Two remaining processes before the UN's court for war crimes in former Yugoslavia will be finalised in the first part of 2021, court president Carmel Agius confirmed in his biannual report to the UN Security Council on Monday.
The delays in trials of Bosnian Serb wartime general Ratko Mladic as well as former Serbian State Security Service chiefs Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic, which were expected to be over by end of this year, were caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Agiues said.
Also, the hearing on appeals to the first-instance sentence for Mladic, charged among other things with genocide, the expulsion of non-Serb population and taking the UN troops a hostage, was first delayed due to his health issues and then again due to the pandemic.
“The Appeal Chamber is ready to hear the appeals in Mladic case as soon as it becomes safe and possible. It is planned to have the final verdict nine months after the appeal hearings,” said Agius, the President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), legal successor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Serge Brammertz, the Chief Prosecutor, also reported to the UN Security Council, warning that denial of crimes and glorifying of war criminals is still present in the region and that “the denial and glorification are often encouraged or supported by politicians and officials across the region.”
He called on all public figures to act responsibly and to put the victims and sufferings of the civilians to the forefront of all commemorations marked this year.
“25 years later, the rhetoric of the past was supposed to be over long ago, he stressed, adding that what is necessary now are the leaders who will be advocating reconciliation and peacebuilding.
International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals was established in 2010 to take over the remaining work of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) following the completion of those tribunals’ respective mandates.
A total of 161 were indicted before the ICTY, with final indictments issued in December 2004 and last fugitive arrested in July 2011. The final judgement was issued on 29 November 2017[3] and the institution formally ceased to exist on 31 December 2017.
