International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia Announces Transfer of War Crimes Suspect to Bosnia and Herzegovina for National Trial

September 29, 2005 -- The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) announced today that Radovan Stankovic was transferred from the ICTY to Sarajevo to be tried by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s War Crimes Chamber. Stankovic is the first person accused by the ICTY to be tried in a national jurisdiction, a procedure endorsed by the UN Security Council that enables the Tribunal to focus its efforts on trying the most senior perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

As part of the Tribunal’s completion strategy, endorsed by the UN Security Council, the ICTY Prosecutor has requested a small number of cases involving mid- and lower-level accused to be referred to national courts. However, ICTY will continue to fully support trials of mid- and lower-level perpetrators in courts in the former Yugoslavia, including those transferred from the ICTY. The Tribunal has also undertaken an intensive and wide-ranging effort to help strengthen the capacity of national institutions to process war crimes cases.

Stankovic was originally  indicted in June 1996 and was apprehended by the NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR) in the Foca area in July 2002. Stankovic is charged with four counts of crimes against humanity and four counts of violations of the laws or customs of war.


 

Last updated September 29, 2005

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