The Interplay Between the Transfer of Slobodan Milosevic to the ICTY and Yugoslav Constitutional Law

Abstract

The trial of Slobodan Milosevic opened before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in February 2002. Milosevic is accused on 66 counts of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide allegedly committed in Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia. The present article examines one particular aspect of the Milosevic trial, namely, his apprehension by the Serb authorities and transfer to the Tribunal in June 2001. Milosevic himself has so far contested unsuccessfully the legality of these actions. The author attempts to determine whether these actions breached the constitutional law of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and of the Serb Republic. Moreover, since Yugoslavia has a clear obligation under international law to cooperate fully with the Tribunal, the article, based on the experience of other European federal states, suggests a workable solution to the constitutional obstacles faced by Yugoslavia.