The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which had its seat in the Hague, Netherlands, was established in 1993, pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 827 of May 25, 1993, while the conflict in the former Yugoslavia was still ongoing. Its purpose was to establish individual criminal liability for atrocities committed in the course of the Yugoslav Wars, from 1991 to 2001, including “ethnic cleansing.” The ICTY formally closed in December 2017 after 24 years of operation.
See IJRC’s Table of Cases for links to a summary of each indictment and the case outcome. (Note: IJRC has also summarized and indexed the cases before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).)
Residual Mechanism
The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), established by the UN Security Council in 2010, will continue to operate offices in Arusha, Tanzania and The Hague, Netherlands to conclude the remaining work of the ICTY and its counterpart the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
The IRMCT is responsible for locating and arresting indicted individuals who are still at large; hearing appeals against judgments and sentences issued by the ICTR, ICTY, or IRMCT; reviewing judgments based on new facts; conducting retrials; and managing investigations and court proceedings in alleged cases of contempt of court and false testimony; monitoring cases referred to national courts; protecting victims and witnesses; supervising the enforcement of sentences and deciding requests for pardon, commutation, or early release; assisting national authorities in relevant prosecutions; and maintaining the ICTR, ICTR, and IRMCT archives.
Overview of Mandate & Results
The ICTY’s jurisdiction extended to grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity committed by individuals within the territory of the former Yugoslavia from 1991 onwards. Its Statute and Rules of Procedure and Evidence established the substantive and procedural provisions governing the Tribunal’s work.
The ICTY indicted 161 individuals, resulting in 89 convictions, 18 acquittals, and 13 referrals to a national court. See ICTY, Key Figures of the Cases. Thirty-seven of those indicted have had their indictments withdrawn or are deceased. None of the indicted persons remain fugitives from the law.
The IRMCT is handling the retrial of Franko Simatović and Jovica Stanišić, and Ratko Mladić’s appeal against his conviction. The IRMCT Appeals Chamber confirmed, in part, the convictions of Radovan Karadžić and Vojislav Šešelj.
Learn more about pending and completed cases or see the full list of judgments on the ICTY website. See IJRC’s Table of Cases for quick reference to the dates, outcomes, and factual summaries of each case.
Cases Not Resolved at the ICTY
Thirteen persons were referred to national jurisdictions: Rahim Ademi, Dušan Fuštar, Momčilo Gruban, Gojko Janković, Vladimir Kovačević, Duško Knežević, Paško Ljubičić, Željko Mejakić, Mirko Norac, Mitar Rašević, Radovan Stanković, Savo Todović, Milorad Trbić.
Twenty persons had their indictments withdrawn: Mirko Babić, Nenad Banović, Zdravko Govedarica, Gruban (first name unidentified), Marinko Katava, Dragan Kondić, Predrag Kostić, Goran Lajić, Zoran Marinić, Agim Murtezi, Nedeljko Paspalj, Milan Pavlić, Milutin Popović, Draženko Predojević, Ivan Šantić, Dragomir Šaponja, Željko Savić, Pero Skopljak, Nedjeljko Timarac, and Milan Zec.
Ten persons died before their transfer to the ICTY: Stipo Alilović, Janko Bobetko, Goran Borovnica, Simo Drljača, Dragan Gagović, Janko Janjić, Nikica Janjić, Slobodan Miljković, Željko Ražnatović, and Vlajko Stojiljković.
Seven persons died after transfer to the ICTY: Mehmed Alagić, Đorđe Đukić, Slavko Dokmanović, Goran Hadžić (the last fugitive arrested), Milan Kovačević, Slobodan Milošević, and Momir Talić. Though Milošević died before his trial could conclude, his indictment marks the first time an international court indicted a sitting head of State.