Virtually there: Technology and the right to be present at trial in international criminal law

There is a dispute in international criminal law as to whether the right to be present at trial requires the physical presence of the accused at trial or whether the accused can be deemed present when he or she attends the trial by electronic means. This article examines the changing landscape in international criminal law as it pertains to the right to be present at trial. The growth of communications technology allows trial to be conducted in ways that until recently would have been unimaginable. Many of these changes should be embraced in order to facilitate more efficient trials, particularly in the international context where the court or tribunal may be located thousands of miles away from the site of the accused crimes and the homes of the witnesses. First, this article evaluates the nature of the dispute over the extent to which defendants can appear at trial remotely. Second, it examines the current ways in which technology is being used to facilitate the appearance of the accused during trial in international criminal proceedings and whether those practices accord with the accused's right to a fair trial. This article concludes by cautioning that the use of this new technology must be adopted in a sensible manner, and that the accused's right to a fair trial cannot be sacrificed in favour of efficiency