Compulsory Production of Evidence in International Criminal Proceedings: Public Interests at Stake Beyond Punishment of the Guilty

Setting out from the basic legal issues in relation to subpoenas, i.e., the normative framework, requirements and meaning (Section II), this article explores how international institutions have interpreted the relevant rules on compulsory process to obtain evidence from states (Section III), organs of states (Section IV) and private individuals (Section V). This essay is not intended as an exhaustive study of compulsory production of evidence in international criminal law. Rather, it is an attempt to focus on certain emerging issues and in particular on the experiences of international organs in terms of subpoenas (and largely the jurisprudential findings on the compulsion of evidence of state officials) reflecting the traditional inter-state community’s evolution towards the redefinition of state sovereignty following the internationalization of human rights, namely, towards the global community.