Secrecy and Justice at the ICTY

With the ICTY set to close in two years' time, there's growing concern that secret Serbian military files believed to provide evidence of Belgrade's direct involvement in the Balkan wars will never be made public.

The tribunal agreed to Serbia's request for the archive material to be granted protective measures, after the latter claimed their publication would jeopardise national security.

But many Bosnians feel the request was made primarily to stymie Bosnia's genocide case against Serbia at the International Court of Justice.

Prosecutors still have time to pressure the ICTY to reveal the files. Serbia, though, is bound to resist such a move.

An IWPR round-table debate in The Hague examines the dramatic debates that have swirled around one of tribunal's most contentious decisions. The event is scheduled for Thursday, May 15, 19.00hrs, at the Asser Institute, R.J. Schimmelpennincklaan 20-22, Den Haag.

IWPR is pleased to announce the following confirmed speakers:

Sir Geoffrey Nice QC - A former prosecutor in the case against the late Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic between 2001 and 2006. Sir Geoffrey was also a prosecutor in the trial of Bosnian Serb Goran Jelisic – the first case to allege genocide at the ICTY – between 1998 and 2000.

Ms Edina Becirevic - Senior lecturer at the University of Sarajevo's Faculty of Criminal Justice Sciences. Ms Becirevic is widely published in the field of war crimes justice and international affairs, having reported extensively on the conflict in the former Yugoslavia.

Dr Marko Attila Hoare - Senior Research Fellow at Kingston University, specialising in the history of South East Europe. Dr Hoare was previously a Research Fellow at the Faculty of History of the University of Cambridge and has worked as a war crimes investigator at the ICTY.

Ms Fadila Memisevic - Head of the Sarajevo-based section of the Society for Threatened Peoples and a co-founder of the Centre for the Documentation of War and Genocide Crimes in Zenica, Bosnia Herzegovina. Ms Memisevic’s efforts to record atrocities during the conflict in the Balkans led to the arrest of war crime suspects in the region. Her work is now dedicated to supporting the victims of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide as well as the war’s rape and torture victims.

Mr Vladan Vlajkovic - Former Yugoslav army officer and author of the book Military Secret, who was accused of espionage by the Serbian government for publishing covert details of Slobodan Milosevic’s regime. His book is banned in Serbia.

Representatives from the ICTY have also been invited.

The debate will be chaired by IWPR’s Executive Director, Anthony Borden.

The audience is free to ask questions and enter into the debate. Drinks and light snacks will be served afterwards.

If you wish to attend, please email IWPR’s International Justice/ICTY programme manager, Merdijana Sadovic.