parsifal
Colonel
In regard to the Rwandan trials, there have been a total of 92 indictments brought to trial. Only 8 have been acquitted...a couple have died, whilst in custody, and the remainder are either still in progress, of have been convicted. The vast majority have had life sentences imposed, and as far as I know, life means life in these trials.
I dont have any information of the gaol conditions, but will try and find out.
With regard to the war crimes trials in the Former Yugolsavia, my understanding and information is incomplete, however some of the facts that I do know of are interesting.
International armed forces deployed in the Former Yugoslavia, while slow to prioritize cooperation with the Tribunal in enforcing indictments, more recently improved in their performance. The first arrest by an international armed force was on June 27, 1997, when the U.N. mission in Eastern Slavonia, Croatia (UNTAES) detained Slavko Dokmanovic; he died in Tribunal custody before trial. All subsequent arrests have been made by SFOR troops in Bosnia, and included two others in 1997 for a total of three arrests by international forces in that year (Slavko Dokmanovic; Anto Furundziga on December 18, 1997 --convicted and sentenced to ten years December 1998; and Vlalko Kupreskic, arrested with Furundziga and for whom trial remains pending). In the following years, seven were arrested by SFOR in 1998, and four in 1999 (1998: Goran Jelisic, January 22, 1998; Miroslav Kvocka and Mladen Radic, April 8, 1998; Milojica Kos, May 28, 1998; Milorad Krnojelac, June 15, 1998; Stevan Todorovic, September 30, 1998; and Radislav Krstic, December 2, 1998; and 1999: Dragan Kolundziga, June 7, 1999; Radoslav Brdjanin, July 6, 1999; Radomir Kovac, August 2, 1999; and Damir Dosen, October 25, 1999). On October 19, 1999, the Tribunal found that Goran Jelisic, who calls himself the "Serbian Adolf," was not guilty of genocide; but the tribunal nonetheless convicted him on 31 counts of torture and murder of Muslim and Croatian inmates of the Luka prison camp near Brcko in 1992, for which a forty year term was handed down in December 1999. All the rest of those who have been arrested in 1998-2000 still are awaiting or are undergoing trials (ICTY 2000b).
Bosnian Serb Dusan Tadic, also known as "Dule" and "Dusko", was the first man brought into the custody of the Tribunal; his long trial and his conviction, May 7, 1996, helped delineate the further course of the work of the Tribunal. On February 13, 1995, indictments were handed down against twenty Bosnian Serb commanders and guards from the Omarska concentration camp in northwestern Bosnia, including Tadic. At the time, Tadic was being held by police in Munich, Germany, since his arrest (February 13, 1994), where he had been hiding out at his brother's apartment. He soon was extradited to the Hague, becoming the first defendant held under the custody of the Tribunal. In Tadic's first Tribunal hearing, he declared "I did not take part in any of the crimes with which I am charged".
Evidence undermined that assertion. The indictment against Tadic listed 132 separate counts of crimes against humanity, as well as war crimes under the Geneva Conventions of 1949, all of which related to a rape, several instances of torture, and thirteen murders which occurred between May and August of 1992 at the Omarska concentration camp. Tadic did not hold an official position at the camp, but he was frequently observed by witnesses held there to have worn a military uniform while in the camp.
The Tribunal was scrupulous in examining the many sensational charges, some which alleged his role in castrations, tortures and murders. In one incident, witnesses testified to Tadic ordering prisoners to drink water from puddles on the ground like animals, while he jumped on their backs and beat them. When the men were no longer able to move, Tadic put them into a wheelbarrow, discharging the contents of a fire extinguisher into the mouth of one of the victims. Yet another alleged war crime performed by Tadic occurred on May 27, 1992, when Tadic, along with Goran Borovnica, lined up against a wall Bosnian Muslims and Croats Ekrem Karabasic, Ismet Karabasic, Seido Karabasic, and Redo Foric, and shot them dead.
Witnesses told their experiences in detail, though the use of hearsay evidence and the fact that the identity of some of the raped witnesses was shielded engendered some criticism. Tadic nevertheless received a vigoroous defense: his legal counsel, Michail Wladimiroff, was an experienced Dutch attorney assisted by members of his own law firm, as well as by the head of the Serbian bar association Milan Vujin and Krstan Simic, "a rural country lawyer" from Banja Luka. Assistance also was provided to the team by international NGO's, including the Americans from the Central/Eastern European Legal Initiative. The prosecutors in the case were a formidable unit. Chief prosecutor Richard Goldstone led the team, assisted by a friend of mine, Grant Niemann, an Australian who had prosecuted three cases against suspected Nazi war criminals, in addition to two Americans, Brenda Hollis and Michael Keegan, on loan from U.S. military Judge Advocate General's offices; and one American, Alan Tieger, from the Justice Department who headed the prosecution in the federal trial of four Los Angeles police officers accused of beating Rodney King. Presiding over the trial were three of the U.N.-selected judges, headed by U.S. appointee Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, along with Malaysia's Lal Vohrah and Australia's Sir Ninian Stephen.
On July 14, 1997, Tadic was sentenced to a twenty year term. Tadic appealed but his appeal was defeated. Guess hes not smiling now......and hearings took place April 19-22, 1999, in the Appeals Chamber. Its final judgment was delivered July 15, 1999, denying Tadic's appeal on all grounds. Thus, the Tribunal completed its first complete trial and appeal, finding Tadic to have committed grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, including willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, and willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health. Again, I do not know thee conditions of his confinement, but any confinement is going to be a major discouragement to commit such crimes in my opinion. Justice may bne slow but it is happening
Of the 93 warrants that have been issued in the ICTV (the Yugoslavian tribunal), 30 remain at large, 36 convicted, 18 acquitted or the charges dropped, and the remainder are either in progress or awaiting trial. Those awaiting trial are in custody, so effectively they have been incarcerated for more than 10 years anyway. Of the 36 convictions secured, no sentence is less than 10 years duration.
I dont have any information of the gaol conditions, but will try and find out.
With regard to the war crimes trials in the Former Yugolsavia, my understanding and information is incomplete, however some of the facts that I do know of are interesting.
International armed forces deployed in the Former Yugoslavia, while slow to prioritize cooperation with the Tribunal in enforcing indictments, more recently improved in their performance. The first arrest by an international armed force was on June 27, 1997, when the U.N. mission in Eastern Slavonia, Croatia (UNTAES) detained Slavko Dokmanovic; he died in Tribunal custody before trial. All subsequent arrests have been made by SFOR troops in Bosnia, and included two others in 1997 for a total of three arrests by international forces in that year (Slavko Dokmanovic; Anto Furundziga on December 18, 1997 --convicted and sentenced to ten years December 1998; and Vlalko Kupreskic, arrested with Furundziga and for whom trial remains pending). In the following years, seven were arrested by SFOR in 1998, and four in 1999 (1998: Goran Jelisic, January 22, 1998; Miroslav Kvocka and Mladen Radic, April 8, 1998; Milojica Kos, May 28, 1998; Milorad Krnojelac, June 15, 1998; Stevan Todorovic, September 30, 1998; and Radislav Krstic, December 2, 1998; and 1999: Dragan Kolundziga, June 7, 1999; Radoslav Brdjanin, July 6, 1999; Radomir Kovac, August 2, 1999; and Damir Dosen, October 25, 1999). On October 19, 1999, the Tribunal found that Goran Jelisic, who calls himself the "Serbian Adolf," was not guilty of genocide; but the tribunal nonetheless convicted him on 31 counts of torture and murder of Muslim and Croatian inmates of the Luka prison camp near Brcko in 1992, for which a forty year term was handed down in December 1999. All the rest of those who have been arrested in 1998-2000 still are awaiting or are undergoing trials (ICTY 2000b).
Bosnian Serb Dusan Tadic, also known as "Dule" and "Dusko", was the first man brought into the custody of the Tribunal; his long trial and his conviction, May 7, 1996, helped delineate the further course of the work of the Tribunal. On February 13, 1995, indictments were handed down against twenty Bosnian Serb commanders and guards from the Omarska concentration camp in northwestern Bosnia, including Tadic. At the time, Tadic was being held by police in Munich, Germany, since his arrest (February 13, 1994), where he had been hiding out at his brother's apartment. He soon was extradited to the Hague, becoming the first defendant held under the custody of the Tribunal. In Tadic's first Tribunal hearing, he declared "I did not take part in any of the crimes with which I am charged".
Evidence undermined that assertion. The indictment against Tadic listed 132 separate counts of crimes against humanity, as well as war crimes under the Geneva Conventions of 1949, all of which related to a rape, several instances of torture, and thirteen murders which occurred between May and August of 1992 at the Omarska concentration camp. Tadic did not hold an official position at the camp, but he was frequently observed by witnesses held there to have worn a military uniform while in the camp.
The Tribunal was scrupulous in examining the many sensational charges, some which alleged his role in castrations, tortures and murders. In one incident, witnesses testified to Tadic ordering prisoners to drink water from puddles on the ground like animals, while he jumped on their backs and beat them. When the men were no longer able to move, Tadic put them into a wheelbarrow, discharging the contents of a fire extinguisher into the mouth of one of the victims. Yet another alleged war crime performed by Tadic occurred on May 27, 1992, when Tadic, along with Goran Borovnica, lined up against a wall Bosnian Muslims and Croats Ekrem Karabasic, Ismet Karabasic, Seido Karabasic, and Redo Foric, and shot them dead.
Witnesses told their experiences in detail, though the use of hearsay evidence and the fact that the identity of some of the raped witnesses was shielded engendered some criticism. Tadic nevertheless received a vigoroous defense: his legal counsel, Michail Wladimiroff, was an experienced Dutch attorney assisted by members of his own law firm, as well as by the head of the Serbian bar association Milan Vujin and Krstan Simic, "a rural country lawyer" from Banja Luka. Assistance also was provided to the team by international NGO's, including the Americans from the Central/Eastern European Legal Initiative. The prosecutors in the case were a formidable unit. Chief prosecutor Richard Goldstone led the team, assisted by a friend of mine, Grant Niemann, an Australian who had prosecuted three cases against suspected Nazi war criminals, in addition to two Americans, Brenda Hollis and Michael Keegan, on loan from U.S. military Judge Advocate General's offices; and one American, Alan Tieger, from the Justice Department who headed the prosecution in the federal trial of four Los Angeles police officers accused of beating Rodney King. Presiding over the trial were three of the U.N.-selected judges, headed by U.S. appointee Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, along with Malaysia's Lal Vohrah and Australia's Sir Ninian Stephen.
On July 14, 1997, Tadic was sentenced to a twenty year term. Tadic appealed but his appeal was defeated. Guess hes not smiling now......and hearings took place April 19-22, 1999, in the Appeals Chamber. Its final judgment was delivered July 15, 1999, denying Tadic's appeal on all grounds. Thus, the Tribunal completed its first complete trial and appeal, finding Tadic to have committed grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, including willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, and willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health. Again, I do not know thee conditions of his confinement, but any confinement is going to be a major discouragement to commit such crimes in my opinion. Justice may bne slow but it is happening
Of the 93 warrants that have been issued in the ICTV (the Yugoslavian tribunal), 30 remain at large, 36 convicted, 18 acquitted or the charges dropped, and the remainder are either in progress or awaiting trial. Those awaiting trial are in custody, so effectively they have been incarcerated for more than 10 years anyway. Of the 36 convictions secured, no sentence is less than 10 years duration.
... and the Kaiser didn't get in any practice busting rock.
