Affective Witnessing in the Courtroom

IF 0.1 4区社会学 Q4 CULTURAL STUDIES

Parallax Pub Date : 2020-07-02 DOI:10.1080/13534645.2021.1883295

Jonas Bens

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引用次数: 3

Abstract

On 22 January 2016 I was seated in the visitors’ gallery of courtroom one at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, The Netherlands. On the docket that day was the Confirmation of Charges Hearing against Dominic Ongwen, a Ugandan national in his forties and a former high-ranking commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel force from northern Uganda. Ongwen was accused of having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during a military conflict with the Ugandan government in the early 2000s. On that day, the prosecution played a short video that had been recorded by Ugandan army investigators shortly after the Lord’s Resistance Army had attacked a camp for internally displaced persons. The video depicted several dead bodies of small children, some of them under three years old. The dead bodies were mutilated and partly burned. Before she showed the gruesome video, the prosecution lawyer described the contents in a dispassionate manner, showing no sign of affection. She added that she had to warn members of the public that the images could be disturbing – still in the same monotonous and disinterested tone of voice, avoiding the display of any expression on her face.

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法庭上的情感见证

2016年1月22日，我坐在荷兰海牙国际刑事法院第一法庭的访客席上。当天的诉讼记录是针对多米尼克·翁文的指控确认听证会。翁文是一名四十多岁的乌干达国民，曾是乌干达北部反叛力量上帝抵抗军的高级指挥官。翁文被指控在21世纪初与乌干达政府的军事冲突中犯下战争罪和反人类罪。当天，检方播放了乌干达军队调查人员在上帝抵抗军袭击一个境内流离失所者营地后不久录制的一段短视频。视频描绘了几具幼童的尸体，其中一些还不到三岁。尸体被肢解，部分被焚烧。在她展示这段可怕的视频之前，检方律师以冷静的方式描述了视频内容，没有表现出任何感情。她补充说，她必须警告公众，这些图像可能会令人不安——仍然是单调而无私的语调，避免在脸上表现出任何表情。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Parallax Multiple-

CiteScore

0.50

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Founded in 1995, parallax has established an international reputation for bringing together outstanding new work in cultural studies, critical theory and philosophy. parallax publishes themed issues that aim to provoke exploratory, interdisciplinary thinking and response. Each issue of parallax provides a forum for a wide spectrum of perspectives on a topical question or concern. parallax will be of interest to those working in cultural studies, critical theory, cultural history, philosophy, gender studies, queer theory, post-colonial theory, English and comparative literature, aesthetics, art history and visual cultures.