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)

9781009208772, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 26 May 2022

300 pages
22.8 x 15.1 x 2.5 cm, 0.72 kg

'The International Criminal Court used to be called the International Congo Court because of its initial cases targeting Congolese rebel leaders. This book is the most detailed and critical account existing on these Congo Trials, their preludes, and their outcomes. In an engaged, compassionate yet judicious style, Richard Gaskins takes his readers right into the heart of an institution in search of its own international legitimacy.' Koen Vlassenroot, Ghent University

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. Now with an updated postscript for the paperback edition, it offers 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
Postscript
Index.

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