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Berserkistan Navigator Key Facts: War Crimes Tribunal
War Crimes Tribunal 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.


Additional resources
War Crimes Profile: Dusan Tadic
War Crimes Tribunal May Pale Compared to Nuremberg
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia from the United Nations
Coalition for International Justice
Reports concerning human rights abuses in Bosnia published by Intac Access
Major War Criminals/Suspects from CalTech's Bosnia Site
Reports on War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia from CalTech's Bosnia Site



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