Tadić (IT-94-1) “Prijedor”

This case summary is part of a collection of summaries describing the cases before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). See the Online Resource Hub pages on the ICTY and International Criminal Law, and the table of ICTY case summaries for additional information.

Source: Tadić (IT-94-1) “Prijedor”

Trial Judgment: 7 May 1997; Appeal Judgment: 15 July 1999; Sentencing Appeal Judgment: 26 January 2000

Duško Tadić, a member of the SDS, a member of a local paramilitary, and a guard at the Omarska and Keraterm camps, stood trial for allegedly having participated in and instigated attacks on the non-Serb population of the Prijedor opstina and the confinement, torture, sexual assault, murder, and other forms of cruel treatment of non-Serbs in the Omarska, Keraterm, and Trnopolje detention camps; this case was the first prosecution before an international criminal tribunal since the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals. The prosecution accused him of individual criminal responsibility for grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions for willful killing, torture, and inhumane treatment; violations of the laws or customs of war for murder and cruel treatment; and crimes against humanity for persecutions, murder, and inhumane acts.

In 1997, the Trial Chamber convicted Tadić of crimes against humanity for persecutions and inhumane acts, and of violations of the laws or customs of war for cruel treatment and inhumane treatment and acquitted him on all charges of grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, as it was unable to determine whether the victims were protected persons under the law.

In 1999, the Appeals Chamber decided Tadić’s and the prosecution’s appeals; in a landmark ruling, the Appeals Chamber established the standard of “overall control” for determining whether an international armed conflict has arisen, which is a looser standard than the traditional “effective control” test established by the International Court of Justice in the Nicaragua case; the Appeals Chamber found that it was more likely than not that at all material times the acts and omissions of the VRS were attributable to the FRY and that therefore the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the time qualified as an international armed conflict; the Appeals Chamber convicted Tadić of additional counts of violations of the laws or customs of war for murder in relation to five additional victims whose deaths occurred within an international armed conflict. In 2000, the Appeals Chamber further decided Tadić’s sentencing appeal and found that the Trial Chamber erred by imposing sentences higher than the maximum sentences imposed by courts of the former Yugoslavia. The Trial Chamber sentenced Tadić to 20 years’ imprisonment for each count on which he was found guilty, to be served concurrently; the Appeals Chamber reduced his overall sentence to 20 years.