Why should the international criminal court adopt plea bargaining?

• Author: Volkan MAVIS
• Pages: 459-487

İnönü Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi Cilt: 5 Sayı:2 Yıl 2014 459

WHY SHOULD THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

ADOPT PLEA BARGAINING?

Research Assistant Volkan MAVİŞ

Abstract

Since its establishment in 2002, the International Criminal Court

(ICC) has faced many obstacles in bringing the instigators and

perpetrators of crimes to justice. Many solutions have been offered on

solving these difficulties which are mainly legal, procedural and

economical. One suggestion which has been made is the issue of plea

bargaining. This procedure, which is controversial both in national and

international level, has already been applied by other international

criminal tribunals such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the

former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and International Criminal Tribunal for

Rwanda (ICTR). However, there is a danger that the misuse of plea

bargaining by these international tribunals plants since of doubt on

lawyers’ minds. In this article, the author discusses the possibility of the

ICC adopting plea bargaining system and its proceedings. In this regard, it

will also consider the pros and cons of adopting a plea bargaining system

in achieving justice for the victims of the world’s most heinous atrocities.

Keywords: Plea bargaining, International Criminal Court,

restorative justice, Ad hoc tribunals

 Inonu University Law Faculty, volkanm@hotmail.com.tr

Research Assistant Volkan MAVİŞ

460 İnönü Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi Cilt: 5 Sayı:2 Yıl 2014

ULUSLARARASI CEZA MAHKEMESİ UZLAŞMA KURUMUNU

NEDEN KABUL ETMELİ?

Özet

Uluslararası Ceza Mahkemesi, 2002’de kurulmasından bu yana

failleri ve azmettirenleri adalet önüne getirmekte sorunlar yaşamakta.

Özellikle hukuksal, usule ilişkin ve ekonomik içerikli bu sorunlara yönelik

pek çok çözüm yöntemi tartışılmış bulunmaktadır. Uzlaşma kurumu da bu

çözüm yöntemlerinden birisidir. Gerek iç hukukta gerekse uluslararası

hukukta tartışmalı olan bu kurum, Eski Yugoslavya Uluslararası Ceza

Mahkemesi ve Ruanda Uluslararası Ceza Mahkemesi gibi diğer

uluslararası mahkemeler tarafından uygulanmaktadır. Öte yandan,

uzlaşma kurumunun hatalı kullanımı hukukçuları kuşkuya sevk etmiştir.

Bu makalede, Uluslararası Ceza Mahkemesinin uzlaşma kurumunu kabul

etmesi ihtimali tartışılacaktır. Bu bağlamda, dünyanın en ağır ihlallerine

karşı mağdurlara adalet sunulması bakımından kurumun olumlu ve

olumsuz yönleri incelenecektir.

Anahtar Sözcükler: Uzlaşma, Uluslararası Ceza Mahkemesi,

yapıcı adalet, ad hoc mahkemeler

1. Introduction

The international community has experienced many grave atrocities

in the past. The Holocaust in the Second World War and the Rwandan

Genocide are the only two vivid examples of such massive brutalities

occurred in not so distant past. Although international actors failed to

avoid these unacceptable events in the first place, they eventually

responded to bring the perpetrators to justice by establishing special

international criminal courts such as the Nuremberg and Tokyo

Tribunals

1

. Today, 68 years after the Nuremberg experience, international

criminal law has achieved many imponderable results such as conviction

1

See May, R. / Wierda, M. (1999) ‘Trends in international Criminal Evidence:

Nuremberg, Tokyo, the Hague, and Arusha’, Colombia Jour nal of Tra nsnational Law,

37(3), at 728.