Updates from the International and Internationalized Criminal Courts Shaleen Brunsdale American University Washington College of Law

Human Rights Brief Volume 16 | Issue 1 Article 8 2008 Updates from the International and Internationalized Criminal Courts Shaleen Brunsdale American University Washington College of Law Rita Espinoza American University Washington College of Law Sarah Venti American University Washington College of Law Katherine Anne Cleary American University Washington College of Law Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/hrbrief Part of the Criminal Law Commons, Human Rights Law Commons, and the International Law Commons Recommended Citation Brunsdale, Shaleen, Rita Espinoza, Sarah Venti, and Katherine Anne Cleary. "Updates from the International and Internationalized Criminal Courts." Human Rights Brief 16, no.1 (2008): 44-49. This Column is brought to you for free and open access by the Washington College of Law Journals & Law Reviews at Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Human Rights Brief by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Brunsdale et al.: Updates from the International and Internationalized Criminal Cou UPDATES FROM INTERNATIONAL AND INTERNATIONALIZED CRIMINAL COURTS & TRIBUNALS INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL The proposed amended indictment con- Sentencing of Rasim Deli ć TRI B UNAL F OR THE FORMER tains several counts of genocide, perse- YU G O S LA V IA AND THE BO S NIAN cution, murder, deportation, terror, and On September 15, 2008, Rasim Deli ć, WAR CRIME S CHAM B ER S taking of hostages. Karadži ć waived his the Commander of the Main Staff of the right to duty counsel and decided to rep- Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina (ABiH), was The Arrest of Radovan Karadži ć resent himself, stating that the Tribunal is sentenced to three years imprisonment. Deli ć is one of the most senior military Former Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan not a legitimate court, but rather represents commanders — as well as one of only a Karadži ć, was arrested on July 21, 2008 by a “bastardized judicial system” which was few Bosnian Muslims — to be tried before Serbian officials. Karadži ć was indicted for “created to blame the Serbs.” the Tribunal on charges of superior crimi- a host of human rights violations including Meanwhile, Karadži ć’s military com- nal responsibility for the crimes of murder genocide, extermination, and inhumane mander, Ratko Mladi ć, is still on the run. and cruel treatment. acts. He is charged with the killing of thou- Mladi ć was also jointly indicted more than sands of Bosnian Muslims and Croats dur- a decade ago for genocide, complicity in Deli ć was indicted in March 2005, and ing the Bosnian war and for the Srebrenica genocide, crimes against humanity, and his indictment was amended in June 2006. massacre, in which approximately 8,000 violations of the laws or customs of war. His alleged crimes included failing to take Muslim men and boys were killed. The arrest of Karadži ć led to renewed reasonable measures to punish the perpetrators of executions of captured Bosnian Karadži ć was on the run for nearly thir- speculation that Mladi ć, the commander Croats and surrendered HVO soldiers in teen years, eluding UN and NATO efforts of the Bosnian Serb Forces, was also the Travnik municipality in central Bosnia to capture him. His arrest by Serbian within reach. The tribunal’s prosecutors and Herzegovina; failing to take necessary security officials brought a sense of relief have been convinced for years that Mladi ć steps to prevent torture, beating, murder, to victims and their families as well as to was in hiding in Serbia, although there is and decapitation committed by his subor- Serbian officials who were under increas- currently no confirmation of this belief. dinates in a detention facility for captured ing pressure to arrest Karadži ć. But, there Serbia’s current request to join the Euro- Bosnian Serb Army soldiers; and failing still remain many Serbian nationalists who pean Union hinges on Mladić’s arrest. to prevent the rape of three women by his are strong supporters of Karadži ć and who Arresting Mladi ć may prove more difficult subordinates in the Kamenica Camp in held demonstrations to protest his arrest. than capturing Karadži ć as Mladi ć is more secretive and reclusive, and is reportedly central Bosnia and Herzegovina. Karadžić was admitted to the UN guarded by a host of loyal, and possibly Deli ć pled not guilty to all charges. detention unit in The Hague on July 30, well-armed, soldiers. The trial, which commenced in July 2007, 2008, and his initial appearance before lasted for 114 days. Delić was found the court on July 31 was no doubt the Karadži ć’s trial may be a great mile- guilty, by majority, of failing to take start of what will be a long legal battle. stone for justice, but it will not be enough the necessary and reasonable measures Karadži ć declined to enter a plea and in to solve Bosnia’s complex human rights to prevent and punish the crimes of cruel accordance with the rules, after 30 days problems. The bloody war directed by treatment committed by the El Mujahed the court entered a plea of not guilty on Karadži ć and General Mladi ć left many Detachment (EMD) of ABiH. The EMD his behalf. On September 22, a motion victims in its wake. Over a decade later, came into existence as a unit of the Army to amend the first amended indictment there are still more than 130,000 displaced of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was entered by the office of the prosecu- Bosnians who are unable to return home. by virtue of an order signed by Deli ć. tor (the initial indictments were issued in There is still a great need for housing, 1995 and amended in 2000). This motion social services and economic opportuni- ties, and the fear of violence and Islamic Delić was acquitted of three other restructured the charges, and prosecutors counts of murder and cruel treatment. In hoped the streamlined indictment would terrorism is still prevalent. Despite the obstacles that remain, Karadži ć’s trial in those cases the Trial Chamber found that help speed up the trial by contributing to no superior-subordinate relationship had an efficient and expeditious presentation The Hague is a chance for Bosnia to come to terms with its past. Since its concep- existed between Deli ć and the perpetrators of the prosecution’s case. Experts and at that time, and the Chamber could not those working in the field criticized the tion in 1993 the Tribunal has indicted 161 people and convicted 56 people in connec- conclude beyond reasonable doubt that tribunal as ineffective and inefficient after Deli ć had reason to know these crimes the trial of the former Yugoslav presi- tion with the Balkan wars, and has made considerable progress toward justice for a were about to be or were committed. These dent Miloševi ć was drawn out for four alternate rulings point to the nuanced years. Miloševi ć eventually died in his cell region plagued by some of the worst violence in Europe since World War II. understanding of human rights violations, before a verdict was reached. Karadži ć’s since Deli ć neither witnessed the afore- indictment was amended to be leaner in mentioned crimes nor did he order his hopes of avoiding the strategic mistakes of soldiers to commit them. Rather, he failed the Miloševi ć trial. 44 Published by Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law, 2008 1 Human Rights Brief, Vol. 16, Iss. 1 [2008], Art. 8 to control, monitor, and discipline his sub- In August 2008, the Trial Chamber commit genocide, and the crime against ordinates who committed the crimes. issued an indictment against Florence humanity of persecution and extermination. Hartmann, a former spokeswoman for the Nahimana and Barayagwiza were found Bosnian Serb and Bosnian Croat offi- Tribunal’s Chief Prosecutor, on two counts guilty based on their roles as members cials and war victims groups felt the sen- of contempt of the Tribunal. Hartmann of the “Comité d’Initiative” that founded tence might have been too lenient. Bosnian is alleged to have authored a book called Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines Serb Prime Minister, Milorad Dodik, said “Paix and Chatiment” (Peace and Punish- (“RTLM”), a radio station that broadcast the sentence showed that “justice for the ment), published in 2007, and an article virulent messages directed at Tutsis and Serb victims of the war is really unreach- published on the website of the Bosnian moderate Hutus between July 1993 and able.” These trials are politically charged, Institute in 2008, both of which disclosed July 1994. Ngeze, on the other hand, was largely because the few Bosnian Mus- information related to confidential deci- convicted based on acts committed as the lims tried by the ICTY have so far been sions of the Tribunal’s Appeals Chamber founder, owner, and editor of Kangura, a acquitted or received relatively lenient in the case of Slobodan Miloševi ć. The newspaper published from 1990 to 1995 sentences. Order states, “Florence Hartmann knew that carried hate-filled messages similar to that the information was confidential at those broadcast on RTLM. Sentence Enforcements the time disclosure was made, that the decisions from which the information was Each of the defendants appealed to the On September 15, 2008, Albania drawn were ordered to be filed confiden- Appeals Chamber, raising a number of became the seventeenth state to sign the tially, and that by her disclosure she was issues. One of the more interesting argu- agreement on enforcement of sentences revealing confidential information to the ments against the Trial Chamber judg- with the ICTY, allowing persons convicted public.” Hartmann has rejected the charges ment relied on the fact that, although before the Tribunal to serve their sentences and maintained that she was acting in the the juris diction of the ICTR is limited to in its prisons.

Load more