 |
The War Crimes Tribunal logo on any Berserkistan page
is a hot-link to the Tribunal's World Wide Web site.
- HISTORY The U.N. Security Council established the court in 1993 in The Hague, Netherlands. It requested a $40.3 million for 1996, and has a staff of 311, including 61 war crimes investigators.
- JUDGES The chief prosecutor is South African judge Richard Goldstone, to be replaced in October by Canadian judge Louise Arbour. The president, Italian judge Antonio Cassese, is one of 11 judges from around the world.
- JURISDICTION The tribunal has the authority to prosecute war crimes including genocide and crimes against humanity committed in the former Yugoslavia from Jan. 1, 1991 to a yet-undetermined date.
- SUSPECTS Out of 57 suspects, there are 46 Serbs, eight Bosnian Croats and three Bosnian Muslims.
- SUSPECTS IN CUSTODY Three suspects are in custody. Bosnian Serb Dusan Tadic is accused of murder, torture and rape in Serb-run camps in Bosnia in 1992. Bosnian Croat Zdravko Mucic allegedly commanded the Celebici camp in central Bosnia where Bosnian Serb inmates were tortured to death. And Gen. Tihomir Blaskic, former Bosnian Croat militia leader, is accused of commanding troops who murdering Muslims and torching villages in central Bosnia.
- OTHER SUSPECTS Gen. Djordje Djukic, indicted for his role in the Serb shelling of Sarajevo that killed 10,000, was released April 24 because he was dying of cancer. Other top suspects include Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and Bosnian Serb army commander Gen. Ratko Mladic. Both are accused of genocide and crimes against humanity. Both are at large.
- The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia was established by Resolution 827 of the United
Nations Security Council in May 1993.
- It is the first international body for the prosecution of
war crimes since the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials held in the
aftermath of World War Two.
- Resolution 827 stipulates that all states are obliged to
cooperate fully with the tribunal.
- It has no police force of its own and relies on the former
Yugoslav republics, other states or the international peace
implementation force (IFOR) in Bosnia to make arrests.
- The tribunal consists of two trial chambers, each with
three judges, and one appeals chamber with five judges.
- Judge Antonio Cassese of Italy is president of the
tribunal. Chief prosecutor Richard Goldstone of South Africa
will be succeeded on October 1 by Louise Arbour of Canada.
- The tribunal may not try suspects in absentia, nor impose
the death penalty. The maximum sentence is life imprisonment.
- The two most prominent suspects indicted by the tribunal
are Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military
commander General Ratko Mladic, both of whom remain at large.
|
