Dusko Tadic Case Study

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FROM: Mathilde Renou
TO: Ms. Charlotte Irwin
RE: Memorandum on Prosecutor v. Dusko Tadic, Decision on Interlocutory Appeal on Jurisdiction, ICTY Appeals Chamber
DATE: December 06, 2013

FACTS

Dusko Tadic is a Bosnian Serb accused of crimes against humanity amongst which the foremost were the collection, the mistreatment and the killing of Bosnian Muslims and Croats in the former Yugoslavia in 1992. Also known as “Dule” Tadic, this former leader of Serbian paramilitary forces has been indicted in 1995 . The Defence team had fulfilled a preliminary motion for dismissal of the charges based on the tribunal lack of jurisdiction which was primarily rejected by the Trial Chamber which refused, amongst others, to investigate the legitimacy of the creation of the tribunal . From this dismissal, the Defence team filed an interlocutory appeal to contest, amongst others, the “illegal foundation of the International Tribunal .”

ISSUE
Dusko Tadic (hereinafter the Appellant) contested the jurisdiction (or the “competence” as it is referred in the French version of the case) of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and alleged “an error of law on the part of the Trial Chamber ”, and contested particularly the legitimacy of the establishment of the Tribunal. Therefore the questions are the following. Does the Tribunal has the power to determine its own jurisdiction, i.e. its legal foundation by asserting the principle of “compétence de la competence”? By extension, does the UN Security Council acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter is lawfully entitled to establish an international criminal tribunal?

RULE
Under article 36(6) Statute of the Court , the Court asserted its right to the principle of...

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... of Procedure , and rejected the first ground of appeal of the Appellant based on an unlawful establishment of the International Tribunal .

CONCLUSION

The Appeals Chamber rejected the heading of the appellant related to the lack of jurisdiction of the ICTY by asserting its power to determine its own jurisdiction. The Court affirmed its “compétence de la compétence” under Article 36 (6) ICJ Statute by arguing that the tribunal has been lawfully and legitimately founded under Chapter VII of the United Nations and reaffirmed that The UN Security Council had the legitimacy to establish a “subsidiary organ”, i.e. a tribunal, under international law respecting the rule of law.
By ruling on this decision, the Court has asserted its capacity to determine and to exercise its competence on its own jurisdiction, best known as the principle of “compétence de la compétence”.

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