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Security Council’s views sought on cases of wrongful prosecution by UN tribunal

Security Council’s views sought on cases of wrongful prosecution by UN tribunal

The Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) would have to be changed in order for the court to pay compensation to persons wrongly prosecuted or sentenced, its President said in a document released today at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

The Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) would have to be changed in order for the court to pay compensation to persons wrongly prosecuted or sentenced, its President said in a document released today at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

In a letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who in turn forwarded it to the Security Council, ICTY President Claude Jorda points out that the Tribunal has recently received claims for compensation from two persons held in detention who were later released after an appeals chamber quashed their convictions.

Judge Jorda recalls that back in September 2000, he had conveyed to the Council concerns that the Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence did not embody a widely recognized right of wrongly prosecuted individuals to be compensated, under certain conditions, for the deprivation of liberty and resultant economic loss.

“I therefore feel it is appropriate to request the opinion of the Security Council on the question once again before taking any kind of decision,” the Tribunal President writes.