Chapter 7 • The Right to a Fair Trial: Part II – From Trial to Final Judgement Other pertinent international provisions on this issue are to be found in article 15 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and article 10 of the American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture. The former provides that “each State Party shall ensure that any statement which is established to have been made as a result of torture shall not be invoked as evidence in any proceedings, except against a person accused of torture as evidence that the statement was made”. With a similar proviso, the latter provision also declares inadmissible, “as evidence in a legal proceeding”, evidence obtained through torture. Article 69(7) of the Statute of the International Criminal Court is drafted in less categorical terms in that “evidence obtained by means of a violation of this Statute or internationally recognized human rights shall not be admissible if: (a) The violation casts substantial doubt on the reliability of the evidence; or (b) The admission of the evidence would be antithetical to and would seriously damage the integrity of the proceedings.” It is not yet possible to know how this provision will be interpreted by the International Criminal Court, but it would in any event appear to provide a possibility for it to consider evidence obtained by unlawful means, provided there was no doubt as to the reliability of such evidence and its admission would not be “antithetical to” the integrity of the proceedings. In the light of the clear statements elsewhere, inter alia in article 15 of the Convention against Torture, it might, however, be presumed that evidence obtained by torture would be an example par excellence of evidence that is unreliable, the use of which would indeed be antithethical to the integrity of the proceedings. Lastly, it is important to note in this context that the Human Rights Committee has stated that “it is important for the discouragement of violations under article 7 [of the International Covenant] that the law must prohibit the use of admissibility in judicial proceedings of statements or confessions obtained through torture or other prohibited treatment”.150 The right of an accused not to be compelled to testify against himself or herself remains valid throughout the trial proceedings. It means that there must be an absence of both direct and indirect physical or psychological pressure from the investigating authorities for the purposes of obtaining a confession. An accused who has confessed guilt after such undue pressure must bring the matter before the competent authorities, including the judge(s) in the trial court, failing which he or she runs the risk of not having this undue compulsion considered in connection with the determination of the criminal charge. 150 See General Comment No. 20, in United Nations Compilation of General Comments, p. 141, para. 12; emphasis added. 284 Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A Manual on Human Rights for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers