ABSTRACT: Eleven international judges headed by an Italian will prosecute the murderers of the former Yugoslavia. If it works, the court will become a permanent body.

(L'EUROPEO, 13-20 April)

Above him is God, the universal judge. But immediately below is Antonio Cassese, 57 years old, brother of Minister Sabino, professor of International Law at the university institute of Fiesole (Florence). An Italian has been given the honour of chairing the United Nations international tribunal that will prosecute the war criminals of the former Yugoslavia. Professor Cassese is a sort of Trappist monk: shy, reserved. At lunchtime he eats at the refectory, in the evening his dinner consist of two bananas he has taken with him from the refectory. He is embarrassed, he thinks his office of president of the Tribunal, in The Hague, is too big. "What need was there for so much space? With all those who accuse the United Nations with squandering money, it's better not to exaggerate..."

Professor Cassese, a man of exquisite modesty despite (or perhaps thanks to) his post as professor at Cambridge and Oxford, at the Collège de France, at the Academy of The Hague and at the institute of high international studies in Geneva, would raise an eyebrow at the comparison with the Creator.

But for the first time in history, humanity is creating a judiciary system accepted by all to punish war crimes. The fact is that Cassese's tribunal will deal with the former Yugoslavia, but it could also be an "embryo" of a permanent court to prosecute all authors of the conflicts that devastate the planet. It has nothing to do, in other words, with the Nuremberg Trial, which was celebrated by the victors on the vanquished. The United Nations Court in The Hague is the closest possible thing to Immanuel Kant's dream of instruments for the achievement of "perpetual Peace".

But apart from the hopes and the lofty declarations, how will this court function materially?

To ensure its functioning, the United Nations rented the building of the Aegon insurance company in the Hague, in Churchill Square. A few hundred metres away is another building cherished by all pacifists: the headquarters of the International Justice Court, donated to the world by the American billionnaire Andrew Carnagie. But that court is for voluntary arbitrates among Nations, not to send criminal leaders and bloodthirsty officials to prison.

On the lower flow of the Court are the guards of the United Nations. Among these, two Italians specially transferred from the United Nations headquarters in New York. The offices of the eleven judges are on the first floor. And on the first floor a hall will be created for the trials: the works still need to be done. For safety reasons the public will be separated from the judges, the defendants and the lawyers by a bullet-proof glass. For the same reasons, Cassese, who is looking for a house in The Hague (the judges have been elected with a four-year mandate, which can be renewed for further four years) has had to give up the idea of renting a small villa: the Dutch police asked him to find an apartment on the upper floors. Since the birth of the tribunal four months ago, the judges have worked relentlessly to prepare the code of procedure. It has not been easy to harmonize the two main systems in effect in the world, the British type and the Latin type, with the inquisitory rituals.

"There will be no trials in absentia, even though I was personally in favour of it", says Cassese. Nor is the death penalty envisioned for the most serious crimes. The maximum penalty will be life imprisonment. Two first-degree courts will be operative, with three judges each (chaired by an American and a Nigerian), while Cassese will chair the court of appeals with five judges.

But when will be first trials begin? And, above all: who will the defendants be? "I hope to be able to notify the list that by July", says Cassese. The mayor of Sarajevo said "each day is precious in showing that an international justice punishes the criminals". As to the defendants, locating them out will not be a problem: the tribunal will be submerged by the testimonies of the victims, mostly refugees in Western Europe.

Will Milosevic and Karadzic be prosecuted?

Obviously it will be hard to prosecute Slobodan Milosevic, the president of Serbia, or Radovad Karadzic, the head of the Bosnian Serbs: the tribunal would become a political type of court. That is exactly what the countries with a dirty conscience such as Burma and China, whose dictators fear being prosecuted by an international tribunal one day, want to avoid. That is why these countries make constant appeals to the "non-interference in the domestic affairs of a U.N. Member State". The Court will depend on Serbia's willingness to extradite its war criminals, who are by now sadly known all over the world, such as commander Arkan, the ultra-nationalist chief Vojslav Seseli, or Jovanka the "hyena", the notorious mastermind of the mass rapes. But even in other countries the prisons are filling with important and less important criminals. In Germany in February the Serbian Bosnian Dusan Tadic, 38, was arrested, charged with having carried out atrocious tortures in the camps of Omarska. He is framed by the testim

onies of 45 refugees who are currently living in the German assistance camp of Tralskirchen.

The United Nations court will require to handle all the trials for facts committed in the former Yugoslavia after January 1991. Obviously, a person who has already been tried cannot be tried twice. The prosecution, in the Hague court, will be kept separated from the judges. Even physically, its offices will be on the second floor. The public prosecutor appointed by the Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali resigned because in February he was appointed Minister for the Interior in his country, Venezuela. The prosecution, as in the United States, will be kept at the same level as the defense, and will count on the assistance of hundreds of investigators.

In a prison in The Hague, in the meanwhile, several seven-metre cells have been prepared to contain the defendants. More cells will be created in the cellars of the court for the pauses of the trial. The Netherlands will cover the costs for the transfer of the prisoners. As to the thirty prison guards, they will cost one and a half billion lire a year. The costs: this is the sore spot of the tribunal. Boutros Ghali had asked the United Nations General Assembly to allocate $32 billion for one year. He is slowly obtaining them, but for two years. Each country, moreover, may finance the tribunal autonomously. Italy behaved well: in its budget bill of 1994 it included three billion lire for the tribunal.

"The eyes of the world will be on us"

Once convicted, where will the war criminals serve their sentences? In the countries of the United Nations that will offer their prisons. "It would be better for the prisoners to be as close as possible to their families", says Casses, "because the impossibility of receiving visits represents a further form of punishment, a torture...".

These words are typical of the jurist who in 1979 was nominated representative of Italy in the Human rights commission, and who for the past four years has chaired the commission for the prevention of torture of the European council. "I personally oppose life imprisonment, because the aim of the penalty is re-education", says Cassese. "At any rate, the important thing is to do justice in an unbiased way, because all the world will be observing us".

During the trial, pecuniary or detentive penalties are provided for two crimes: false testimony and insult to the court. House arrest for good behaviour and pardon are also envisaged. In other words, an actual international prison law is arising, and many universities of the world are highly interested in the theoretical and practical novelties introduced bu the United Nations tribunal. Nonetheless, it is predictable that the various parts in cause (the Serbs, the Croats, the Bosnians) will try to manipulate the trial, seeking propaganda. "We shall prosecute each individual for the acts he has committed", says Cassese, "and this will be a lesson so as not to criminalize entire ethnic groups". Will the material executors only pay, or will the masterminds also pay? "The prosecutor can prosecute the political-military leaders as well".

What if a State refuses to extradite the convicted? "The tribunal has the power to pronounce directly binding arrest or appearance warrants, and the Security Council of the United Nations can adopt sanctions against the governments that refuse to cooperate", explains Cassese. Everything has been carefully planned. But the battle will be hard nonetheless. Because applying the law to a war is hard. "But we must do it", concludes Cassese, "both as a deterrent for other crimes and because it is our duty to react at all times against atrocities and massacres".