Mladic Demands Hague Tribunal Appeals Judge’s Removal

Mladic’s defence on Monday asked for Meron to be removed from the appeals chamber’s judging panel, alleging that he “said in the past that Mladic was guilty”.

Judge Meron, who was the Hague Tribunal’s president for many years, is now the head of its successor, the Mechanism for International Tribunals.

He is also a member of the appeals chamber, which will consider two appeals filed by Mladic’s defence.

The first one refers to a decision under which the Tribunal rejected the defence’s allegation that Mladic’s right to a fair trial had been violated.

The second appeal filed by Mladic’s defence is an objection to the dates set by the trial chamber for the presentation of closing statements and motions.

In the reasons it cited in its request for the judge’s exemption, the defence said that in August 2003, Meron said the Tribunal “will not consider its work completed until Karadzic and Mladic have been brought to justice”.

Alluding to the rule that says a defendant is considered innocent until proven otherwise, defence said that “nobody requests an innocent person to be brought to justice” and that “bringing someone to justice implies the person is guilty”.

“The clear meaning of Meron’s words is that Mladic did something wrong, that he is guilty of something… The court president cannot be considered impartial if he calls for bringing a person to justice,” it said.

The defence also mentioned a similar statement which judge Meron gave at the UN Security Council in October 2003, when he said that the Tribunal was established to try “those who have the biggest responsibility for gravest crimes”.

According to the defence, Meron also said: “The mission will not be completed until we have tried Mladic and Karadzic.”

The defence lawyers say that by speaking about those “who have the biggest responsibility” for crimes, and not calling them “the suspects”, judge

Meron revealed that he had pronounced Mladic and Karadzic guilty in advance, prior to their trials.

According to the defence, such a judge cannot be considered impartial.

Defence lawyers Branko Lukic and Miodrag Stojanovic claimed that judge Meron also “showed lack of respect for the defendant’s right to a fair trial” by depriving the defence of the right to access confidential documents from another trial in September.

Mladic’s defence attorneys also said that they considered two other members of the appeals chamber, judges Carmel Agius, the Tribunal’s current president, and Fausto Pocar, to be biased against the defendant.

“Collectively, these three judges constitute the majority that can outvote the remaining chamber members. Therefore, not even an impression that the Tribunal will take a shortcut to sentence Mladic must be allowed,” the defence said.

Mladic has been charged with genocide in Srebrenica, the persecution of Muslims and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, terrorising the population of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.