Observing the proceedings at the International Criminal Court usually means that one looks for a needle in a haystack: the small things that are either extremely interesting or controversial. It’s rare that a single week, let alone one week of a single trial, encapsulates some of the most exciting and interesting aspects of the ICC. But believe it or not, that’s what happened last week as the Office of the Prosecutor started presenting its case in the trial against the ex-president of Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, and his former minister Charles Ble Goude.
Let’s start off with the big ‘scandal’: witnesses at the ICC have long been a thorny issue, especially in the ongoing case against Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto and journalist Joshua Arap Sang. But say that you manage to avoid the witness tampering issues, fly the witness to The Hague and bring it into the courtroom. What could possibly go wrong?
Ouch! #ICC mistakenly reveals names of protected witnesses during #Gbagbo trial. https://t.co/yM64Vz28A0
— Philip Grant (@PhilipGrant40) February 6, 2016
Protecting the identities of witnesses is fundamental to the Court’s credibility and what is seemingly a simple error managed to give away the names of three protected witnesses. Heading in to its second full week of proceedings, the OTP likely faces an uphill battle in terms of assuring witnesses of their safety.
One might expect the trial proceedings to be serious throughout, especially when it comes to witness questioning. There was a slight flare-up in the courtroom as Gbagbo started to chuckle during a questioning. The OTP quickly objected to his behaviour.
Prosecution #ICC objects to Gbagbo&BG laughing during questioning witness (webstreaming doesnt show, ofcourse). Defence: witness also laughs
— Tjitske Lingsma (@tjitskelingsma) February 5, 2016
School class atmos @IvoireJustice reports #ICC trial Gbagbo/Blé Goudé : unprotected witnesses + laughing accused https://t.co/Kd33bYa2ET
— Janet H. Anderson (@janethanderson) February 6, 2016
So, we had mistakes by court officials, something bordering on disrespect in the courtroom and to close out the week, we had an instance of the OTP and defence agreeing and parts of the judges’ bench disagreeing. The issue relates to a decision, by majority, that the parties are not allowed to ask witnesses leading questions.
The defence team representing Gbagbo made an oral submission, in which they requested leave to appeal the decision. However, the request was struck down – again by majority – and it seems as though all parties will have to adapt to the new rules of the game. Judge Cuno Tarfusser seemingly decided to dish out a piece of his mind towards the defence stance on the issue.
#ICC judge Tarfusser accusses defence Gbagbo&BG of painting apocalyptic vision that rights suspects fundamentally violated by question-issue
— Tjitske Lingsma (@tjitskelingsma) February 5, 2016
It’s been a real week of ups and downs for the Court. Opening such a monumental trial was a big win for the institution, but it’s now being slowly but surely tainted by mistakes, arguments and issues which will undoubtedly have a large impact on the future of the trial.
So…
- What’s your stance on the ‘no leading questions’ issue?
- How will the mistake of revealing witness identities affect the OTP’s relationship with future witnesses?
Related articles:
- Opening Day: Accusing Gbagbo, tut-tutting Bensouda
- First day of former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo’s trial as seen in Abidjan
- Day 1 at the new ICC
Lead image: Drawing by Emanuele del Rosso/Justice Hube
For more coverage of the Gbagbo/Blé Goudé trial in French, check our sister site: Ivoire Justice.
The Weekly Hubble features the most popular or controversial international justice story of the past week and reactions on social media to the news.
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