JURIST - Paper Chase: UN prosecutors appeal acquittal of former Bosnian Serb leader

[JURIST] Prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] on Tuesday appealed last week's decision acquitting former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic [ICTY case summary, PDF; JURIST news archive] on one of 11 charges for lack of evidence. Last week the court rejected [JURIST report] Karadzic's motion to dismiss 10 charges against him while acquitting him on one count for his alleged crimes committed during the 1992-1995 Bosnian civil war [JURIST news archive] including genocide and murder. He has also been accused of participating in the planning of the 1995 Srebrenica Massacre [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive], which resulted in the death of more than 7,000 Muslim men. The prosecution argues that the UN-backed court made errors of law and facts. Karadzic is expected to present his defense in November.

In early June the judges from the ICTY went on a five-day visit [JURIST report] to locations relevant to the indictment of Karadzic. They visited Srebrenica and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and its surrounding areas. This visit came just months after the ICTY sentenced [JURIST report] former president of the municipality of Sokolac, BiH, Milan Tupajic to two months in prison for refusing to testify against Karadzic. In February former Commander of the Bosnian Serb Army Ratko Mladic [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] accused [JURIST report] the ICTY of being biased. In January the ICTY accepted a plea deal [JURIST report], in the trial of the former case manager for Bosnian war criminal Milan Lukic, convicting her of five counts of contempt for procuring false witness statements. In December the ICTY convicted [JURIST report] former Yugoslav intelligence officer Dragomir Pecanac of contempt for failing to testify before the tribunal.