|
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia is a body of the United Nations established to prosecute war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. The tribunal functions as an ad-hoc independent court and is located in The Hague.
It was established by Resolution 827 of the UN Security Council, which was passed on May 25, 1993. It has jurisdiction over certain types of crime committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991: grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, violations of the laws or customs of war, genocide, and crime against humanity. It can try only individuals, not organizations or governments. The maximum sentence it can impose is life imprisonment. Various countries have signed agreements with the UN to carry out custodial sentences.
Organization
The Tribunal employs some 1,200 staff. Its main organisational components are Chambers, Registry and the Office of The Prosecutor (OTP).
Chambers encompasses the judges, their aides and such elements as the Victims and Witness Unit, which is responsible for transport and accommodation of those who appear to testify. The Tribunal operates three Trial Chambers and one Appeals Chamber (which also functions as the Appeals Chamber for the ICTR); the Presiding Judge of the Appeals Chamber is also the President of the Tribunal as a whole. Currently, this is Theodor Meron (USA; since 2002). His predecessors were Antonio Cassese (Italy; 1993-1997), Gabrielle Kirk-McDonald (USA; 1997-1999) and Claude Jorda (France; 1999-2002).
Registry is responsible for handling the administration of the Tribunal; activities include keeping court records, translating court documents, operating the Public Information Section, and such general duties as payroll administration, personnel management and procurement. It is headed by the Registrar, currently Hans Holthuis (Netherlands; since 2000). His predecessor was Dorothée de Sampayo Garrido-Nijgh (Netherlands; 1995-2000).
The Office of the Prosecutor is responsible for investigating crimes, gathering evidence and prosecuting indictees. It is headed by the Prosecutor, who also serves as the Prosecutor of the ICTR. The current Prosecutor is Carla del Ponte (Switzerland; since 1999). Previous Prosecutors have been Ramón Escovar-Salom (Venezuela; 1993-1994), Richard Goldstone (South Africa; 1994-1996), and Louise Arbour (Canada; 1996-1999).
Criticisms of the Court Some of the criticisms levelled against the court include: - It was established by the UN Security Council instead of the UN General Assembly The UN Charter specifically gives the right to establish such courts to the General Assembly. This has been the legal basis of Milosevic's claim that the court has no legal authority. It was established on the basis of the Chapter VII of the UN Charter; relevant portion of the charter reads "the Security Council can take measures to maintain or restore international peace and security"; it is disputed whether a tribunal could be considered a measure to maintain or restore international peace and security.
- An apparently disproportionately large number of indictees are Serbs (to the extent that a sizeable portion of the Bosnian Serb and Serbian political and military leaderships have been indicted), whereas there have been very few indictments resulting from crimes committed against Serbs (many Croat indictees were charged with crimes committed against Bosnian Muslims). Defenders of the Tribunal respond that Serb control of the established command structure (and most of the weaponry) of the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) from the start of the various wars facilitated the commission of crimes on a wider and more organised scale; furthermore, the Serb command structure facilitated the identification of those with command responsibility for war crimes.
- Many of the indictees are still not apprehended, which reflects badly on its image. Defenders point out that the Tribunal has no powers of arrest, and is reliant on other agencies (notably national governments, SFOR and KFOR) to apprehend and extradite indictees.
- The Tribunal's power to issue secret indictments creates uncertainty among people who regard themselves as possible indictees, which places an unreasonable strain on their ability to proceed with their everyday lives, both in the short and long term.
- The Tribunal in effect makes no distinction between the Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian languages, issuing documents in what it terms "B/C/S" ("Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian") with no regard to differences between the three; see Serbo-Croatian language. Supporters of this approach respond that since all three forms are mutually intelligible to a high degree (and indeed were officially considered to be single language before the breakup of the former Yugoslavia) separate translations are not needed. The tribunal exclusively uses translators who speak Bosnian and Croatian variants and some of the indictees have filed complaints about not being able to fully understand the translations.
Indictees Some of the notable indictees include but are not limited to: - Rahim Ademi, awaiting trial
- Milan Babić
- Haradin Bala
- Beqë Beqaj, indicted for contempt of the tribunal for allegedly interfering with witnesses in the case against Fatmir Limaj and Isak Musliu
- Vidoje Blagojevic, sentenced to 18 years for involvement in the Srebrenica massacre
- Tihomir Blaškić, convicted, partially dismissed in appeal, since released
- Janko Bobetko, indicted, died before the case could be heard
- Goran Borovnica, Serb, indicted in Prijedor case
- Miroslav Bralo
- Ivan Čermak, awaiting trial
- Mario Čerkez, Croat, sentenced to 15 years for offensives in Lašva Valley, Bosnia
- Hazim Delic, convicted
- Vlastimir Djordjevic
- Dorde Dukic, indicted for shelling civilian targets, died before case was tried
- Stanislav Galic
- Ante Gotovina
- Momcilo Gruban, Serb, indicted in Omarska Camp case
- Sefer Halilović, Bosnian Muslim, for massacres in the villages of Grabovica and Uzdol, Bosnia
- Goran Jelisić, convicted
- Dragan Jokic, sentenced to 9 years for involvment in Srebrenica massacre
- Miodrag Jokic, sentenced to seven years for
- Drago Josipovic, convicted for ordering bombing of Dubrovnik
- Radovan Karadžić
- Dusko Knezevick, Serb, indicted in Omarska Camp case
- Dario Kordić, Croat, sentenced to 25 years for offensives in the Lašva Valley, Bosnia
- Radomir Kovac, convicted
- Momčilo Krajišnik
- Milorad Krnojelac, sentenced to fifteen years for the Foča prison camp
- Radislav Krstić
- Dragoljub Kunarac, convicted
- Esad Lanzo, convicted
- Vladimir Lazarevic
- Fatmir Limaj
- Sreten Lukic
- Mladen Markač, awaiting trial
- Milan Martić
- Zeljko Meakic, Serb, indicted in Omarska Camp case
- Milan Milutinovic, indicted for incidents while in authority during Kosovo War
- Dragomir Milosevic, indicted for command of siege of Sarajevo
- Slobodan Milošević, indicted for incidents while in authority during Kosovo War
- Ratko Mladić
- Darko Mrdja, sentenced to 17 years
- Mile Mrkšić
- Isak Musliu
- Mladen Tuta Naletilić
- Dragan Nikolic, Serb, indicted in the Susica Camp case, pled guilty, sentenced to 23 years
- Dragan Obrenovic, convicted
- Dragoljub Ojdanic, indicted for incidents while in authority during Kosovo War
- Naser Orić
- Nebojsa Pavkovic
- Biljana Plavšić, convicted
- Miroslav Radić
- Mitar Rasevic
- Nikola Sainovic, indicted for incidents while in authority during Kosovo War
- Vladimir Santic, convicted
- Vojislav Šešelj
- Dusko Sikirica, convicted
- Veselin Šljivančanin
- Vlajko Stojiljkovic, indicted with Slobodan Milošević, died before trial
- Pavle Strugar, sentenced to eight years for command authority in bombing of Dubrovnik
- Dusko Tadic, Serb, convicted in Prijedor case
- Miroslav Tadic, sentenced to eight years in the Bosanski Šamac case, given early release
- Stevan Todorovic, convicted
- Savo Todovic
- Mitar Vasiljevic, convicted
- Zoran Vukovic, convicted
See also
External links |
Feeds |
Contact