Tadic Case, visualized

Dusko Tadic, a Bosnian Serb, was brought before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and charged with crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, and violations of the laws and customs of war.

A major part of his defence at trial and reasserted on appeal against conviction, was the legality of the Tribunal, its primacy over national courts, and its subject-matter jurisdiction.

The trial court held that the constitution of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia, being embodied in Security Council Resolution, was not reviewable.

The appellate chamber held that, while the ICTY could review Security Council acts to identify the scope of its jurisdiction, it was for the Tribunal to determine its own jurisdiction.

The appellate chamber also found Tadic guilty of additional crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, and violations of the laws and customs of war and increased his sentence from 20 to 25 years imprisonment; and it also fined Tadic’s former counsel for contempt for presenting false submissions, and manipulating two witnesses.

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