Acknowledgements

As editors, our first thanks go to all the contributors to this volume: you are the city, the city is you and yours. A few of you were present at the inception of our journey in Phnom Penh in 2019, then others joined in 2021 when we organized a virtual workshop of experts entitled ‘The Visualities and Aesthetics of Prosecuting Aged Defendants’. For this next step in the cycle, namely this book, you revisited your original contributions. The following chapters are thus updated versions of articles published in 22(1–2) International Criminal Law Review (2022):

1. –J. Burnham Sedgwick, ‘An Age-Old Question: Optical (A)llusions, (In)Decency, and (In)Justice in the Trial of Japanese War Criminals’, 86–108.
2. –M. Vormbaum, The ‘Unusual’ Trial of Former Concentration Camp Guard Bruno Dey’, 225–243 (this piece has been substantially reworked and is now co-authored).
3. –L. Zylberman and A. Taboada, ‘The Age-impunity Rhetoric in Trials for Crimes Committed during the Argentine Genocide (1975–1983)’, 109–141.
4. –A. Kumar, ‘Trial as a Tool of Colonialism: The 1858 Trial of Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar’, 166–188.
5. –S. Fyfe, ‘Negative Aesthetic Experiences of Prosecuting the Barely Alive’, 23–42.
6. –K.P. Tsinas, ‘Prosecuting Asymmetrically: On Some “Preconditions” of Criminal Liability of Aged Defendants for Atrocities’, 43–62.
7. –K.J. Fisher, ‘The Expressive Value of Prosecuting Aged Defendants: A Rebuke of Ageism’, 63–85.

And so many others joined us anew in October 2022 in Exeter, for the conference ‘The Sights, Sounds, and Sensibilities of Atrocity Prosecutions’. Our thanks also go to those Exeter conference participants who elected not to write but did speak; your voices resonate throughout.

Appreciations to the publication team at Brill and most particularly to Lindy Melman, Bea Timmer and Nitzan Shalev for their immediate – and heartwarming – enthusiasm, prompt guidance, and constant help.

This project would not have been possible without the unwavering commitments of our home institutions: the University of Groningen, the University of Exeter, in particular Exeter Law School, and Washington and Lee University, notably the Lewis Law Center, and Dean Melanie Wilson. Washington and Lee law students Miller Sullivan, Will Stanley, Sara Fé White, Nathan Thompson, Carlyle Turner, Gabby Roberts, and Saylor Snowden formed an indomitable team of research assistants and readers.

Mark thanks his wife Michelle, and sons Paul and Luke, for all their unebbing support, love, and laughter as among each other and all of us. Mark also thanks Solange Mouthaan, Barbora Holá, Kirsten Fisher, and Shannon Fyfe for reaching over and above with ideas as to threads, themes, covers, paintings, and pictures. Caroline, the memories of creating this book from start to finish will always be joyous ones for me: I will forever cherish blustery Hannover rains, Niki de Saint Phalle’s sculptures, Exeter’s wines, Cambodia’s humid suns, the conviviality and energy and friendship that we share, all the glittery humour, ainsi que la possibilité de jaser un peu en français – merci, toi.

Caroline thanks her family for their unconditional support and continuous encouragement that transcend distance, time and generations; thank you for your presence, terrestrial or otherwise. Special thanks to the younger ones for their uplifting energy and enchanting kindness. Too young to know, old enough – or perhaps young enough I am not sure – to understand. Caroline also thanks her friends for simply being who they are and of course Steve for the great vibes, the laughs and the reassurance. You all light up my life with joy and magic; thank you. My thanks would not be complete if I didn’t thank Mark for being a brilliant co-organizer, a fantastic co-editor, an inspiring co-writer and most of all a wonderful friend. Merci Mark for glorious adventures and an amazing journey.