On 5 December 2019, at the yearly Assembly of State parties of the International Criminal Court, the ICCBA held an official Side Event on the Rights of Detainees before the International Criminal Court. The event was sponsored by France and Senegal. The panelists were Mylène Dimitri, Marie-Hélène Proulx and Jennifer Naouri and the moderator was Peter Haynes QC, President of the ICCBA, the event was attended by representatives of States, judges and civil society.
Jennifer Naouri, Counsel for Laurent Gbagbo at the ICC, provided a comprehensive overview of the legal framework applicable to provision release at the ICC, during both pre-trial and trial proceedings. She exposed in detail how the implementation of the legal framework led to a situation where it was virtually impossible for a suspect or an accused, despite being presumed innocent, to secure provisional release.
This situation is due to the combined effect of Judges applying a very low standard of proof to the identification of reasons justifying continued detention, the absence of inclusion in the Rome Statute of certain human rights standards and the unclear procedure applicable to conditional release.
As a consequence, Jennifer Naouri proposed some constructive proposals for reform of the system, based on her extensive experience, in order to bring it more in line with recognised human rights standards, made suggestions for possible amendments to the Rome Statute.
The full video of the event can be viewed here and Jennifer Naouri's intervention, including the ensuing Q&A, can be viewed here: