International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

In October 1992, the UN Security Council established a commission of experts to investigate and analyze information on violations of the Geneva Conventions and other norms of international law in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. In a year and a half, specialists examined 65 thousand materials obtained from various sources, conducted 32 research missions. The conclusions were: the world organization should immediately establish a judicial body to investigate and punish war crimes.

In May 1993, the ICTY was created to prosecute those responsible for violations of humanitarian law in the territory of the former Yugoslavia from January 1, 1991 to the date that the Security Council determines after the restoration of peace ( resolutions 808 and 827 ). The resolution on the establishment of the Tribunal was adopted unanimously ^[1] .

The permanent representative of Russia, Yuli Vorontsov, who chaired the Security Council meeting on May 25, 1993, declared: “ Those guilty of mass crimes ..., violations of the laws and customs of war , crimes of genocide , and also against humanity, must be punished. Especially important is the fact that for the first time in history it is not the winner who judges the defeated, but the entire international community represented by the Tribunal will deliver its verdict to those who grossly violate not only the norms of international law, but simply human notions of morality and humanity ” ^[2] .

On December 21, 2017, the Tribunal announced the termination of its activities, the remaining not considered appeals will be considered by the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals ^[3] .

The Tribunal has the mandate of the UN Security Council - Resolution 827, adopted on May 25 , 1993 . In this way, it differs from the classic international courts , which are created by an international treaty .

Article 2 of the ICTY Statute describes the authority of the Tribunal to prosecute persons committing or giving orders to commit serious violations of the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, namely the following actions directed against persons or property protected by the Geneva Convention: 1) murder; 2) torture and inhuman treatment, including biological experiments; 3) intentional infliction of grievous suffering or injury to persons or health; 4) illegal, arbitrary and large-scale destruction and appropriation of property, not caused by military necessity; 5) forcing a prisoner of war or a civilian to serve in the armed forces of a hostile power; 6) intentional deprivation of the rights of a prisoner of war or a civilian to an impartial and regular legal process; 7) unlawful deportation, relocation or arrest of a civilian; 8) taking civilians as hostages.

The ICTY is considering war crimes committed on the territory of Yugoslavia since 1991 , related to violations of the Geneva Convention, violation of the rules of warfare and genocide .

The activities of the Tribunal are limited by time and geography. According to the statute, the territorial jurisdiction of the tribunal extends to the territory of the former Yugoslavia (except Slovenia ), and the completion of the latter process means the abolition of the court itself.

The tribunal has the power to judge specific individuals, but not organizations and not governments. The maximum penalty the Tribunal is entitled to endure is life imprisonment.

The Tribunal planned to complete the review of all available cases by 2009 , and by 2010 all appeals . However, as of December 2014, the ICTY was left with the case of Goran Hadzic , Ratko Mladic , Radovan Karadzic , Vojislav Seselj , the appeal in the case of Jadranko Prlic and a number of others. In this regard, the powers of the permanent judges and the ad litem judges of the International Tribunal were extended until December 31, 2015, or until the completion of the cases assigned to them, if this happens earlier. The Security Council decided to reappoint Serge Brammertz as the ICTY Prosecutor. ICTY Chairman Theodor Meron believes that these cases will be completed in 2017 ^{[4] [5] [6]} .

The Tribunal consists of the following parts: a judicial body consisting of three Trial Chambers and one Appeals Chamber, the Office of the Prosecutor and the Registry.

Currently, the Tribunal has 27 judges: 15 permanent judges, as well as 12 ad litem judges . ^[7]

In its activities, the tribunal was mainly guided by the doctrine of joint criminal actions , in accordance with which each member of an organized group is individually responsible for the crimes committed by the group within the framework of the general plan or the goals established by it. In total, during the existence of the tribunal, 142 trials were held (including 92 against Serbs , 33 against Croats , 8 against Kosovo Albanians , 7 against Bosnian Muslims and 2 against Macedonians ). Accusations of the Hague Tribunal were brought against the leaders of the Bosnian Serbs Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic . The former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic , who died in the Tribunal prison, was also accused at the trial in The Hague.

Criticism

The Tribunal became the first international body after the Nuremberg Tribunal and the International Military Tribunal for the Far East to handle cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. However, the important difference is that in Nuremberg and Tokyo, the winners judged the losers, and the ICTY is the body of the international community that deals with crimes, regardless of which side were the perpetrators.

Nevertheless, the ICTY is often criticized, especially by the Serbian and Russian authorities, for the bias in its work, resulting in a much larger number of convicted Serbs and harsher sentences against them than against Croats , Bosnian Muslims and Kosovo Albanians. ^{[8] [9] [10] [11] [12]}

Thus, on June 4, 2008, Russia's permanent representative to the UN, Vitaly Churkin , said: “We consider the state of affairs in the ICTY unsatisfactory. We are awaiting a detailed report from the Tribunal on the measures taken on ... disclosing the former ICTY Prosecutor Carla del Ponte regarding the facts that until recently were ignored by the Tribunal. There is a feeling that serious accusations, such as massive forcible removal of human organs, are simply ignored . ” ^[13]

Speaking with criticism of the Tribunal at a meeting of the UN Security Council in connection with the consideration of the reports of the ICTY on December 6, 2012 , Vitaly Churkin said that acquittal of the Yugoslav Tribunal "discredit the idea of ​​international criminal justice." In its work, the international tribunal “does not demonstrate either fairness or effectiveness. There is only an exaggerated self-esteem. " He added that “the question of who is to blame for the hundreds killed and the expulsion of a quarter of a million Serbs from their places of residence remains open,” and announced his delegation’s intention to pursue the completion of the ICTY’s deadlines set by the UN Security Council Resolution 1966. he demanded that by the next semi-annual report, the ICTY management should provide detailed court schedules for each case individually, with a daily breakdown of ^[14] .

In addition, criticism is caused by the fact that the ICTY was established not by an international treaty, but by a resolution of the UN Security Council . Some lawyers believe that the Security Council does not have the authority to prosecute private individuals and, accordingly, to establish judicial bodies for this purpose ^[15] .

60% of the accused are Serbs and Montenegrins , practically all Serbian military and civilian command was in the Hague prison ^[16] . Croats constituted only 18% of all the accused, but all Croatian generals were fully acquitted ^[17] . As a result, according to the judges, during the four-year war the crimes were committed exclusively by the Serbs, which turns the conflict into a “struggle between good and evil” ^[16] . The justification of the Croat war crimes dealt a severe blow to the Serb self-awareness ^[18] .

• International Criminal Court
• International Tribunal for Rwanda
• Special Tribunal for Lebanon
• UN prison in The Hague

• International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia: Activity, Results, Effectiveness / Ed. ed. E. Yu. Gus'kova. - M .: Indrik, 2012. - 544 p. - ISBN 978-5-91674-167-4
• Mikhailov NG The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia: Competence, Sources of Law, Basic Principles of Activity. - M .: Izd. House Shumilova I. I., 2006. - 267 p. - ISBN 5-89784-106-3
• Shary A.V. Tribunal. Chronicle unfinished war. - M .: Human Rights, 2003. - 220 p. - ISBN 5-7712-0279-7

• International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugolavia (Eng.) (Fr.) (Bos.) (Hor.) (Serb.) (Alb.) (Maked.)
• How the Hague Tribunal pretended to be Nuremberg
• Nikolai Mikhailov: International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and Human Rights Observer-Observer
• A conversation with the author of the book "The Tribunal" A. Sharym Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations
• In memory of Slobodan Milosevic, the last legitimate President of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: The Hague Process. Materials