The 23rd edition of the Stadt(ver)führungen took place from 16 to 18 September 2022 and provided for more than 1,100 guided tours in the city of Nürnberg and Fürth under the motto Verwandlungen (metamorphosises, transformations). The marathon of guided visits included an event held by the Nuremberg Academy on the afternoon of 17 September at Courtroom 600 of the Nuremberg Palace of Justice, the place where modern international criminal law was born almost 80 years ago. The Nuremberg Academy was represented by Dr Pablo Gavira Díaz and together with Professor Christoph Safferling (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg) and Ms Rebecca Weiß (Memorium Nuremberg Trials), they involved in a conversation revolving around “Films, Photos, Social Media – Evidence in International Criminal Proceedings over the Course of Time”.
The event provided the participants with an overview of the evolution of evidence in the courtroom, both at the international and national level. With respect to the international perspective, while Ms Weiß focused on the introduction of videos and photos as a pioneering exercise in developing evidence to prosecute major war criminals at the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal, Dr Pablo Gavira Díaz explained that the International Criminal Court is still in its infancy considering the number of challenges posed by the new technologies. The volume and vulnerability of digital information carry with it an increase of new tools for collecting, processing, authenticating and preserving such data, a fact that clashes with the limited capabilities of the court sitting in The Hague. For his part, Professor Safferling shed light on how national courts initiate domestic proceedings in accordance with the principle of universal jurisdiction, paying special attention to the structural investigation model followed by the German authorities in investigating and prosecuting the commission of international crimes committed abroad, even when offences have no specific link to Germany.
The conversation among the three speakers was well-received and well-attended, with more than 30 persons present in the room, and it built an engaging interactive experience for participants, who also referred to some topics that have been in the spotlight in recent years.