Articles

• Stolk, Sofia 1

Abstract

International criminal trials expose a paradox with regard to the portrayal of the defendants. While criminal law is based on the idea that perpetrators are responsible agents – human members of a community who can be held accountable before the law – speaking about mass atrocity involves a dimension of inhuman evil that places the accused outside the realm of humanity. This article interrogates how, concretely, the dual attribution of a despicable human character as well as inhuman evilness to the defendants takes shape in international courtrooms. It analyses the depiction of the defendants in the opening statements of the prosecution and the subsequent responses of the defence teams in 17 cases at four international criminal courts and tribunals. Opening statements are unique media moments that engage with describing the personality of the defendant rather than merely focusing on his deeds. The empirical material reveals how, in these statements, trial participants conflate humanizing and dehumanizing language and create an ‘ideal’ stereotype of the inhuman human. The article theorizes the function of this stereotype and argues that it is mobilized in order to fit the defendant into a narrative that aims to legitimize international criminal trials and attempts to balance their multiple, contradictory goals.

• 1T.M.C. Asser Instituut, The Hague