Estonia today became the fourteenth UN member state to enter into an agreement on enforcement of sentences with the ICTY. The agreement allows for persons convicted before the Tribunal to serve their sentences in prisons within Estonia.
Mr. Urmas Paet, the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Estonia, and Mr. Hans Holthuis, the ICTY Registrar, signed the agreement in Tallinn. The Registrar will pay a visit to a prison facility in Tartu later today.
Previous agreements were signed with the following states:
Italy - 6 February 1997 Finland - 7 May 1997 Norway - 24 April 1998 Sweden - 23 February 1999 Austria - 23 July 1999 France - 25 February 2000 Spain - 28 March 2000 Germany - signed two ad hoc agreements on 17 October 2000 with regards to Duško Tadić and on 14 November 2002 with regards to Dragoljub Kunarac Denmark - 4 June 2002 United Kingdom - 11 March 2004 Belgium - 2 May
2007 Ukraine - 7 August 2007 Portugal – 19 December 2007
More than 35 persons convicted by the Tribunal have either served or are serving their sentence in one of the states. Seven convicts are awaiting transfer to one of the states to serve their sentence.
Under the terms of the agreement with Estonia, the state will only enforce sentences pronounced by the Tribunal for a duration which does not exceed the highest maximum sentence for a relevant crime under Estonian law.
The agreement is subject to ratification by the Estonian Parliament.
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The full text of the agreement can be found on the Tribunal's website at:
http://www.un.org/icty/legaldoc-e/basic/cooperation/sent-estonia-e.pdf
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