Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic will face judges at a UN tribunal in April where he, as well as prosecutors, have appealed his 40-year jail sentence, the Hague-based tribunal announced Tuesday.
The Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals "hereby orders that the hearing of the appeals in the case shall take place... on April 23 and 24," tribunal president Theodor Meron said in a court document.
Judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 2016 sentenced Karadzic to four decades behind bars for war crimes including genocide at the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, deemed the worst bloodshed on European soil since World War II.
Once the most powerful Bosnian Serb leader, Karadzic was also convicted on nine other charges stemming from his role in Bosnia's 1992-95 war.
More than 100,000 people died and more than 2.2 million others were driven from their homes in the conflict that followed the break-up of the former Yugoslavia after the fall of communism in the early 1990s.
The ICTY judges ruled that Karadzic, the most high-profile figure convicted over the wars that tore the Balkans apart, bore criminal responsibility for murder and persecution during the Bosnian conflict.
Karadzic lodged his appeal in July 2016, accusing the judges in return of subjecting him to a "political trial" and is appealing his conviction on 50 grounds.
The ICTY's chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz also filed an appeal including asking that Karadzic's sentence be increased to life in prison as trial judges "improperly assessed aggravating and mitigating factors".
One of the prosecution's four grounds of appeal also said the court's judges had made a mistake by not finding Karadzic guilty of genocide, allegedly committed in Bosnian towns and municipalities two decades ago.
Judges at the time of Karadzic's sentencing said there was not enough evidence to prove genocide in seven towns and municipalities "beyond reasonable doubt".
However, judges did find Karadzic guilty of genocide at Srebrenica, where almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys were butchered and their bodies dumped in mass graves in mid-1995, when Bosnian Serb forces brushed aside lightly-armed Dutch UN peacekeepers protecting a UN safe area.
Karadzic, a one-time psychiatrist was the highest-ranking official to face judgement at the ICTY, set up in 1993 to prosecute those who committed crimes during the Balkans wars.
Last year, Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic was sentenced to life behind bars after he too was found guilty of genocide and war crimes committed during the conflict.
Former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic was also on trial but died in his prison cell in 2006 before the proceedings could be concluded.
The ICTY in December closed its doors after 24 years, with the MICT mopping up the tribunal's final legal cases including against Karadzic and Mladic.
Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic will face judges at a UN tribunal in April where he, as well as prosecutors, have appealed his 40-year jail sentence, the Hague-based tribunal announced Tuesday.
The Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals “hereby orders that the hearing of the appeals in the case shall take place… on April 23 and 24,” tribunal president Theodor Meron said in a court document.
Judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 2016 sentenced Karadzic to four decades behind bars for war crimes including genocide at the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, deemed the worst bloodshed on European soil since World War II.
Once the most powerful Bosnian Serb leader, Karadzic was also convicted on nine other charges stemming from his role in Bosnia’s 1992-95 war.
More than 100,000 people died and more than 2.2 million others were driven from their homes in the conflict that followed the break-up of the former Yugoslavia after the fall of communism in the early 1990s.
The ICTY judges ruled that Karadzic, the most high-profile figure convicted over the wars that tore the Balkans apart, bore criminal responsibility for murder and persecution during the Bosnian conflict.
Karadzic lodged his appeal in July 2016, accusing the judges in return of subjecting him to a “political trial” and is appealing his conviction on 50 grounds.
The ICTY’s chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz also filed an appeal including asking that Karadzic’s sentence be increased to life in prison as trial judges “improperly assessed aggravating and mitigating factors”.
One of the prosecution’s four grounds of appeal also said the court’s judges had made a mistake by not finding Karadzic guilty of genocide, allegedly committed in Bosnian towns and municipalities two decades ago.
Judges at the time of Karadzic’s sentencing said there was not enough evidence to prove genocide in seven towns and municipalities “beyond reasonable doubt”.
However, judges did find Karadzic guilty of genocide at Srebrenica, where almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys were butchered and their bodies dumped in mass graves in mid-1995, when Bosnian Serb forces brushed aside lightly-armed Dutch UN peacekeepers protecting a UN safe area.
Karadzic, a one-time psychiatrist was the highest-ranking official to face judgement at the ICTY, set up in 1993 to prosecute those who committed crimes during the Balkans wars.
Last year, Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic was sentenced to life behind bars after he too was found guilty of genocide and war crimes committed during the conflict.
Former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic was also on trial but died in his prison cell in 2006 before the proceedings could be concluded.
The ICTY in December closed its doors after 24 years, with the MICT mopping up the tribunal’s final legal cases including against Karadzic and Mladic.
