3 October 2006
News
Todovic and Rasevic head for Sarajevo
Birn BiHTwo more Hague indictees will be transferred to the court of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the month.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has ordered that indictees Mitar Rasevic and Savo Todovic be transferred to Sarajevo within the next 30 days.
The Hague indictment charges Rasevic and Todovic with the murder, torture and detention of Bosniaks and other non-Serbs in the Foca correctional unit from April 1992 to October 1994.
According to the existing indictment,Rasevic was the warden of the Foca unit. While Todovic worked as, among other things, the unit's deputy warden from April to August 1993.
Both will be transferred to Sarajevo in accordance with the ICTY's 11 bis rule that enables the transfer of cases from The Hague to local courts. The rule allows a case to be transferred to a country were the crimes were committed, the indictee was arrested or which has jurisdiction– if the relevant judicial system is willing and prepared to take the case.
After the indictees are transferred to Sarajevo, the prosecution will adapt the ICTY indictment to the local criminal code, and the court will make a decision on accepting or refusing it in its adapted form.
The transfer of cases from the ICTY to the Bosnian court is part of the Hague tribunal's exit strategy, which dictates that only the highest-level indictees be tried in the UN court, while lower-ranking officials can be tried in local courts.
To date, nine indictees in five cases have been transferred from The Hague to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Hague indictment charges Rasevic and Todovic with the murder, torture and detention of Bosniaks and other non-Serbs in the Foca correctional unit from April 1992 to October 1994.
According to the existing indictment,Rasevic was the warden of the Foca unit. While Todovic worked as, among other things, the unit's deputy warden from April to August 1993.
Both will be transferred to Sarajevo in accordance with the ICTY's 11 bis rule that enables the transfer of cases from The Hague to local courts. The rule allows a case to be transferred to a country were the crimes were committed, the indictee was arrested or which has jurisdiction– if the relevant judicial system is willing and prepared to take the case.
After the indictees are transferred to Sarajevo, the prosecution will adapt the ICTY indictment to the local criminal code, and the court will make a decision on accepting or refusing it in its adapted form.
The transfer of cases from the ICTY to the Bosnian court is part of the Hague tribunal's exit strategy, which dictates that only the highest-level indictees be tried in the UN court, while lower-ranking officials can be tried in local courts.
To date, nine indictees in five cases have been transferred from The Hague to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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