ABSTRACT
Different stakeholders, such as civil society and non-governmental organisations, are seeking to close existing evidentiary gaps within the fact-finding process regarding international core crimes. Within their documentation efforts, they take advantage of current technological developments, allowing for an increased collection of digital evidence, such as satellite imagery or user-generated content including audio-visual data and an expansion of open-source investigation. In light of these developments, this chapter will address the question of how these third parties can participate in international criminal procedure and whether the growing prevalence of third-party investigation can in any way be classified as public interest litigation. It will be illustrated how the role of third parties is changing in the context of investigating grave crimes, whether the concept of public interest litigation can be theoretically applied in the context of international criminal law and, lastly, the desirability and potential outcomes of such an approach. This inquiry will primarily focus on the International Criminal Court. Nevertheless, some conclusions are of general nature and can, at least to some degree, be transferred to other international or mixed criminal courts and tribunals.
