ABSTRACT
Photographic and videographic images play an important role in political trials that aim at public audiences. Based on ethnographic fieldwork at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, this chapter argues that one needs to focus on the affective dimension of images in order to understand the performative power these images hold in court. Because of their status as objects rather than subjects, images of atrocities are likely to affect audiences more profoundly when they have less emotional stakes of their own in the case.
