ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates through an analysis of the virtual trials framework, how the contemporary international tribunals and their chief prosecutors act strategically to obtain the state cooperation needed to bring suspects into the dock and to deliver courtroom justice. To develop a clearer understanding of the dynamics of and prevalent trends in the politics of international criminal justice, it employs the virtual trials framework. The chapter also employs the virtual trials framework to explain the politics of global justice in the context of these two United Nations ad hoc tribunals as well as in the context of the permanent International Criminal Court. The chapter provides a broad overview of the virtual trials framework, drawing on examples from the international tribunals to demonstrate the causes and consequences of prosecutorial confrontation and conciliation with targeted states. The state's strategy is to shift attention away from its alleged noncompliance and toward the question of the tribunal's alleged politicization and malfeasance.
