Katherine Southwick: Critique of the genocide conviction in the Krstić judgment

In August 2001, a trial chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) handed down the tribunal’s first genocide conviction.  In this landmark case, Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstić, the trial chamber determined that the 1995 Srebrenica massacres—in which Bosnian Serb forces executed 7,000 to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men—constituted genocide. In this Note…

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the forensic pathologist and ethics

Dr Geoffroy Lorin de la Grandmaison is professor at the University Versailles Saint Quentinen-Yvelines, France. He is a court licenced forensic specialist in France and has authored several books on topics related to his profession, including “Le guide des enquêtes décès,” Editeur : Eska, 2011. His analysis of the ethical tensions faced by pathologists and…

Dr. Alexander Mezyaev: Legal theses on the «genocide» aspect of the ICTY trial chamber’s judgment in General Krstić’s case (2001)

First of all, attention should be drawn to the fact that the count of genocide  was formulated as an alternative – «genocide OR in the alternative [with] complicity in genocide». Such an alternative is not acceptable because it shows that the Prosecution is not sure with what to charge the accused. It may be genocide…

Yvonne McDermott-Federico Cerutti amicus curiae submission in the Karadžić appeal

The appellate proceedings in the Karadžić case have taken a new turn with an amicus curiae application submitted on February 21 2018 to the Residual Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals by two British academics, Dr. Yvonne McDermott and Dr. Federico Cerutti. The submission proposes to test the sustainability of the trial chamber’s conclusion that Radovan…

Confessing at the Hague Tribunal

Public confessions of guilt by prisoners charged with various crimes are a standard operating feature at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [ICTY]. Dramatic and emotional courtroom confessions, accompanied by undignified self-abasement before the chamber and the prosecution, have been made by some high-profile prisoners as well as lower ranking accused. Their groveling,…

International Court of Justice appellate verdict on genocide (Croatia v. Serbia, 2015)

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) appellate judgment in the matter of Croatia vs. Serbia, concerning mutual allegations of genocide supposedly committed during the Balkan conflict in the 1990s, is relevant to the issue of genocide as it is posited in the context of Srebrenica. See related text here: http://us.srebrenica-project.org/2018/01/14/international-criminal-justice-and-genocide/ ICJ’s analysis of the sort of evidence…