Doc. 10528
26 April 2005
Prosecution of offences falling within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
Motion for a recommendation
presented by Mr McNamara and others
This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only the members who have signed it |
1. The prosecution of war crimes remains a live issue for the countries of the former Yugoslavia. Cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) by the Republika Srpska of Bosnia and Herzegovina and by Serbia and Montenegro has not always been satisfactory, as described in Assembly Resolutions 1383 (2004) and 1397 (2004) respectively, and the EU recently delayed the start of membership negotiations with Croatia, citing insufficient cooperation.
2. In a letter dated 17 June 2002 to the President of the Security Council, the Secretary General of the United Nations outlined a “completion strategy” for the work of the ICTY. The ICTY would in future concentrate on the prosecution and trial of the highest ranking political, military and paramilitary leaders, whilst transferring mid-level accused (who would previously have been tried in the Hague) to national courts. This strategy was endorsed by the Security Council in July 2002.
3. Two conditions are necessary to fulfilment of the completion strategy: first, that all indicted suspects are transferred or surrender to the ICTY; and second, that national judicial mechanisms are competent to ensure the fair and effective administration of justice against accused persons.
4. As to the first condition, there have been several developments in recent months, such as the resignation and voluntary self-surrender of the Prime Minister in Kosovo, following his indictment by the ICTY, as well as the transfer of a series of individuals from both Serbia and Montenegro and the Republika Srpska of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Other indicted persons, notably including Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic and Ante Gotovina, however, remain at large: the President of the ICTY has stated that “the Tribunal will not close” before these three are tried.
5. As to the second, Bosnia and Herzegovina recently established a specialist War Crimes Chamber, and in June 2004, the OSCE Mission to Croatia reported “improving conditions for the conduct of domestic war crime trials” in that country. A related issue concerns co-operation between the authorities of different countries; in this respect, there is the recent agreement between the prosecutors of Serbia and Croatia.
6. Given these mixed developments, the Assembly resolves to study the question of prosecution of offences falling within the jurisdiction of the ICTY, both from the perspective of the continuing work of the ICTY itself and from that of domestic judicial mechanisms, and to make appropriate recommendations, including to the Committee of Ministers.
Signed (see overleaf)
Signed 1:
McNAMARA, Kevin, United Kingdom, SOC
BEMELMANS-VIDEC, Marie-Louise, Netherlands, EPP/CD
BINDIG, Rudolf, Germany, SOC
CILEVIČS, Boriss, Latvia, SOC
de ZULUETA, Tana, Italy, SOC
GROSS, Andreas, Switzerland, SOC
HOLOVATY, Serhiy, Ukraine, LDR
JUDD, Frank, United Kingdom, SOC
JURGENS, Erik, Netherlands, SOC
LINTNER, Eduard, Germany, EPP/CD
SHYBKO, Vitaliy, Ukraine, SOC
WOHLWEND, Renate, Liechtenstein, EPP/CD
1 SOC: Socialist Group
EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party
LDR : Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group
EDG: European Democratic Group
UEL: Group of the Unified European Left
NR: not registered in a group