four Congolese suspects. The mixed record of convictions, acquittals, dissents, and appeals, resulting from these trials, provides a map of distinct fault-lines within the ICC legal code, and suggests a rocky path ahead for the Court's next ventures.

Part I. A laboratory for global justice
Part II. Testing a new court: 1. Spreading justice to distant conflicts
2. Balancing politics, morality, and culture
Part III. Back in Ituri: 3. Ituri in the web of chaos: the macro view
4. Structures of local conflict: the micro view
Part IV. The bridge to the Hague: 5. Battling impunity in Ituri
6. ICC structures, dynamics, tensions
Part V. The Congo trials: 7. The trial of Thomas Lubanga
8. The trial of Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo
9. The trial of Jean-Pierre Bemba
Part VI. Observations.

Subject Areas: Criminal procedure: law of evidence [LNFX3], International courts & procedures [LBHG], International criminal law [LBBZ]