WHERE:
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia is in The Hague, the Netherlands, a city located 35 miles outside of Amsterdam. The tribunal was created by the U.N. Security Council in February 1993 and is funded by the U.N. General Assembly. It is in no way related to the International Court of Justice, also located in The Hague. The ICJ, or World Court, hears civil disputes between nations; the tribunal prosecutes and tries individuals.

The trial will take place in the tribunal's $900,000 customized state-of-the-art courtroom that includes simultaneous video and audio translation into English, French, and Serbo-Croat. A nearly instantaneous transcript of the proceedings appears on a color monitor that every participant in the trial has at his or her fingertips. That same monitor can be used to flash up visual and documentary evidence; it may be connected to a participant's laptop computer or may be tuned in to the live feed of the trial from one of the courtroom's four television cameras. Those cameras will be operated by the tribunal, but a live feed has been given to four primary outside networks, including Court TV.

Witness security being a paramount concern, many sessions may be in camera. Also, testimony may be transmitted from remote locations, from disguised witnesses whose voices may be altered.

WHEN:
Opening arguments are scheduled to commence in November. Prosecutors estimate the trial will run some six weeks.

DEFENDANT:
Dusko Tadic, 39, former cafe owner, karate instructor, and policeman in Kozarac, Bosnia. Married, two children.

CRIMES ALLEGED:
132 separate counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes under the Geneva Conventions [see "Glossary"] relating to a rape and several murders, assaults, and torture incidents, committed in May, June, and July 1992.

Tadic is not charged with genocide, the most serious crime over which the tribunal has jurisdiction, nor is he charged with command responsibility.

DEFENSE:
Alibi, wasn't at place at time alleged.

DEFENSE LAWYERS:
Professor Michail Wladimiroff, 50, Dutch, part-time professor of economic criminal law at the University of Utrecht. Senior partner in The Hague's 16-lawyer Wladimiroff & Spong, the largest criminal defense firm in the Netherlands. A white-collar crime expert, he successfully defended directors of Slavenburg Bank (now part of Credit Lyonnais) against charges of falsifying bank records from 1983 to 1987. Appointed in April 1995 and paid by the tribunal at the rate of $23 an hour for a maximum of $200 a day. (His usual rate is $350/day.) Assisted by law firm partner Alfons Orie and several law students. Wladimiroff says he has had "little to no help" from his Serbian co-counsel, though they have assisted Wladimiroff in getting access to Bosnian Serb- controlled areas of the former Yugoslavia.

Milan Vujin, 50, Serbian, from Belgrade; has defended several people accused of war crimes in the Serbian courts. Wladimiroff says Vujin is the head of the Serbian bar association.

Krstan Simic, in his early 40s, Serbian; a "rural country lawyer," says Wladimiroff, from Banja Luka, in Serbian- controlled Bosnia.

PROSECUTORS:
Grant Niemann, 45, Australian, former federal director of public prosecutions in South Australia. Helped prosecute three suspected Nazi war criminals in Adelaide before joining the tribunal in July 1994.

Lt. Col. Brenda Hollis, 49, American, on loan from U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General's office; former Air Force circuit prosecutor and appellate government counsel. Joined tribunal in July 1994.

Major Michael Keegan, 37, American, on loan from the U.S. Marine Corps Judge Advocate General's office. Joined tribunal in June 1994.

Alan Tieger, 45, American, on loan from the Justice Department's criminal section of the civil rights division. Prosecutor in federal trial of four Los Angeles police officers accused of beating Rodney King. Joined tribunal in June 1994.

Hollis, Keegan, and Tieger are paid by the United States government.

PROSECUTORS' INTERNATIONAL LAW ADVISER:
Cmdr. William Fenrick, 51, Canadian, retired from navy. International military law expert; was a member of the commission of experts that first investigated the alleged commission of war crimes.

JUDGES:
The tribunal has two trial chambers and one appeals chamber. Tadic's trial chamber consists of:

PRESIDING JUDGE: Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, 53, American.

Lal Vohrah, 61, Malaysian, Malaysian High Court judge. Has represented Malaysia at United Nations conferences and international territorial negotiations.

Sir Ninian Stephen, 72, Australian. Appointed to the High Court of Australia in 1972, and to the Judicial Committee of Great Britain's Privy Council in 1979 (Britain's highest appeals court). Governor general of Australia from 1982 to 1989.

RULES AND INTERESTING FACTS:
1) The territorial jurisdiction is limited to the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The time period is from January 1, 1991, until the time peace is restored.

2) No jury; as in civil law systems, the judges both find facts and determine guilt.

3) Guilt must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

4) No trial in absentia.

5) Rule 61 permits evidence and indictment to be entered in open court when an indicted suspect cannot be apprehended. Serves a documentary rather than a judicial function but judges may issue an arrest warrant after hearing the evidence, making the suspect an international fugitive. Not applicable to Tadic case, since he is in custody.

6) Jurisdiction is concurrent with national courts, but the tribunal may request that national courts discontinue proceedings in deference to the tribunal. A double jeopardy clause means that no one may be tried before a national court for the same offense that has been tried by the tribunal. However, the tribunal may try someone for a crime heard by a national court if it was not classified as a war crime or if the tribunal determines that the national court proceedings were not impartial.

7) Any "relevant evidence" that has "probative value" is admissible; the rules require reciprocal discovery.

8) Maximum sentence is life imprisonment. Sentences will be served in one of 11 countries that have agreed to house tribunal prisoners: Muslim-controlled Bosnia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iran, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Spain, and Sweden.

9) Pardons and commutation are possible if permitted by the state in which the criminal is imprisoned. The tribunal president determines whether pardon or commutation is appropriate after weighing the gravity of the crimes, treatment of similarly situated prisoners, the prisoner's demonstration of rehabilitation, and the prisoner's degree of cooperation with the prosecutor.

Glossary

COMMAND RESPONSIBILITY: An individual who knew or had to reason to know that persons in positions subordinate to him were about to commit or had already committed war crimes, and failed to take the necessary and reasonable steps to prevent or to punish the commission of those crimes, is held individually responsible for the crimes.

CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY: Prohibited acts such as murder, rape, sexual assault, torture, or persecution on political, racial, or religious grounds committed in armed conflict, international or national in character, and as a part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population.

GENOCIDE: Prohibited acts such as killing members of a group or causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of a group committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, or religious group.

GRAVE BREACHES OF THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS OF 1949: Failure to protect civilians in time of war, including forcible sexual intercourse.

VIOLATIONS OF THE LAWS OR CUSTOMS OF WAR: Crimes against persons who took no part in the hostilities, in particular violence to life and person, murder, rape and sexual assault, cruel treatment, and torture, as well as outrages upon personal dignity (in particular humiliating and degrading treatment).

(The American Lawyer is an affiliate publication of Court TV.)
Copyright 1995, American Lawyer Media, L.P.