THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, March 4 (Hina) - The president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Theodor Meron, has decided that Judge Bert Swart of the Netherlands will replace in four pre-trial cases British
judge Richard May, who resigned due to poor health, the ICTY said in a statement on Thursday.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, March 4 (Hina) - The president of the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Theodor Meron, has
decided that Judge Bert Swart of the Netherlands will replace in four
pre-trial cases British judge Richard May, who resigned due to poor
health, the ICTY said in a statement on Thursday.#L#
Together with judges Patrick Robinson of Jamaica and O-Gon Kwon of
South Korea, Swart will conduct proceedings against former Serbian
president Milan Milutinovic and other officials indicted for crimes in
Kosovo and against former Serbian State Security Service leaders
Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic, who are indicted for crimes in
Croatia.
Swart will also replace May in pre-trial proceedings against a former
Bosniak commander from Srebrenica, Naser Oric, who is indicted for
crimes against Serb civilians in 1993, and against Bosnian army
general Sefer Halilovic, who is charged with crimes against Croats in
Herzegovina in the same year.
Swart is an 'ad litem' (non-permanent) judge of the ICTY and since
recently a member of the panel of judges at the trial of Enver
Hadzisanovic and Amir Kubura, Bosniaks charged with crimes against
Croat and Serb civilians in central Bosnia in 1993.
The ICTY president is also expected to appoint a judge to replace May
in the main ICTY trial, that of former Yugoslav president Slobodan
Milosevic.
The tribunal also stated that Milosevic had started using the office
he had been given to prepare his defence and that his condition had
improved.
The prosecutors completed the presentation of their evidence on
February 25, while Milosevic, who is defending himself, is scheduled
to introduce his first witnesses on June 8.
(Hina) rml sb