Request for Exemption of Judges Rejected
The Trial Chamber of The Hague Tribunal rejects a motion filed by indictee Radovan Karadzic, who requested their exemption due to the expiry of their mandates.
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Calling on a previous decision by the Tribunal, the Chamber rejected Karadzic’s argument contained in his motion that the UN Security Council did not have the authority to extend mandates for judges and that it should be done by the General Assembly instead.
In its decision the Chamber mentioned that the Tribunal’s judges were elected by the UN General Assembly and that, according to the Tribunal’s Statute, they could be re-elected. However, none of the articles specifies who is authorised to extend their mandates.
Karadzic requested the exemption of Chamber Chairman O-Gon Kwon, Chamber members Howard Morrison and Melville Baird, as well as reserve judge Flavia Lattanzi.
This Chamber decided to consider the motion itself and not to forward it to the Tribunal Chamber in order for him to appoint a special chamber, as requested by the indictee.
As explained, according to the Statute, exemption motions were normally forwarded to the Tribunal President in case they questioned the impartiality of judges.
