Prosecutor v Todorovic: illegal capture as an obstacle to the exercise of international criminal jurisdiction

Sloan, J. (2003) Prosecutor v Todorovic: illegal capture as an obstacle to the exercise of international criminal jurisdiction. Leiden Journal of International Law, 16(1), pp. 85-113. (doi: 10.1017/S0922156503001055)

Abstract

For years the majority of those individuals publicly indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) remained at large due to a lack of co-operation from states whose assistance was required to effect their arrest. In order to assist in this regard, various operations have been undertaken since 1997 by which UN and regional missions have taken steps to assist the ICTY in the difficult task of bringing accused before the Tribunal in The Hague. Such steps were taken in the case of Stevan Todorovic, who was captured and transferred to The Hague by means of an operation shrouded in secrecy and alleged to have involved illegal behaviour on the part of the NATO-led Stabilization Force. The following article discusses the nature of Todorovic's arrest (based on the limited facts available) and his various attempts to have his indictment dismissed due to the nature of his arrest. In so doing, it considers the state of the law regarding the appropriateness of an international judicial body proceeding with the trial of an individual brought before it by potentially illegal means. Although a plea agreement was reached in the case, with the result that the judicial consideration of the issues is limited, important issues are nevertheless raised in the arguments of the Office of the Prosecution and the defence counsel which are likely to recur in similar cases in the future.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Sloan, Professor James
• Authors: Sloan, J.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Law
• Journal Name: Leiden Journal of International Law
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• ISSN: 0922-1565
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2003 Foundation of the Leiden Journal of International Law
• First Published: First published in Leiden Journal of International Law 16(1):85-113
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher