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Under a resolution adopted by the Security Council, the mandate of 22 judges with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY has been extended in order to finish the ongoing cases.
Judges will continue working on the cases with full understanding that the process must be efficient, while giving priority to the principles of fair trial and respect of indictees rights in accordance with the highest international standards, said Hague Tribunal Spokesperson Magdalena Spalinska.
The UNs Resolution received 14 votes in favour, while Russia abstained, expressing its disagreement with the current work of the Tribunal.
The Security Council has requested the Tribunal to take all possible measures to complete all ongoing processes and appeals by December 31, 2014.
Spalinska says that the Tribunal has also been requested to prepare its closure and facilitate unobstructed transition to the International Residual Mechanism.
The Residual Mechanism was set in 2010 with the aim to finish the remaining tasks of the Hague Tribunal once its mandate expires. It is scheduled to begin mid next year.
The Tribunal was founded in 1993 with a task to prosecute those responsible for war crimes committed during the war in the former Yugoslavia. Since its establishment the Tribunal has sentenced 161 persons, while 30 trials are currently underway.
