The defence rights in the practice of the international criminal tribunals
- PDF / 814,894 Bytes
- 12 Pages / 450 x 684 pts Page_size
- 93 Downloads / 204 Views
The Defence Rights in the Practice of the International Criminal Tribunals Wolfgang Schomburg and Tobias Wild* I. Introduction
The UN Security Council, acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, established ad hoc International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 19931 and for Rwanda (ICTR) in 1994.2 Furthermore, in 2002 the United Nations and Sierra Leone created the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL). 3 The purpose of the two Tribunals and the Special Court is to bring to justice persons allegedly responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991, the territory of Rwanda between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1994~ and the territory of Sierra Leone since 30 November 1996. Further goals are to render justice to the victims, to deter further crimes and to contribute to the restoration of peace by promoting reconciliation. The two Tribunals and the Special Court are composed of three major sections: Chambers (Trial Chambers and Appeals Chamber), Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) and Registry. Defence counsel external lawyers are organized in the Association of Defence Counsel (ADC). At the ICTY, 107 defence counsel are currently fullyactive, most of them coming from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the United States, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and the United Kingdom.5 The Tribunals and the Special Court each have their own Detention Centre. Currently, there are about 53 accused persons in custody of the United Nations Detention Centre (UNDU) of the ICTY in The Hague, Netherlands, 6 about 55 detainees in the United Nations Detention Facility (UNDF) of the ICTR in Arusha, Republic of Tanzania, 7 and 9 in the Special Court's detention centre in Freetown, Sierra Leone? These persons are either in pre-trial, trial or appeal stage, or awaiting transfer to prisons where they will serve their sentence. In all, about 33 accused persons for whom arrest warrants have been issued are still at large.
*
-' 3 ' '
7 8
WolJg,ang Schomburg is currently Judge of the Appeals Chambers of the U N Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Rwanda (ICTR). Tobias Wild is currently lawyer at Gleiss Lutz, Stuttgart. Security Council resolution 827 of 25 May 1993; http://ww~.icty.org. Security Council resolution 955 of 8 November 1994; http://www.ictr.org. Agreement Between the United Nations and the Government of Sierra Leone on the Establishment of a Special Court for Sierra Leone of 16 January 2002; http://ww~:sc-sl.org. As well as Rwandan citizens suspected of such acts or violations in the territory of neighbouring states. 107 defence counsel are registered as fully active members of the Association of Defence Counsel practising before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ADC-ICTY (34 from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; 23 from the United States of America; 16 from Bosnia and Herzegovina; 16 from Croatia; 8 from the United Kingdom; 2 each from Germany, France and Switzerla
Data Loading...
