Abstract
This book explores a long-standing question since the Nuremberg trials. The implications of the ‘Babylonian’ situation at the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals on due process were underestimated and are continually replicated in contemporary international criminal proceedings at all levels. International criminal trials are densely multilingual, thus constituting linguistic barriers that raise the question of trial fairness. The language debate in international criminal proceedings is characterised by three principal discourses: (i) culture; (ii) fair trial rights; and (iii) translation.
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Notes
- 1.
International Military Tribunal (IMT) and the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) respectively.
- 2.
Levi and Walker (1990), p. 2.
- 3.
CDF Transcript – Prosecutor v Moinina Fofana and Allieu Kondewa SCSL-03-14-I (3 November 2004) paras 11, 12, 19, 20.
- 4.
AFRC Transcript – Prosecutor v Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu SCSL-2004-16-PT (2 October 2006) 81; AFRC Transcript (5 October 2006) 54, Consolidated List of Language & Other Corrections to the Transcripts of the Proceedings in Open Session Volume 120 Part A (IMTFE).
- 5.
Prosecutor v Jean-Paul Akayesu ICTR-96-4-T Judgment (2 September 1998), para 137.
- 6.
Prosecutor v Momčilo Krajšnik and Biljana Plavšić IT-00-39 & 40-PT Decision on Defence Motion to Exclude Evidence and Limit Scope of Trial Krajšnik and Plavšić (18 June 2002).
- 7.
Prosecutor v Ferdinand Nahimana, Hassan Ngeze and Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza ICTR-99-52-T (Media Case) Decision on the Prosecution’s Application to admit Translations of RTLM Broadcasts and Kangura Articles (3 June 2003).
- 8.
Prosecutor v Jean-Paul Akayesu para 148 (ICTR), See also CDF Transcript (3 November 2004), paras 27, 28 – Evidence of CDF witness TF2-014 (Special Court for Sierra Leone).
- 9.
See Prosecutor v Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui ICC-01/04-01/07 Judgment on the appeal of Mr Germain Katanga against the decision of Pre-Trial Chamber I entitled Decision on the Defence Request Concerning Languages (27 May 2008) para 49.
- 10.
Gaiba (1998), p. 100.
- 11.
Berk-Seligson (2002), p. 156.
Bibliography
Berk-Seligson S (2002) Bilingual court proceedings: the role of the court interpreter. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Gaiba F (1998) The origins of simultaneous interpretation: The Nuremberg Trial. University of Ottawa Press, Ottawa
Levi JN, Walker AG (eds) (1990) Language in the judicial process. Plenum, New York
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Namakula, C.S. (2014). Conclusion and Recommendations. In: Language and the Right to Fair Hearing in International Criminal Trials. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01451-7_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01451-7_6
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