Hague Tribunal President faces protest in Bosnia

Last week in Bosnia, Judge Theodor Meron, president of the Hague tribunal, was met by a silent protest by activists and survivors of the war of the early 1990s, Institute for War & Peace Reporting said Monday. On November 27, Judge Meron was speaking at an event in the capital Sarajevo to mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The two-day conference was attended by officials and transitional justice experts and covered the tribunal’s role and legacy in the former Yugoslav states. When Judge Meron started his speech, representatives of victims’ associations turned their back on him. Another group held up a sign with the words “R.I.P. Justice” before walking out of the hall. The protests are unhappy with tribunal rulings in recent months. The tribunal freed three individuals involved in the Bosnian conflict, and in March, the head of the Yugoslav army, Momcilo Perisic, was acquitted on appeal. Then in May, Jovica Stanisic, the wartime intelligence chief in Serbia, and his subordinate Franko Simatovic were acquitted of all charges at the end of their trial. Judge Meron agreed that not everyone was happy with the work of the ICTY. “Some people claim that the tribunal has failed to fulfill the victims’ need for justice, some claim that our verdicts are controversial, while others still ask what our contribution to reconciliation and history is,” Judge Meron said. Despite this, Judge Meron believes the tribunal had “exceeded expectations”. Judge Theodor Meron / Flickr