[JURIST] UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has told the UN Security Council that he is nominating Serge Brammertz to replace Carla Del Ponte [official profiles] as the next chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website]. Brammertz is currently serving as the head of a UN probe into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive] and formerly served as the deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court before resigning [JURIST report] in June. Ban's letter to the Security Council, made public Tuesday, confirms expectations that Brammertz would take over at the end of Del Ponte's term, though several ICTY lawyers had urged Ban [JURIST reports] to promote current ICTY deputy prosecutor David Tolbert to the position. Reuters has more.

Del Ponte, a former Swiss attorney general, has served two four-year terms as the ICTY chief prosecutor. The United Nations Security Council has extended [press release] her term until December 31. Del Ponte was initially expected to step down in September [JURIST report], but in June she said she would stay until the end of the year while the UN chooses her replacement. Established in 1993 to as an ad hoc court to prosecute war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia, the ICTY [JURIST news archive] is currently scheduled to complete its work by 2010.