The ICTY: Ongoing Justice in the Balkans

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is a United Nations court of law dealing with war crimes that occurred during the conflicts in the Balkans in the 1990s. The Tribunal was established in 1993 and has since contributed significantly to the fields of international humanitarian law, setting precedents when it proved that individual leaders of mass crimes such as genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity will be held accountable and will face justice.

Interested in the Tribunal’s proceedings? You can follow the trials through this internet broadcast on the ICTY site.

Current Events Involving the ICTY

This week, the ICTY had a record-breaking week with the most trials proceeding simultaneously: a total of 9 trials involving 18 accused. The ICTY has enjoyed recent successes in prosecuting the accused: out of 161 individuals accused of war crimes, only 2 remain on the run.
 
A recent arrest that brought the ICTY to the international spotlight occurred on Monday, March 1, 2010. London Heathrow Airport police arrested Ejup Ganic, the former Bosnian president, after an arrest warrant was issued by the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Ganic is being held responsible for the Sarajevo Column Case, otherwise known as the Dobrovoljačka Street Attack of May 1992, in which a Yugoslav army convoy withdrawing from Sarajevo was attacked. Ganic stands accused of conspiracy to murder wounded soldiers in direct breach with the Geneva Convention.
 
The Serbian prosecutors acted without the support of the ICTY, which had already acquitted Ganic of charges brought against him. It is unclear whether the Serbian Ministry will seek assistance from the ICTY in the trial process. Ganic currently awaits extradition in a London jail.