Change of Course or Product of Desperation?

The case of Dražen Erdemoviæ before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia is among the most important in modern international legal history. It represents the first time an accused has pled guilty to committing crimes against humanity before an international tribunal, but most importantly it was the first trial since those following World War II in which the issue of acting under duress was raised as a defense. The issue of admitting duress as a defense is of great importance to the nature of fairness in an international tribunal. As this issue was an unsettled matter of international law, this case produced important opinions, both for and against the use of the defense in a case involving the death of innocent people. Only months after the decision in Erdemoviæ, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court was promulgated. This document took a decidedly different view of duress as compared to Erdemoviæ. This paper examines the Erdemoviæ case in detail and its impact on the Rome Statute.