Abstract
As a preliminary matter, the article considers different legal regimes pertaining to the power of the international criminal tribunals to punish conduct that tends to impede or frustrate the good administration of justice, from Nuremberg to the UN Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals. It further examines the actus reus and mens rea of the offence of giving false testimony under solemn declaration, pursuant to article 70(1)(a) of the Rome Statute. It separately evaluates whether materiality of the false testimony is a requisite legal element of this offence. In conclusion, the article observes that few offences are carried out with greater impunity in the international criminal proceedings, and cautions against a risk of routinisation of false testimony due to a deliberate non-enforcement of its prohibition.
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Former Legal Assistant with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author alone and do not represent the position of any other person or body. The author would like to thank Kweku Vanderpuye, Senior Trial Lawyer at the ICC, who will recognise some of the examples used in this article, and Ivan Sinyakin, Associate Professor of International Law at MGIMO-University, for his presence, patience, precious and insightful advice. E-mail: ekaterina.kopylova92@gmail.com
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Kopylova, E.A. The Offence of Giving False Testimony under Solemn Declaration in the Rome Statute. Crim Law Forum 28, 669–708 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10609-017-9301-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10609-017-9301-3