{"title":"Balancing the Interest in Prosecuting International Crimes against the Fair Trial Guarantees","authors":"Lorenzo Acconciamessa","doi":"10.1163/15718123-bja10179","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The Italian Constitutional Court recently issued its ruling in the context of the criminal proceedings concerning the torture of Giulio Regeni, an Italian PhD student whose dead body was found in Egypt. The case raised the issue of whether the impossibility of prosecuting the alleged perpetrators of acts of torture was compatible with Italy’s international obligations. The Constitutional Court concluded that the duty to prosecute torture imposed to hold the trial even in absentia, subject to the right of the accused to obtain a retrial. This contribution will show how the Constitutional Court filled a lacuna in the domestic legal framework by balancing the international obligations at stake. It will assess the questionable aspect of the judgment, notably the identification of the source of the alleged duty of the State of passive nationality of the victim to prosecute of torture. Lastly, it will assess the case in the light of the international legal framework concerning trials <jats:italic>in absentia</jats:italic>.","PeriodicalId":55966,"journal":{"name":"International Criminal Law Review","volume":"82 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Criminal Law Review","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15718123-bja10179","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"LAW","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The Italian Constitutional Court recently issued its ruling in the context of the criminal proceedings concerning the torture of Giulio Regeni, an Italian PhD student whose dead body was found in Egypt. The case raised the issue of whether the impossibility of prosecuting the alleged perpetrators of acts of torture was compatible with Italy’s international obligations. The Constitutional Court concluded that the duty to prosecute torture imposed to hold the trial even in absentia, subject to the right of the accused to obtain a retrial. This contribution will show how the Constitutional Court filled a lacuna in the domestic legal framework by balancing the international obligations at stake. It will assess the questionable aspect of the judgment, notably the identification of the source of the alleged duty of the State of passive nationality of the victim to prosecute of torture. Lastly, it will assess the case in the light of the international legal framework concerning trials in absentia.
期刊介绍:
Thus there is also a need for criminological, sociological and historical research on the issues of ICL. The Review publishes in-depth analytical research that deals with these issues. The analysis may cover: • the substantive and procedural law on the international level; • important cases from national jurisdictions which have a bearing on general issues; • criminological and sociological; and, • historical research.