Criminal proceedings are at constant risk of being disrupted, be it by witness interference, false testimonies or other forms of obstruction of justice. National legal systems extensively penalize such obstructive acts in order to protect their criminal trials, and even US Presidents could face consequences for obstruction of justice, as was exemplified by Richard Nixon and Donald Trump. The problem of obstruction of justice is particularly acute in international criminal trials, many of which are affected by witness interference and other obstructive acts. Yet the penalization of obstruction of international criminal justice is hardly an issue in practice or in the academic world. This study analyses the criminal law on obstruction of justice at the International Criminal Court and compares it with the respective legal regimes of Germany, the United States federal system, and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Does the obstruction law of the International Criminal Court protect its proceedings in equal measure?

Jan Caba studierte Rechtswissenschaften an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, an der Université Paris II (Panthéon-Assas) und an der London School of Economics and Political Science. Nach dem Referendariat in München und Addis Abeba arbeitete er zunächst als Rechtsanwalt für die Praxisgruppe Konfliktlösung einer internationalen Wirtschaftskanzlei in München und Istanbul. Im Anschluss promovierte er an der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg und am Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches und internationales Strafrecht (jetzt: Max-Planck-Institut zur Erforschung von Kriminalität, Sicherheit und Recht). Seit 2020 ist Jan Caba als Strafverteidiger in allen Bereichen des Strafrechts tätig.