intent or motive, and connect individuals to criminal activities. However, challenges such as data
privacy concerns, issues of authenticity, and the need for specialized expertise in digital forensics can
impact the admissibility and reliability of digital evidence. Therefore, it's crucial for parties presenting
digital evidence to adhere to legal standards and procedures, including demonstrating the authenticity
and integrity of the evidence, maintaining chain of custody records, and providing expert testimony
when necessary. Forgery/tampering of physical documents used to be a way of misleading a judicial
process, but the recent technological advancements have extended the definition of forgery/
tampering, whereby challenging the credibility of evidences which are relied upon while dispensing
justice. Overall, digital evidence holds considerable legal value in court proceedings and is expected to
play an increasingly prominent role in the justice system as technology continues to evolve.
The use of electronic evidence in criminal proceedings, including photographs, videos, and audio
recordings, has been a longstanding practice. Since the Nuremberg trials, these materials have played
a crucial role in documenting and prosecuting various types of crimes. In recent decades, with the
increase in technology for the criminal activities the use of technology for committing crimes has
increased which has been witnessed in domestic, regional and international court cases. Apart from
this, digital technologies are also serving a tool to record evidences related to crimes. In both of the
scenarios, the recognition of digital records as evidences for the purpose of deciding any case has
become the need of the time. For example, over 4 million videos related to the Syrian conflict have
been uploaded on YouTube alone, surpassing the duration of the conflict itself. International Criminal
Court (
ICC) investigators and prosecutors have adapted to evidence collection trend by collecting
user-generated digital and open-source evidence for use in trials. The Office of the Prosecutor began
collecting digital evidence in 2008 in the Bemba case1, and video evidence was introduced in the first
trial before the Court, Prosecutor v Thomas Lubanga Dyilo2. By 2011, this type of evidence had been
collected in investigations related to Kenya, Ivory Coast, and Libya. To ensure the authenticity,
The Prosecutor v. Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, Case No. ICC-01/05-01/08, Judgment Pursuant to Article 74 of the
Statute,
Int’l
Crim.
Ct.
(Mar.
21,
2016),
available
at:
https://www.icccpi.int/sites/default/files/CaseInformationSheets/BembaEng.pdf
1
Prosecutor v. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, Case No. ICC-01/04-01/06, Judgment Pursuant to Article 74 of the Statute, Int’l
Crim.
Ct.
(Mar.
14,
2012),
available
at
:
https://www.icccpi.int/sites/default/files/CaseInformationSheets/LubangaEng.pdf
2
5