In early September, the prosecution filed an application for the referral of the Ademi and Norac case to a court in Croatia, and of the Mejakic et al. case to a BH court. ICTY President appoints a special trial chamber to rule on the Ademi-Norac case. Any referrals of cases to Serbia-Montenegro are ruled out for the time being


In early September, the prosecution filed an application for the referral of the Ademi and Norac case to a court in Croatia. The ICTY President then appointed a trial chamber which will rule on the application, Tribunal spokesperson Jim Landale said today, adding that this was the "first application of the Office of the Prosecutor for a referral of a case in accordance with Rule 11 bis." This rule sets the procedure for the referral of cases to the courts in states where the crime was committed or where the accused was arrested.

On the same day, 2 September, the prosecution filed another application for referral - this time to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The proposal is that the trial of Zeljko Mejakic and other accused in the Omarska-Keraterm case be referred to a special war crimes court in Sarajevo. Since the court is not ready to take on cases yet, the prosecution notes that it is up to the Tribunal judges to decide whether and when such a referral would be possible. For the time being, no trial chamber has been appointed to deal with the application.

OTP spokesperson Florence Hartmann and the new Deputy Chief Prosecutor, David Tolbert stressed that the prosecution was acting in accordance with the instructions received from the UN Security Council, recommending that the accused of lower and intermediate rank be tried by domestic courts, as part of the Tribunal's completion strategy.

At the press conference today, Tribunal spokesperson denied some media reports that the ICTY President Theodor Meron had discussed possible referrals of some cases to Serbia-Montenegro at his meeting with Serbia-Montenegro minister Rasim Ljajic. "In the current climate of non-cooperation (of Serbia-Montenegro with Tribunal), it would not be appropriate to discuss it," Landale quoted President Meron as saying.

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