The Defence in International Criminal Courts

/ Termine

The Defence in International Criminal Courts

Veranstalter
International Research and Documentation Centre War Crimes Trials (ICWC)
Veranstaltungsort
Hessissches Staatsarchiv Marburg, Aula der Alten Universität
Ort
Marburg
Land
Deutschland
Vom - Bis
03.12.2014 - 05.12.2014
Website
http://www.conference-icwc.de/
Von
Franziska Kowalski

From December 3rd to 5th, 2014, the International Research and Documentation Centre War Crimes Trials (ICWC) cordially invites you to throw a glance at the past and future of international criminal defence.

Nowadays, defence lawyers are frequently confronted with a variety of difficulties when acting in front of international, respectively internationalised, courts, such as dealing with an unknown jurisdiction or procedural law as well as with completely new criminal offences. Even the roles of the parties to the proceedings are often not clearly defined in advance; they rather evolve in the course of the proceedings. In this regard, defence lawyers often have to face new and challenging tasks like focusing on their own, proper investigation.

Many of these aforementioned issues have – of course – been current in former international criminal proceedings, e.g. the Nuremberg Trials, followed by the so called subsequent Nuremberg Trials, and other national trials. And although the contemporary proceedings since 1990 have constantly been relating to their precursors of the post-World-War-II – period, the role of the defence in particular has only been subject to little research.

Within these three days in Marburg, the conference will bring together academics and practitioners from various professions in order to spotlight different issues related to the defence in international criminal proceedings from both a historic and judicial point of view. It will be questioned who these defence lawyers have been, how they have dealt with the problems named above and especially what kind of strategies they have pursued. In this context, the defence lawyer’s personal and maybe political intentions are focal points of discussion as well as revealing possible networks among counsels.

Furthermore, criminal proceedings never only take place in courtrooms. Public prosecutors and defence lawyers not only argue over guilt and innocence; in fact, it is more often a question of unearthing the truth. In this respect, defenders may have a unique chance to exert influence on the court’s notions and narratives. Exactly that is what we will openly examine and discuss during the conference and subsequently ask, whether – in retrospective – defenders have already tried to influence the court in that way.

“The Defence in International Criminal Courts” tries to find answers to these and further, highly topical questions and challenges defenders in international proceedings have to face. We intend to focus on this widespread but at the same time nearly untouched research area as we wish to initiate and even the path for a future research agenda. On that account, we did not only invite members of legal professions, but also historians and social scientists. For answering those pressing questions of international criminal law an interdisciplinary approach is more needed than ever. That is what the two past conferences hosted by the International Research and Documentation Centre War Crimes Trials (ICWC), “The Genocide Convention. 60 Years after its Adoption” (2008) and “Victims of International Crimes” (2011), have made obvious.

Programm

Wednesday, 3 December 2014

13.00: Arrival of Participants

15.00: Welcome by the Director of the ICWC

Part A : Historical Dimension
15.15-16.45: PANEL 1: The Defence in War Crimes Trials after 1945
Chair: Christoph Safferling, ICWC

-The Legal Framework for the Defence at the IMT; Lars Büngener, Frankfurt/Main
-Justice Jackson, the IMT & OMGUS, Delivering 'the Assistance of Counsel' to the Nuremberg Defendants; John Q Barrett, St. John's University, N. Y.
-Defence in British War Crimes Trials 1945-1949; Margaretha F. Bauer, Augsburg University
-Defence in American Trials - The Justice Trial; Martin Luber, ICWC
-German Defence Lawyers and Angloamerican Procedure; Michael S. Bryant, Bryant University, Smithfield

16.45-17.15 Coffee Break

17.15-19.00: PANEL 2: Biographies, Strategies and Interests
Chair: Eckart Conze, ICWC

-Friedrich Bergold as Defence Counsel before the IMT and NMT; Benedikt Salleck, ICWC
-Hans Laternser: From the IMT to the Auschwitz-Trial; Heike Krösche, Linz
-Jahrreiß, Takayanagi and Crimes against Peace; Kirsten Sellars, National University of Singapore
-Robert Servatius: Defending Eichmann and Selling him; Willi Winkler, Munich

Thursday, 4 December 2014

10.00-12.00: PANEL 3: Politics of the Past and Historical Memory
Chair: Wencke Meteling, ICWC

-Transition and Combination Play. Organising the Nuremberg Defence, 1945-51; Kim C. Priemel, Humboldt University of Berlin
-Revision and Revisionism: The Example of Erich Schmidt-Leichner; Irina Schulmeister, Frankfurt/Main
-"Hitlerising": Defence Strategies and Images of History; Annette Weinke, Friedrich Schiller University Jena

12.00-14.00: Lunch Break

Part B: Modern Trials
14.00-16.00: PANEL 4: Defence before International Courts and Tribunals
Chair: Stefan Kirsch, Frankfurt/Main

-The Impact of Defence Work in Modern International Criminal Law; Steven Kay QC, The Hague
-The Legal and Institutional Framework of the Defence; Melinda A. Taylor, The Hague
-Trial in Absentia; Andrè Klip, Maastricht University
-The Accused without Counsel; Peter Robinson, The Hague

18.30-20.00: Marburg Lecture of Internatinal Criminal Law
18.30: Welcome Addresses
Dean of the Law Faculty
Director of the ICWC

19.00: Lecture: Verteidiger der Unmenschlichkeit? Probleme der Verteidigung in den deutschen Kriegsverbrecherprozessen nach 1945; Andreas Wirsching, Institute of Contemporary History, Munich

20.00: Reception in the Alte Universität

Friday, 5 December 2014

08.30-10.30: PANEL 5: The Defence between National and International Prosecution
Chair: Eberhard Kempf, Frankfurt

-The Position of the Defence in Adversarial and Inquisitorial Trail Proceedings; Michael G. Karnavas, The Hague
-Collection of Evidence Abroad; Stefan Wäspi, Berne
-The Dramatic Absence of a proper Organisation of Defence and of an Independent Bar and it's Far-Reaching Consequences; Jean Flamme, The Hague

10.30-11.00: Coffee Break

11.00-12.30: PANEL 6: The Defence and the Quest for the Truth - Roundtable Discussion
Chair: Peter Wilkitzki, Berlin

-Gillian Higgins, The Hague
-Michael A. Newton, Vanderbilt University, Nashville
-Ulrich Herbert, Albert Ludwigs Universität, Freiburg

12.30-13.00: Endnote

13.00-14.00: Lunch

Kontakt

Prof. Dr. Christoph Safferling, LL.M. (LSE)

Professur für Strafrecht, Strafprozessrecht, Internationales Strafrecht und Völkerrecht

06421 / 28 - 23120
06421 / 28 - 21728
staff@icwc-conference.de

http://www.conference-icwc.de/
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