The Tribunal — Philip Dygeus Photographer

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Philip Dygeus Photographer

The Tribunal
Tivoli
Bad Pictures
Portraits of Lions
Micro Selfies
Vieux Nice
Works
Journal
Articles
Bio & Contact

info@philipus.com
2000-now © Philip Dygeus
●● in

The entrance to Chambers, the judicial section of the Tribunal.

The judges’ corridor. The judges’ drivers were seated behind the screens.

The judges’ corridor. Entrance to the President’s office to the right.

The President’s office. The President was the head of the Tribunal and presided over the judicial section, Chambers.

The President’s office. The black and red robes were only worn by the judges.

The meeting area in the President’s office.

A typical office of staff members in Chambers. Only senior staff had their own offices.

Courtroom I from the witness stand. The monitor at right let witnesses mark documents using a touchscreen and pen. The judges’ bench is in the background. In front of them sat Chambers and Registry staff.

Witness waiting room at Courtroom I. There were support staff to support the many traumatised witnesses who courageously came to testify.

The audio-video booth controlled the cameras and recording equipment in Courtroom I, incl. the 30-minute streaming delay, which ensured that confidential information was not accidentally published.

Courtroom I, the Prosecution side with the BCS (Bosnian-Serbian-Croatian) and English interpreters’ booths. The usher used the microphone to call the case at the start of each hearing and the court reporter (transcriber) was seated underneath the BC

Courtroom I public gallery. Publicity is a crucial tenet of fair judicial proceedings and members of the public often attended hearings, except when these were held in closed session to protect, for instance, protected witnesses.

Judges’ waiting area outside Courtroom I. The entrance to the Chambers meeting room M177 is at right.

Judges’ waiting area behind Courtroom I with the English and BCS (Bosnian-Serbian-Croatian) interpreters’ booths. The entrance to Courtroom I is at right. It was not permitted to bring tea or coffee into court.

The Defence room. Defence counsel appearing before the Tribunal did not have offices within the building.

The building which housed the Tribunal contains many interesting architectural details, such as this lift.

Security is a critical function at an international criminal jurisdiction. This was the Control Centre which was manned 24/7 and to which all the United Nations Security Officers were connected.

The Staff Union represented the interests of the Tribunal’s staff which came from almost 100 countries. Its work was very important due to the uncertain employment conditions of staff, many of whom served for up to two decades on 1-year contracts.

Without the many highly skilled conference interpreters there would not have been any proceedings. Their joint office area was behind this wall.

The cafeteria as it looked at the closure of the Tribunal in 2017. It served both hot and cold meals.

The cafeteria indoor space.

The vast balcony which was the only area where smoking was permitted. Almost no windows of the building could be opened.

The audio-video office near Courtroom I was always filled with useful equipment.

Signage in one of the main stairwells of the building.

Courtroom III was the largest courtroom and could hear cases with up to seven accused. This was the witness stand, which was placed much farther away from the judges’ bench than in Courtroom I.

The public gallery of Courtroom III was smaller than that of Courtroom I.

Courtroom III, the view from the judges bench. Three trials were heard in the morning 0900h-1400h and three in the afternoon 1400h-1900h every day, five days a week, all year round.

Courtroom III, the view from one of the accused’s seats. Note how the two large pillars block the view.

Courtroom III and the many seats needed for Defence lead and co-counsel in cases of up to seven accused.

Courtroom III audio video booth. The building that housed the Tribunal was originally built for a Dutch insurance company. Courtroom III was built where the company cafeteria was located.

Courtroom III, the English interpreters’ booth.

Courtroom III, the BCS (Bosnian-Serbian-Croatian) interpreters’ booth.

Behind Courtroom III were holding cells where the accused or convicted persons would spend the breaks during proceedings.

Courtroom III holding cells. The yellow colour was meant to be soothing.

Entrance to the Security Section’s gym in the basement.

This is where the Security Officers’ uniforms would be placed after dry cleaning.

The gym contained all the equipment needed to stay healthy and fit.

Only Security Officers had access to the gym area.

Underneath the main lobby was a cell block area where the accused or convicted persons would spend breaks in proceedings.

The cell block area underneath the lobby was circular.

Basement holding cells. There were many small rooms with fixed furniture.

Underground cell block holding area. The same yellow colour was used in all holding areas.

At its busiest the Tribunal ran nine parallel trials to make use of all available space in the courtroom calendar.

Entrance to the detainees’ lavatory.

The underground cell area contained rescue equipment and a sturdy gate.

The many parallel cases necessitated space for all the accused and convicted persons during breaks.

The IT Service Desk hatch, which virtually every person who ever served at the Tribunal has visited at least twice – to check in and to check out.

An IT equipment storage area in the basement.

The IT Section’s video conferencing room.

The IT Service Desk contained numerous types of equipment.

The Tribunal library was small but very well-stocked with reference works in the field of international criminal law.

The library could also order books from many other libraries, including the Peace Palace library.

The news and magazine area of the library.

The Tribunal’s library was open to all staff and interns.

The entrance to the Tribunal’s impressive and spacious lobby.

At Christmas time trees would be put in the lobby. Behind the balcony was the public gallery of Courtroom I.

The Tribunal’s proceedings would be streamed on the screens in the lobby.

The lobby contained several smaller waiting areas. The door at the right in the background led to the Press Briefing Room.

The rotunda and security check behind the lobby from which the public galleries of Courtroom I and Courtroom III could be accessed.

The lobby’s reception desk. On the wall the name of the Tribunal used to be written in large letters.

The rotunda looking towards the Courtroom I public gallery. The judges’ portraits were on the wall of the rotunda.

The Tribunal had a handfull of larger meeting rooms. This was M177 which belonged to Chambers.

The windows were reinforced to be able withstand certain types of gunfire.

The M177 meeting room contained two booths for interpreters.

The M177 meeting room was equipped with video conferencing equipment.

The interpreters’ booths were cramped and warm when two persons were present.

The Medical Unit was located in the basement. This was the examination room.

The Medical Unit consisted principally of the Senior Medical Officer (a medical doctor) and a nurse.

The examination room contained the main necessities, including a chart for optical examinations.

The Senior Medical Officer’s office.

The largest meeting room was M396. It was located in the Prosecution area of the building but all staff had access to it.

The Prosecution meeting room M396 also had interpreters’ booths.

Meeting room M396 was not only used during large staff meetings but also for internal lectures and trainings.

The Facilities Management Unit (FMU) was crucial to ensure the functioning of the institution. This was the FMU Helpdesk.

The building was largely in original condition and carefully maintained by the Facilities Management Unit’s staff.

The building contained a number of fascinating technical rooms. This one in the basement held the two massive diesel generators.

Behind hidden doors in corridors technical rooms such as this one could be accessed. Few staff members knew of their existence.

This old diesel generator, from the time the building was built, was in a basement area. It still worked when the Tribunal closed in 2017.

The ventilation system generally worked well, but temperature control in individual offices was sometimes a challenge.

Modern facility management equipment was installed in several of the technical rooms.

Another underground technical area.

The Prosecutor’s office. The Prosecutor was overall responsible for the investigations and prosecution of crimes and headed the Office of the Prosecutor, or OTP.

The meeting area in the Prosecutor’s office.

The Prosecutor’s desk.

Entrance to the Senior Trial Attorney corridor of the Office of the Prosecutor.

This was a medium-sized meeting room in the Prosecution area of the Tribunal.

Most corridors of the Tribunal were lined with large filing cabinets like these, often containing case files and reference materials.

Entrance to Trial Support area of the Office of the Prosecutor.

Trial Support was a crucial function of the Prosecution.

At the busiest time of the Tribunal’s existence Trial Support was a very large section.

Another view of the Trial Support area. Towards the end of the Tribunal’s existence most staff had two computer screens.

Trial Support. Behind the wall with the photos was a large technical room which contained the motor of the gold-coloured lift.

Trial Support was a comparably green area with lots of large plants.

A large office space where the Prosecution’s interns worked.

The Prosecution Evidence Vault.

An office area in the Evidence Vault.

Blue trolleys were used to transport large items. The pictures show crime sites in the Srebrenica area of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Evidence Vault contained an enormous collection, from documents to artefacts, such as computers which had been confiscated.

Behind this door was the Prosecution evidence freezer.

Evidence sample ziplock bags and blood sample kits in the Evidence Vault.

The Evidence Vault contained a large collection of old computer diskettes.

Photographic equipment and a terrain mockup in the Evidence Vault.

There was only some available space in the Evidence Vault.

The Registrar’s Office. The Registrar was in charge of the Tribunal’s administrative, policy and diplomatic support.

Meeting area in the Registrar’s Office. The Registry also provided court management support during the trials and appeals.

The Registrar’s Office. The Registry contained many different sections, such as court management, victims and witnesses, security, finance and administration, IT and the office of legal aid and detention matters.

The Registry meeting room with an inspirational poster.

The Registry meeting room was also equipped for video conferencing.

The Press Briefing Room is where all press conferences were held.

Because the Press Briefing Room had large windows on two sides it was given the nickname The Fish Bowl.

The Mail and Pouch area, which was in charge of both internal and external mail and the diplomatic pouch.

The Mail and Pouch area also received the dry cleaned robes used by Tribunal staff during court proceedings.

The Reproduction Unit produced all the printed materials of the Tribunal. The largest judgements were split into volumes because the printing machine could only bind up to a few hundred pages.

This was the entrance to Courtroom II, the smallest of the courtrooms. As part of the Tribunal’s Completion Strategy it was turned into a vault for the institution’s archive.

One of the two archive areas of the Tribunal. The archive is a fundamental part of the institution’s legacy.

Available space in one of the two archive areas. This area used to be Courtroom II.

After the closure of the Tribunal its archive is managed by the United Nations International Residual Mechanism.

A model of a building in the archive vault.

Careful and consistent organisation is necessary for a well-functioning archive.

The archive contains the necessary equipment to ensure that the records are maintained properly.

This is where the many thousands of hours of recorded trial and appeals proceedings were digitised. Digitisation was a very time-consuming process.

A training room where staff could attend anything from management to language training.

The outside perimeter of the Tribunal was lined by a tall fence and also had guard booths.

The exit turnstile. Visitors could pick up their mobile phones in lockers in the building to the right.

The front of the Tribunal building with the large satellite dish.