6 - The International Criminal Court

Summary

Eventually, the first cases before the ICC and the ECCC reached the adjudication stage. Based on a review of the court’s voluminous legal records and in-depth interviews with those involved, this chapter identifies the ICC’s main adjudicative practices regarding reparations. The goal is to understand how reparations were conceived through these practices, and how these practices shaped the reparations outcomes decided by the judges. Chapter 6 examines the first two reparations cases before the ICC, namely the cases concerning Thomas Lubanga and Germain Katanga. In 2012, the ICC delivered its first reparations decision in Lubanga. This decision was amended by the ICC Appeals Chamber in 2015. The account ends with a second reparations decision by the Appeal Chamber in 2019. The second ICC case to reach the reparations phase was Katanga, where a reparations order at first instance was rendered in 2017 and an appeals judgment in 2018.