The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the Reluctant Witness

Abstract

Three are many reasons why a person may be reluctant to appear before a court as a witness. This article concerns the ability of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to compel witnesses to attend and also to answer questions when they are before the Tribunal. This second issue is more accurately represented as an ability to impose a sanction for the refusal to answer a question. This in turn raises the important question whether there are circumstances in which an individual may legitimately (i.e. without sanction) refuse to answer.