Ad Hoc International Criminal Tribunals
BALKANS: The ICTY hears Karadzic’s final statement in one of the cases pending in the Court before its closure in 2017
After four years of proceedings, the Court heard the closing statements in Radovan Karadzic’s trial at the end of September and the beginning of October. The Prosecutors called the former leader a liar for his claims that he was unaware of the massacre and was innocent of any wrongdoing, while the Defence insisted upon his innocence, arguing that there was no evidence to link him to the crimes. The judges’ verdict is expected in October 2015. Karadzic is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws of war committed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995), including the 1995 Srebrenica Massacre where about 8,000 Bosniaks were killed by Serb forces. Karadzic’s trial has been criticised by his supporters for being politically biased. Some victims regret that the ICTY had no police force to find and arrest Karadzic, which allowed him to be free for 12 years, although in hiding, that for economic reasons charges of genocide in several Bosnian Municipalities had to be dropped, and that the trial allowed Karadzic to give political revisionist and denial speeches. Presenting his annual report to the Security Council in New York, the president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Theodor Meron, announced that the court will completely shut down in 2017 after it hands down sentences for the nine remaining cases. After that, a “residual mechanism” will take over any appeals in the ICTFY cases and the Prosecutor Offices in Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia will continue the task in their respective countries for new cases. Since its establishment in 1993, the ICTY has indicted 161 people, 20 of whom are still on trial. In the 141 cases completed, 74 people were convicted and 18 were acquitted, while in 36 others the indictments were either withdrawn or the defendants died. Cases against 13 others were referred to prosecutors in their home countries. Higher profile current cases are former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic, former Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic, and the leader of the Serbian Radical Party Vojislav Seselj. (A/69/225-S/2014/556, Jurist, 01/10/14, 07/10/14; ICTJ, 08/10/14; Balkan insight, 14/10/14)