Faceless court

A faceless court, also known as a faceless judge, is a special court of justice, created within the system of certain jurisdictions, responsible for the prosecution and trial of crimes generally linked to drug trafficking, terrorism and organized crime. They are used within the judicial systems of states that cannot guarantee the security and physical integrity of judicial officials. These are courts where the judges are anonymous and their identity is unknown.

This special type of court was first created in Italy, where they were implemented for trials against local mafias. They have also been used in Colombia in the 1990s to prosecute heads of drug trafficking organizations, and during the government of Alberto Fujimori in Peru, for trials against the terrorism of the Shining Path and MRTA organizations. In Brazil, it was approved by the Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro in 2019, joining the states of Pará, Mato Grosso, Bahia, Roraima, Santa Catarina and Alagoas in its application against drug trafficking and militia crimes.