The ICTY Prosecutor Strikes Back: Del Ponte Defends Deal to Conceal Serbian Documents

The Chief Prosecutor for the ICTY is defending herself from charges by her former deputy that she improperly agreed to conceal information that could have exposed Serb responsibility for the Bosnian genocide, according to this IWPR report. According to Carla Del Ponte’s spokeperson, “the suggestion that there was a deal to conceal evidence is completely false.”



The mini-tempest was raised by former deputy ICTY prosecutor Geoffrey Nice’s allegations (see the April 16 letter here in the International Herald Tribune) that key documents related to the Serb government’s possible role in the Bosnian genocide were withheld from the public and the ICJ with the cooperation of the ICTY Prosecutor’s office. According to Nice, “[t]here was no legal basis for the withholding of the records from the public. . . .It served only one purpose: to keep Belgrade’s responsibility from public scrutiny and, significantly, from the International Court of Justice.”



As the IWPR reports, it is very hard to say that the documents in question, if released, would have made a difference in any prosecution or legal proceeding. And I continue to think that the ICTY Prosecutor could reasonably agree to keep info confidential in order to get access to key pieces of evidence. But the fact that these charges are made by a former deputy ICTY prosecutor will certainly raise hackles throughout the Balkans and weaken the ICTY’s reputation (and maybe the ICJ’s as well) in that region.