In the aftermath of the Nuremberg and Tokyo war criminal trial the international community agreed the need to establish the international criminal court, the international law commission was assigned to work on this project, the result of international law commission lay the foundation of formulation of statute of international criminal court. At the same time the international community was learning from the two Adhoc tribunals.

ESTABLISHEMENT

Was established by the Rome statute which was signed in 1998and it come into operation in 1st July in 2002, it is the first permanent international criminal court after

Court structure

  1. President office “compose of the chief court administrator and three judges”
  2. The office of prosecutor
  3. The judicial revision “compose of 18 judges”
  4. The office of registrar “compose of non-judicial officers”

Jurisdiction:

  1. over crime against Humanity, war crimes, Genocide and crime of aggression in which it expects to prosecute war of aggression in 2017.
  2. Personal jurisdiction: crime taking place in the territory of the member accepting the jurisdiction of the court, crimes committed by the nationals of the member, crimes committed by a national of state accepting the jurisdiction, crimes referred by the security council. The international criminal court is subsidiary to the national court; it works with regards to the principle of complementarity

Method of referral to the ICC

  1. Referral by the prosecutor “in suo motto”:  
  2. Referral by a state party “Museveni, Congo, Libya”
  3. Referral by the security council of non- state party

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ORGANIZATION OF THE ICC/STRUCTURE

THE PRESIDENCY

            Appear under international court for the first time as …. Consist the president and the first and second presidency, the are elected by the absolute majority of the judges and they are eligible for re-election ones, each of them serves for the term of 3 years or until the end of their respective term of the judges, the presidency is primarily for the administration of the office of the court with exception of the office of prosecutor, and for other functions conferred upon it in accordance with statute as per Art. 38 of the Rome statute. The other function includes deciding when judges shall exercise their own duties in full time.

THE PROSECUTION

            The ICC prosecutor office is also a separate organ of the court which act independently, it is responsible for receiving substantiating … for examining them and conducting investigation and prosecution before the court. A member of the office of prosecutor is prohibited from seeking or acting on instruction of any external forces as per Art. 42 (1) of the Rome statute, the ICC office of prosecutor is headed by prosecutor with full management of the office and administration of the office including the staff, facilities and other resources thereof, the prosecutor is assisted by the one or more prosecutor, who are authorized to perform any of the prosecutor function, the prosecutor and deputy prosecutor are to be of different nationality  and to serve on a full time bases, they must be one of high moral character, highly competent in and with practical experience of prosecuting criminal cases and have excellent of in one of the working language of the court.

            The ICC prosecutor is elected by the secret ballot by absolute majority of member of the assembly of state parties and deputy prosecutor are elected in the same way, they are appointed for the term of nine years unless a shorter period is set at the time of their election like judges they are not eligible for re-election.

REGISTRY

            The ICC statute provides that the registry is responsible only for non-judicial aspect of the administration and selling service of the court without prejudice the function in power of the prosecutor as per Ar. 43 of the Rome statute, the phase non judicial aspect in ICC statute does not exclude the judicial or legal task describe above and is not intended to affect the registry duties to provide for the management in provide for the management of the court including scheduling and supporting services. The ICC registry is headed by the registrar who is the principle administrative office of the court, the registrar exercises his or her function of his or her under the authority of the president of the court Art. 43 (2) of the Rome statute.

            The registrar and deputy registrar must of be person of high character, highly competent and with excellent knowledge of and fluency of one of the working language of the court. They are elected by the secret ballot of the absolute judges of majority, the deputy is elected only if the need arises, the registrar is the one who says there is a need. The registrar serves full time for five years and is eligible for re-election. Victim and witness united is set up within the registry, will provide protective measure, counselling for witness who appear before the court as per Art. 43 (5) of the Rome statute.

THE DEFENCE

            Hence in any other court of law the defense plays a crucial law at international court, the ICC define the criteria and procedures for assignment of legal assistance in court regulations, the registrar of ICC creates the list of councilor meeting the criterial set forth in R. 22 of the rules of procedure and evidence, however R. 21 (2) of the ICC rule of procedure and evidence provides that accused person or suspect is free not only to choose counsel in list but may choose other counsel provided is meet the criteria.

To qualify for admission of the ICC a candidate must have established competence in international or criminal law and procedure as well as necessary experience in criminal proceedings whether is a judge, prosecutor or advocate “10 years’ experience”.

ROLE OF AMECUS CURIE “friend of the court”: they provide non-binding opinion