ICTY Will Likely Need More Time to Complete Work

“There is broad agreement now that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, may need at least a few more years, until 2013 or so," before it can finish its work, Ban Ki-moon said to reporters in New York.

The UN Security Council extended the mandate of the Tribunal in December last year until the end of 2012, and until 2014 for appellate cases. Originally, its mandate was scheduled to end in 2010.

The tribunal expects that the trial against Radovan Karadzic will be completed by 2012.

Karadzic was indicted in 1995 and was on the run for more then 12 years. He was arrested in July 2008 in Belgrade, and his trial began in October 2009. However, the presentation of evidence has still not begun in the case, as Karadzic has requested more time for preparation.

The Trial Chamber refused this request, but Karadzic appealed this decision at the Appellate Chamber. The Appellate chamber is due to give its ruling sometime in April.

The ICTY was established in 1993 with the mandate to prosecute war crimes and other breaches of international humanitarian law committed in the Balkans during the wars in the 90s.

The original strategy to close the Tribunal, drafted by the Security Council, intended for the ICTY to begin downsizing this year.

Since its opening the Tribunal has completed the trials of more than 120 indictees, and trials or appeals are pending or ongoing in several dozen cases.

However, two of the most wanted fugitives are still at large – General Ratko Mladic, indicted for crimes committed in Bosnia, and Goran Hadzic, indicted for crimes in Croatia.

"If and when these two fugitives are arrested, then we will have to discuss again how we can adjust, or we can leave it other mechanisms - this was discussed already between the ICTY and the Security Council," Ban Ki-moon told reporters.

In a measure of support to the ICTY, the EU Council adopted on March 8 a decision extending until March 16, 2011, "the measures in support of the effective implementation of the mandate" of the Tribunal.

These measures are intended to ban access to EU territory to any persons acting in a way that obstructs the ICTY’s mandate and those who help persons to evade justice for crimes for which they are indicted by the ICTY.