Introduction to the Hague war crimes process, both regarding the law and history of the court and also practical information for visitors.

ICTY Press Contacts

PRESS OFFICE

There is no walk-in access. Phone and someone will meet you in the lobby. They will give you a press pack, with latest facts and figures, plus you can get copies of all indictments. All information is available in English, French, Albanian and Bosnian-Croat-Serb.

Press office spokesperson:
Nerma Jelacic
Tel: 031-(0)70-512-5066 or 031-(0)70-512-5343

ACCREDITATION

No advance accreditation is normally required. Turn up at the front gate security and show passport and a press ID card. You will be given a press pass granting you access to the lobby, media areas and the courtrooms.

There are limited desks inside for visiting journalists, with electricity for computers but no access to the internet, except on key dates when WiFi is available.

For key dates, accreditation may have to be applied for in advance. Check the ICTY website or with the press office for details.

Note: Mobile phones can be brought inside the lobby, but phones and computers cannot be taken into the court rooms. You can leave them in safe deposit boxes, available free, at the front entrance. 

History of the Hague Tribunal

• 1919
  Article 227 Treaty of Versailles proposes Commission on the Responsibility of the Authors of the War and on Enforcement of Penalties.
• 1920
  Assembly of League of Nations rejects idea of High Court of International Justice as "premature".
• 1937
  League of Nations signed Convention for International Criminal Court to try terrorist offences. Never became law.
• 1945
  Nuremberg Tribunal.
• 1946
  Tokyo Tribunal.
• 1948
  UN asks International Law Commission to study a Criminal Chamber of the International Court of Justice.
• 1989
  UN asks the ILC to again study idea of International Criminal Court.
• 1993
  ILC begins work.
• June 1991
  Croatia and Slovenia secede from Yugoslavia. War begins.
• April 1992
  Bosnian war starts following referendum on independence. 100,000 to 200,000 killed in 4 years.
• October 1992
  UN Resolution 780 proposes creation of tribunal.
• February 1993
  UN Resolution 808 creates the tribunal.
• May 1993
  International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia set up.
• April 1994
  Genocide in Rwanda kills 500,000 to 1 million Tutsis killed.
• November 1995
  Dayton Peace Agreement ends Bosnia and Croatia wars.
• May 1997
  First ICTY conviction: Dusan Tadic, Serb former detention camp guard.
• July 1997
  NATO commandos launch first arrest raid against Tribunal indictee.
• November 1997
  First sighting of guerrillas of Kosovo Liberation Army.
• March 1998
  68 Ethnic Albanians die at Prekaz, Kosovo, in attack by Serbian security forces. Guerrilla war spreads across province.
• March 1999
  NATO begins bombing Serbia. 860,000 Ethnic Albanians removed from Kosovo by Serbian security forces.
• May 27 1999
  ICTY indicts Slobodan Milosevic for Crimes Against Humanity.
• October 2000
  Milosevic loses Yugoslav presidential election.
• June 2001
  Milosevic arrested by Serbian police. Handed over to NATO and flown to ICTY.
• February 2002
  Milosevic trial begins.
• March 2006
  Milosevic dies in prison before his trial ends. A judgement is never rendered.
• July 2008
  Former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic is arrested in Belgrade after 13 years on the run.
• October 2009
  Prosecutors deliver opening statements in the Karadzic trial, but the accused - who represents himself - boycotts the proceedings. He is then assigned a "stand-by counsel" who can take over if Karadzic boycotts again.
• March 2010
  Karadzic delivers his own opening statements.
• April 2010
  First witnesses testify in Karadzic trial. Accused continues to represent himself, but stand-by counsel attends each court session.
• May 2011
  General Ratko Mladic, ex-commander of the Bosnian Serb army, is arrested in Serbia after 16 years as a fugitive.