UN Yugoslav court to close in December

By Talha Ozturk, Kayhan Gul

BELGRADE, Serbia

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague will wind up on Dec. 31, bringing to an end to a painful and bloody chapter in postwar European history.

The UN court ended its 24 years of activities with the "Prlic and others" case on Nov. 29.

The ICTY was established in 1993 with the UN decision to punish crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

It has done important work to punish war crimes but although the court made key decisions, it has been criticized by the different ethnic groups.

For each suspect whom the court declared a war criminal, many continued to be regarded as a hero by their own ethnic group.

Although the ICTY's decisions on have been criticized as "political" by some, they have shown that everyone can be judged and punished without regard to their position.

At the same time, the court also made important contributions to the point that historical facts cannot be denied. An example of this is the ruling that genocide was committed in Srebrenica, where mass killings against the Bosniaks were carried out in 1995.

Throughout its 24-year history, the court has convicted Bosnians, Kosovo Albanians and Croats, although it has mostly punished war crimes committed by Serbs.

It gave the message that all warring parties in the former Yugoslavia were engaged in war crimes. The court was frequently criticized as a political institution when it tried to make balanced decisions.

The ICTY’s first conviction in 1996 was 10 years in prison for Drazen Erdemovic, a soldier of Republika Srpska Army (VRS) in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Erdemovic, who served in the Serbian militia despite being of Croatian origin, was convicted of crimes committed during the genocide in Srebrenica.

It's final decision was taken at the appeal court's dismissal of the "Prlic and others" case, where six former Croat officials were sentenced.

The case, which saw former Croat general Slobodan Praljak commit suicide by poisoning himself, the court sentenced the group to a total of 111 years in prison for crimes committed in the Bosnian War.

- 19 acquittals, 6 life imprisonment sentences

The court has drafted indictments on 161 people in 24 years.

Ninety people have been given different prison sentences ranging from a year to life imprisonment. Six Serb-origin suspects were sentenced to life imprisonment. They were: Stanislav Galic, Vujadin Popovic, Ljubisa Beara, Milan Lukic, Zdravko Tolimir and Ratko Mladic.

Meanwhile, the court acquitted 19 people: Naser Oric, a Bosniak commander who has made significant achievements in the defense of Srebrenica; Kosovo's current Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj; and Serbian radical leader Vojislav Seselj are among those acquitted.

- What will happen after ICTY?

The UN International Criminal Tribunal Mechanism (MICT) will take over the case of Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic, who decided to appeal after the ICTY's termination.

Therefore, the appeal of Radovan Karadzic, who has been sentenced to 40 years in prison, and the possible appeal of Ratko Mladic, who is sentenced to life imprisonment, will be heard at the MICT as well as the appeal case of acquitted Vojislav Seselj and the trial of Stanisic and Simatovic.

The closing ceremony of the ICTY will be held on Dec. 21 and, by the end of the year, the court will cease to function officially.