War crimes trial of former top Croatian generals begins at U.N. tribunal
11 March 2008 , The trial of three former senior Croatian generals accused of murdering, persecuting and displacing ethnic Serbs during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s got under way at a United Nations war crimes tribunal today. Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac have pleaded not guilty before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity related to "Operation Storm,' a 1995 military offensive in the Krajina region of Croatia.
Prosecutors accuse the three men of being key members of a joint criminal enterprise , along with four other men, including the former president of Croatia, Franjo Tudjman, who have since died , to forcibly and permanently remove ethnic Serbs from the Krajina region.
The indictment states that the men, or the forces under their command, murdered at least 37 Serbs, persecuted many others and plundered their property, and failed to prevent the crimes or take action against subordinates.
The joint trial, being held in The Hague in the Netherlands, is expected to take more than a year.
Ban Ki-moon names top official for Lebanon tribunal
11 March 2008 , A veteran of numerous international court proceedings has been appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as the Registrar of the tribunal being set up to try those responsible for political killings in Lebanon, particularly the 2005 attack that killed former prime minister Rafiq Hariri. Robin Vincent of the United Kingdom will start his duties on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon at a date yet to be determined, but "the appointment of the Registrar reflects the steady progress being accomplished in establishing the Special Tribunal for Lebanon," according to a statement issued by Mr. Ban's spokesperson.
From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Vincent served as Registrar of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL). Since then, he has served as the temporary Deputy Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and has advised on the establishment of other international tribunals, including the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
The Security Council set up the International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC) in April 2005 after an earlier UN mission found that Lebanon's own inquiry into the Hariri assassination was seriously flawed and that Syria was primarily responsible for the political tensions that preceded the attack. Mr. Hariri died in a massive car bombing in Beirut in February 2005 that also took the lives of 22 others
