- Although a number of serious crimes have been recognized and defined as international in nature - most obviously genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity - no universal code of procedural law can be said to govern the conduct of international criminal trials. This important new books takes a giant step toward the development of such a code through an in-depth analysis of actual procedure before existing international and internationalized courts - the International Military Tribunal for Nuremberg and Tokyo (1945), the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), and the East Timor Special Panels for Serious Crimes. The author also explores and clarifies the crucial role of human rights law, especially as it has evolved in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), in the field of international criminal procedural law. In the course of his analysis Dr. Knoops, defence counsel before international criminal tribunals and a distinguished authority in the field, sets forth detailed and interrelated commentary on such aspects as the following as they affect international criminal proceedings: stare decisis and civil law traits; practical implications of human rights law; jus cogens norms; transfer of jurisdiction from a national to an international court; prosecutorial powers to initiate international criminal proceedings; requirements for indictments; (pre)-trial traits; the claim of national security interests; rules of evidence; sentencing and enforcement; appeal; review; and, state cooperation.