Proving Genocide? Forensic Expertise and the ICTY

This article works towards developing a theoretical framework outlining the premises and parameters under which forensic experts operate during various stages of international criminal investigations and the presentation of expert witness testimony in court. With reference to law and science literature, the article explores the reasons for undertaking resource-intensive forensic investigations; secondly it outlines the ways in which evidence is gathered and interpreted, the process of constructing ‘forensic truth’; and finally it examines what happens to ‘forensic truth’ once it enters the legal arena. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and its activities are used to illustrate the issues involved during the ‘forensic expertise meets international law’ interface. Specifically the forensic exhumations conducted around the Srebrenica events of July 1995 and their use in the Krstić trial serve to contextualise the debate.