ICTY: what legacy as Yugoslav war crimes court shuts?

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The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will officially cease operations on December 31, after 24 years prosecuting the worst war crimes seen in Europe since the end of World War Two.

What were its biggest achievements, and has it helped reconciliation in the Balkans? Here is a recap.

Names & numbers

Established in 1993, the Tribunal in The Hague, the Netherlands, was the first international court to look at war crimes since the ones at Nuremberg and Tokyo after World War Two.

The ICTY’s judges – from as far as China, Italy, Jamaica or the US – heard cases on genocide, torture and rape during what were essentially four conflicts spanning 10 years: Croatia in 1991-1995, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992-1995, Kosovo in 1998-1999 and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in 2001.

Significantly, some big names saw the inside of the ICTY courtroom, including former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, labelled the “Butcher of Bosnia.”

This combination of pictures created on November 22, 2017 shows (L) Ratko Mladic then Bosnian Serb General in Sarajevo on February 15, 1994 and (R) Mladic smiling as he enters the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), on November 22, 2017, to hear the verdict in his genocide trial. /VCG Photo

Kosovo’s current Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army in the 1990s, was among those acquitted.

In total, 161 people were indicted by the Court.

Of these, 90 were sentenced and 19 were acquitted, 20 had their indictments withdrawn, 13 saw their cases referred to national courts, while 17 died before or during trial. Just two cases are due for a retrial.

Sentences ranged from a few years to life in prison.

Legal precedents

Developments at the Tribunal “forever changed the landscape of international justice,” according to ICTY President Carmel Agius.

The Court was the first to prosecute cases of sexual violence as a war crime and to recognize rape as a form of torture.

The Tribunal also provided a model for international courts prosecuting atrocities in Rwanda and Sierra Leone and for the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has investigated genocide and war crimes in Darfur, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic sits in the courtroom for the reading of his verdict at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, on March 24, 2016.The former Bosnian-Serbs leader was indicted for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. /VCG Photo

As the first court of its kind in half a century, the ICTY challenged the culture of impunity and held leaders and military commanders accountable for their crimes.

Mladic was found guilty of genocide, persecution and murder – including for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre – and was sentenced to life in prison on November 22. Karadzic received 40 years, while Milosevic died in prison while awaiting trial.

Closure and reconciliation?

The ICTY’s rulings meant that victims’ families finally saw those responsible for the atrocities committed in the former Yugoslavia behind bars. “Justice is done” was an oft-heard reaction.

But it took years to get there.

Mladic was only found guilty in November 2017 of crimes committed between 1992 and 1995. On the run for many years, it still took six years from his arrest in 2011 for a judge to hand down a verdict.

Victims' relatives react as they watch a live TV broadcast from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of the verdict in the genocide trial of former Bosnian Serbian commander Ratko Mladic, on November 22, 2017 in a room at the memorial in Potocari, near Srebrenica. /VCG Photo

In Karadzic’s case, eight years elapsed between the time of his arrest and his sentencing last year.

For many, a handful of life sentences was also small consolation for the persecution, massacre and rape of tens of thousands of people.

Meanwhile in the Balkans, many – from the leadership down – still refuse to accept the rulings of the ICTY.

Some 2,000 people in Zagreb honored former Croat commander Slobodan Praljak as a hero last month, after he killed himself in court by drinking poison following his verdict, media reported.

Posters of Mladic with the words “You are Our Hero" could still be seen in Srebrenica recently.

Thousands of supporters gather in Belgrade to mourn former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's death on March 18, 2006. /VCG Photo

Serbia’s Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin has repeatedly said he was an "admirer of what (Milosevic) was doing", while a Croatian MP recently called the ICTY "a parody, a theatre of the absurd."

“There is still no true will within the region to accept the immense wrongdoings of the past and move forward, sadly most of all among the political leadership,” ICTY prosecutor Serge Brammertz said earlier this month.

“Much more remains to be done. Many victims, from all communities, are still waiting for justice.”

What now?

As the ICTY closes for good, some of its cases are still headed for appeals. These will now be handled by the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT), a temporary body set up in 2010 to follow up on war crimes cases in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

Protesters stand outside the court, as they wait for the verdict on former Bosnian military chief Ratko Mladic known as 'Butcher of Bosnia' who will appear for the pronouncement of the Trial Judgement for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, The Netherlands on November 22, 2017. /VCG Photo

Karadzic, who has appealed his sentence, will be heard at the MICT. Prosecutors are also trying to overturn the surprise acquittal last year of former Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Vojislav Seselj, indicted on nine counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The MICT will also re-prosecute Jovica Stanisic, ex-head of Serbia’s state security service, and Franko Simatovic, an employee of the security service. Both were acquitted of all charges in 2013 but the ICTY later ordered their retrial.

Keeping up the momentum

In his last report to the UN Security Council on December 6, ICTY President Carmel Agius declared “mission accomplished.”

“The establishment of the ICTY was one of the international community’s proudest moments,” he said.

A woman cries near a coffin containing the body of a newly identified victim of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, at the Memorial Center in Potocari near Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, July 9, 2015. /VCG Photo

Agius deplored, however, that many crimes have yet to be prosecuted in the former Yugoslavia.

“The international community now looks on while mass crimes continue to take place, even as I speak,” he added, urging the international community “to stay the course.”

Experts complain there has been much less international political will to prosecute more recent atrocities, including those in Syria.

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