Admissibility of digital open source evidence in the prosecution of atrocity crimes by the International Criminal Court

Abstract

The advent of the internet, social media and the widespread proliferation of mobile communication technologies has immensely expanded the global information environment causing a rapidly growing amount of open sources to flood it on everyday basis. Although this trend has raised novel opportunities for international criminal prosecution, it has also cultivated new legal challenges for admissibility of digital open source evidence in trial. While the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court encompasses a criteria for admissibility and weight of open source evidence in criminal proceedings, these standards are not entirely definite for digital open source evidence, such as user generated content published on social media platforms. Therefore, the thesis inquire on what factors affect the admissibility of digital open source information as evidence in the proceedings before the International Criminal Court. The resulting analysis regard the challenging areas in open source investigation and prosecution, while aiming towards pinpointing the solutions that may be adopted in order to ensure efficient utilization of digital open source information in the future.