The Tadic Case
Second Sentencing
Official Charges and Defense Argument
Who was Dusko Tadic and what was his crime?
- Tadic was charged with:
- Twelve counts of crimes against humanity
- Twelve counts of grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions
- Ten counts of violations of the customs of war
- He plead not guilty to all charges and challenged the authority of the tribunal by rejecting both its legitimacy and its jurisdiction to try his case.
- This was his primary defense against criminal prosecution.
- On July 15, 1999, the Appeals Chamber rendered judgment in the Tadic case for the second time, finding him guilty on nine additional counts and increasing his sentence to 25 years.
- Because the Tadic case was both groundbreaking and highly complex, there were multiple appeals that took place over the course of ten years to determine a fair sentence for Tadic's crimes.
- During that time, the ICTY examined issues that included:
- Protected Persons
- Inequality of Arms
- Crimes Against Humanity- Personal Motives and Discriminatory Intent
- Dusko Tadic was a Bosnian Serb policeman and a member of the Serbian Democratic Party.
- He was a relatively low ranking individual. However, he was one of the main perpetrators of excessive cruelty at the detention camps.
- He allegedly tortured and murdered his prisoners in a particularly sadistic manner.
- Example: The brutal killing of two Muslim police officers in Kozarac.
The Beginning of an Epic Legal Battle
Sentencing
Final Ruling and Legacy
- In 1997, Tadic was found guilty on 9 counts and guilty in part on 2 counts. These 11 counts constituted both violations of the law or customs of war, including violations of the Geneva Conventions and crimes against humanity.
- The Trial Chamber found Tadic not guilty on 20 counts, including 9 counts of murder, because of insufficient evidence, and 11 counts relating to grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.
- He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and both the prosecution and the defense appealed the verdict.
- In 1994, just before the Bosnian War came to an end, Tadic was arrested in Germany and transferred to the Hague to be tried by the newly established International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
- Tadic's case was groundbreaking because it signified the rebirth of international criminal legal principles that had not been utilized since the end of WWII.
- Tadic would be the fist individual tried by an international tribunal since the Nuremberg Trials.
- In 2000, the Tadic Case was finally closed after one last appeal reduced Tadic's sentence to the original 20 years.
- Critics of the ICTY argue that Tadic was used as a scapegoat for the crimes of his superiors. These included the Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic, wanted for crimes against humanity, and General Ratko Mladic, who led the Bosnian Serb forces.