Karadzic appeal case to be concluded by Q1 of 2019

The appeal case of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic at a UN tribunal will be concluded by the first quarter of 2019 after the proceedings were delayed by changes in the bench composition, said Judge Theodor Meron, president of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, on Tuesday.

The Karadzic appeal case had originally been projected to be closed by the end of 2018. The final judgment was delayed after several judges had to be removed from the Appeals Chamber benches for fears of bias, including Meron himself.

In his last briefing to the UN Security Council as president of the residual mechanism, which deals with cases left over by the UN tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda, Meron regretted his removal, but said the case will be concluded by the first quarter of 2019.

"I am pleased to inform this council that, notwithstanding the changes in the bench composition, it is expected that the appeal judgment in the Karadzic case will be delivered in the first quarter of 2019, just a short time later than previously projected," said Meron.

"I regret that I am no longer in a position to see the Karadzic case to its conclusion, as had been my aim. Nonetheless, as set forth in my decision withdrawing from the bench in that case, while I would have continued to adjudicate with an impartial mind had I remained on the case, I considered it to be in the interests of justice that I withdraw in order not to allow the then-pending disqualification proceedings to impede the progress of the appeals in the case."

Meron, who has held the position as president of the residual mechanism since March 2012, will step down on Jan. 18, 2019.

Karadzic was sentenced to 40 years of imprisonment in March 2016 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). His appeal is being handled by the residual mechanism after the ICTY closed its doors at the end of 2017.

Meron said the appeal case of former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic will not be delayed despite the changes in the bench composition in that case as well. The judgment had been projected for completion by the end of 2020.

Mladic was sentenced to life imprisonment by the ICTY in November 2017 for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.