A visit to the ICTY

Above: Victims of the atrocities committed in the former Yugoslavia

From Courtroom 1:

(the third one here is the one who was looking right at me...!)

From Courtroom 3:

Today my friend Marilee and I went to The Hague to sit in on a couple of trials at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The Tribunal was established in 1993 to address the serious violations of international humanitarian law committed since 1991 and in response to the threat to international peace and security. Its mission is fourfold: to bring persons charged with violations to trial; to render justice to their victims; to deter further violations of the law; and to contribute to the restoration of peace by promoting reconciliation.

This is the court that tried Slobodan Milosevic (and terminated proceedings in March 2006 following his death by natural causes). It will be the court that tries Radovan Karadzic - and I do plan to attend some of his trial, but his defense team is not yet in place.

The conflicts which took place in the former Yugoslavia resulted in the most abominable crimes committed in Europe since the end of WWII (mass killings, murder, torture, rape and plunder.) Formation of the ICTY marked the beginning of the end of impunity for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegvina, Kosova, Macedonia).

The ITCY holds leaders accountable and has indicted a head of state, army chiefs-of-staff and many other high- and mid-level leaders. The question is no longer whether leaders should be held accountable, but rather when they can be called to account. This means that convicted leaders and others can no longer hide behind a group. It shields ethic communities from blame, and contributes the preventing hatred and promoting reconciliation.

As of November 2008 the ICTY has concluded proceedings regarding 116 accused: 10 were acquitted, 57 sentenced, and 13 referred to domestic jurisdictions. Thirty six others had their indictments withdrawn or are deceased. Forty six cases were ongoing with 10 accused, 28 at trial or awaiting judgment, 5 awaiting the beginning of their trial -- including Radovan Karadzic, and two still on the run, including Ratko Mladic.

The Tribunal has provided thousands of victims with the opportunity to be heard. Many of them have displayed exceptional courage in doing so.

"I really wanted to go to The Hague. I wanted to see the (defendants) and to ask them why they did it. Why did they kill all these people? Why did they destroy our village? I just wanted one of them to tell me why they did that." (Statement by a Bosnian widow who testified at the trial of the men she held responsible for her husband's death.)

A convicted person may be sentenced to imprisonment for a term of up to and including life. There is no death penalty at the ICTY. Prison sentences are served in one of the countries that entered into agreements with the ICTY to accept persons it has convicted.

"I cannot bring back the dead and I cannot mitigate the pain of the families by my confession, but I wish to contribute to the full truth being established." (Statement by Momur Nikolic, a Bosnian Serb intelligence officer sentenced to 20 years after pleading guilty for his part in the Srebrenica genocide.)

We sat in on two trials, the first for (Ante) Gotovina et. al. These men have been indicted for persecutions, deportation, inhumane acts, plunder of public and private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, murder, inhumane acts, and cruel treatment. The list for each of the defendants was similar and the lengthy descriptions are horrifying.

I was spooked at one point when I was watching the interpreter in the glass booth above the defendants, and Ivan Cermak was staring right at me (there were only three of us in the galley).

The second trial was (Jadranko) Prlic et al. - indicted for persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds, murder, rape, deportation, imprisonment, inhumane acts, willful killing, unlawful deportation, transfer and confinement of a civilian, inhuman treatment, extensive destruction of property and appropriation of property....cruel treatment, unlawful labor, wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity...unlawful attack and infliction of terror on civilians. The others being tried with Prlic had indictment lists that were just as awful.

It was strange and disconcerting to read the list of indictments and see the accused right in front of me.

The Tribunal is supposed to complete its work in the 2010s. It has referred 13 cases involving lower-ranked accused to domestic courts in the former Yugoslavia where it is also engaged in extensive assistance, support and experience-sharing with specialized war crimes chambers and courts. The aim is that those courts will continue the work of the Tribunal after it has closed its doors, by handling many hundreds of war crimes cases.

I need to do some homework on the Balkans (and perhaps war crimes in general) and the complexities of the conflicts in that region. It is easy for me to presume that these men are all guilty of the crimes for which they've been indicted (and I still think probably they are) - but I have no basis in-fact for drawing that conclusion - who am I to judge? I suspect that they are, in fact, not very nice men to say the very least - but I shouldn't draw any conclusions simply because they are accused. Innocent until proven guilty - is a lot more difficult than the words themselves.

Heavy stuff. Really heavy stuff.