_Article 17._ The Tribunal shall have the power:
(a) to summon witnesses to the Trial and to require their attendance and
testimony and to put questions to them,
(b) to interrogate any defendant,
(c) to require the production of documents and other evidentiary material,
(d) to administer oaths to witnesses,
(e) to appoint officers for the carrying out of any task designated by the
Tribunal including the power to have evidence taken on commission.
_Article 18_. The Tribunal shall:
(a) confine the Trial strictly to an expeditious hearing of the issues
raised by the charges,
(b) take strict measures to prevent any action which will cause
unreasonable delay, and rule out irrelevant issues and statements of
any kind whatsoever,
(c) deal summarily with any contumacy, imposing appropriate punishment,
including exclusion of any defendant or his counsel from some or all
further proceedings, but without prejudice to the determination of the
charges.
_Article 19._ The Tribunal shall not be bound by technical rules of
evidence. It shall adopt and apply to the greatest possible extent
expeditious and non-technical procedure, and shall admit any evidence
which it deems to have probative value.
_Article 20._ The Tribunal may require to be informed of the nature of
any evidence before it is offered so that it may rule upon the relevance
thereof.
_Article 21._ The Tribunal shall not require proof of facts of common
knowledge but shall take judicial notice thereof. It shall also take
judicial notice of official governmental documents and reports of the
United Nations, including the acts and documents of the committees set
up in the various Allied countries for the investigation of war crimes,
and the records and findings of military or other Tribunals of any of
the United Nations.
_Article 22._ The permanent seat of the Tribunal shall be in Berlin. The
first meetings of the members of the Tribunal and of the Chief
Prosecutors shall be held at Berlin in a place to be designated by the
Control Council for Germany. The first trial shall be held at Nuremberg,
and any subsequent trials shall be held at such places as the Tribunal
may decide.
_Article 23._ One or more of the Chief Prosecutors may take part in the
prosecution at each trial. The function of any Chief Prosecutor may be
discharged by him personally, or by any person or persons authorized by
him.
The function of counsel for a defendant may be discharged at the
defendant’s request by any counsel professionally qualified to conduct
cases before the Courts of his own country, or by any other person who
may be specially authorized thereto by the Tribunal.
_Article 24._ The proceedings at the Trial shall take the following
course:
(a) The Indictment shall be read in court.
(b) The Tribunal shall ask each defendant whether he pleads “guilty” or
“not guilty”.
(c) The Prosecution shall make an opening statement.
(d) The Tribunal shall ask the Prosecution and the Defense what evidence
(if any) they wish to submit to the Tribunal, and the Tribunal shall
rule upon the admissibility of any such evidence.
(e) The witnesses for the Prosecution shall be examined and after that the
witnesses for the Defense. Thereafter such rebutting evidence as may
be held by the Tribunal to be admissible shall be called by either the
Prosecution or the Defense.
(f) The Tribunal may put any question to any witness and to any defendant,
at any time.
(g) The Prosecution and the Defense shall interrogate and may
cross-examine any witnesses and any defendant who gives testimony.
(h) The Defense shall address the Court.
(i) The Prosecution shall address the Court.
(j) Each Defendant may make a statement to the Tribunal.
(k) The Tribunal shall deliver judgment and pronounce sentence.
_Article 25._ All official documents shall be produced, and all court
proceedings conducted, in English, French, and Russian, and in the
language of the defendant. So much of the record and of the proceedings
may also be translated into the language of any country in which the
Tribunal is sitting, as the Tribunal considers desirable in the
interests of justice and public opinion.