Today, law students from the University of Zenica, BiH completed a two-day visit to the Tribunal organised by the Tribunal’s Outreach Programme. Joined by two professors, the 60 students from Zenica listened to a series of lectures in an effort to better understand the work of the Tribunal.
The group was first welcomed by Judge Orie, Presiding Judge on the Mladić trial, and later met with ICTY and MICT Prosecutor Serge Brammertz. The visitors were particularly interested to learn about the Tribunal’s approaches to bringing high-level political and military leaders to justice for crimes committed in the Balkans during the 1990s. Representatives from different organs of the Tribunal shed light on their respective functions, elaborating on the processes the Tribunal has put in place to ensure that justice is done while protecting the rights of the defendants. Speakers emphasized that the Tribunal is a temporary institution, and as such, it has put significant effort into educating and equipping judicial professionals from the countries of the former Yugoslavia to take on the casework related to crimes committed during the conflict.
“For the students, it is a unique experience to speak to legal professions and hear their experiences first –hand. This will definitely be an asset for the student’s future as lawyers and judges in their communities,” one of the attending professors commented about the visit.
The visiting students showed an avid interest in the work of the Tribunal. Students came away from the visit with a much stronger understanding of the Tribunal, not only as one of the most effective institutions of its kind, but as a rich source of jurisprudence and experience upon which international criminal justice institutions can draw for years to come.
