Reduction of Life Sentences Imposed by International Criminal Tribunals after the Galić Decision

In his recent Gali c ́ Decision, the President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (MICT) stated that persons convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), or MICT to life imprisonment shall be considered eligible for early release upon having served ‘more than 30 years’ of their sentence. This decision shows that the President of the MICT respects the rules and principles of international human rights law relating to the treatment of (life) prisoners, and follows the international jurisprudence developed thereunder. Consequently, the Gali c ́ Decision confirms a nascent trend in international human rights law towards outlawing irreducible life sentences. The present article argues that while the Gali c ́ Decision significantly clarifies and improves legal arrangements concerning the reduction of life sentences imposed by the ICTY, ICTR, and MICT, those arrangements still need to be improved upon. The proposed refinements should mainly focus on strengthening the legal certainty of life prisoners. Some important improvements regarding the reduction of life sentences should also be implemented in the law and jurisprudence of the International Criminal Court

Human rights · Imprisonment · International law · Jurisprudence · Legal certainty · Life imprisonment · Political science · Prison · Sentence · Tribunal · Human Rights and Development · International Law and Human Rights · Torture, Ethics, and Law · Law · Philosophy