The President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Judge Sang-Hyun Song, addressed Russian lawyers in St. Petersburg this Thursday 16 May 2013 at the invitation of the Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation, Mr. Alexander Konovalov.

President Song told the Saint Petersburg International Legal Forum that the ICC had become an international organisation of major significance, and noted Russia’s recent expressions of support in a number of forums, including within the United Nations Security Council.

The Russian Federation has signed the Rome Statute which establishes the ICC, but is yet to ratify the treaty.

“While the decision whether to ratify the Rome Statute is solely for every sovereign State to make, Russia will be most warmly welcomed if and when it decides to take that important step,” President Song said.

The President stressed the critical role of the ICC as a ‘failsafe court’ which intervenes only if states fail to address crimes within their domestic legal systems, known as the principle of complementarity.

Addressing students at a separate event at St Petersburg State University, President Song said the main value of the International Criminal Court “is not in the punishment of past acts, but in the prevention of future crimes” and elaborated on different forms of the ICC’s deterrent impact.

President Song visited St. Petersburg as part of a delegation of international legal officials from The Hague, sponsored by the Dutch Peace and Justice Project. The delegation included the Presidents of the International Court of Justice and of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and the Secretaries-General of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and of the Hague Conference on Private International Law.

While in St Petersburg, President Song met, among others, with the Chairman of the Russian Constitutional Court, Judge Valery Zorkin, the President of the Russian Chapter of International Law Association, Dr. Anatoly Kapustin, and with the Justice Ministers of Kazakhstan and Thailand.

The International Criminal Court, established in 2002 and supported by an Assembly of 122 States Parties, is a permanent international court whose primary purpose is to help to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole, namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, thus contributing to the prevention of such crimes.

The United Nations today welcomed the international community’s pledge of €3.25 billion to support a recovery plan for Mali, which is emerging from a recent crisis that saw its northern territory overtaken by extremists and hundreds of thousands of people uprooted by conflict.

The funds, pledged in Brussels at the High-level Conference on Support and Development of Mali, will contribute to the West African country’s Sustainable Recovery Plan, which aims to restore its territorial integrity and promote peace, security and reconciliation, and pave the way for inclusive growth and long-term development. The overall cost of the Plan is €4.3 billion.

Northern Mali was occupied by radical Islamists after fighting broke out in January 2012 between Government forces and Tuareg rebels. The conflict displaced hundreds of thousands of people and prompted the Malian Government to request assistance from France to halt the southward march of the extremist groups.

In line with the Recovery Plan, the UN will support the country in the areas of good governance, sustainable peace, and access to basic social services. In addition, the recently established Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) will provide support for authorities as they extend State control and work to strengthen good governance.

Mali is also expected to organize in July presidential elections, which are considered a key step in the transition process. To this end, UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Commission have signed a financing agreement for €14.8 million in support of the electoral process.

UNDP has also been helping to build the capacities of the organizations involved in the political transition, including the recently established Commission for Dialogue and Reconciliation.

At the Conference, UNDP Associate Administrator Rebeca Grynspan warned that long-term development should not overshadow Mali’s immediate needs, and urged countries to step up their support to tackle the current humanitarian situation in the north of the country.

The Trial Chamber Judgment in the case of Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović, former Chief of the Serbian State Security Service and former commander of the Special Operations Unit of the Serbian State Security Service, accused of crimes committed against non-Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Croatia between 1991 and 1995, will be rendered on Thursday, 30 May at 16:00 in Courtroom I.

Stanišić and Simatović are accused of having directed, organised, equipped, trained, armed and financed units of the Serbian State Security Service which murdered, persecuted and deported Croats, Bosnian Muslims, Bosnian Croats and other non-Serb civilians from BiH and Croatia between 1991 and 1995.

The Prosecution alleges that the two accused participated in a Joint Criminal Enterprise (JCE), the objective of which was the forcible and permanent removal of the majority of Croats, Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats from large areas in the two countries. Stanišić and Simatović are further charged with planning, ordering, and otherwise aiding and abetting the crimes. According to the indictment, the accused helped set up centres where volunteers and conscripts were trained and later deployed to the special units of the Serbian State Security Service and to locations in Croatia.The units included, among others, the Red Berets, Scorpions, Arkan's Tigers, “Martić's Police”, Militia of the so-called Serbian Autonomous District of Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srijem/Srem (SAO SBWS), Special Operation Units (JSO) and anti-terrorist units (JATD).

Stanišić and Simatović face charges of persecutions, murder, deportation and forcible transfer. These charges relate to locations in the SAO Krajina and the SAO SBWS and the municipalities of Bijeljina, Bosanski Šamac, Doboj, Sanski Most and Zvornik in BiH. They are also charged with the murder of six prisoners captured after the fall of Srebrenica, committed and videotaped by members of the Scorpions special unit. The initial indictment against Stanišić and Simatović was filed on 1 May 2003. Both accused were arrested by Serbian authorities on 13 March 2003. Simatović was transferred to the ICTY's custody on 30 May 2003 and Stanišić on 11 June 2003. Simatović and Stanišić pleaded not guilty to all charges at their initial appearances which were held on 2 June 2003 and 13 June 2003 respectively.

The trial was initially scheduled to commence on 28 February 2008. However, due to the ill-health of Jovica Stanišić, the commencement of the trial was postponed on a number of occasions. The trial re-commenced on 9 June 2009. The Prosecution rested its case on 5 April 2011 after calling 62 witnesses. The Defence case commenced on 15 June 2011 and was officially closed on 17 September 2012. Stanišić’s Defence called 19 witnesses while 14 testified on behalf of Simatović. The closing arguments were held from 29 to 31 January 2013.

Since its establishment, the Tribunal has indicted 161 persons for serious violations of humanitarian law committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 2001. Proceedings against 136 have been concluded. Proceedings are currently ongoing for 25 accused.

The President of the Assembly of States Parties (“the Assembly”), Ambassador Tiina Intelmann, visited Strasbourg on 23 April 2013. President Intelmann met with members of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), with whom she discussed, inter alia, efforts to achieve universality of the Rome Statute and continued political support of the Parliamentary Assembly and its members to the ICC and the fight against impunity.

The President also participated in a discussion, “The International Criminal Court, the Syria crisis and the Security Council: Turkey’s approach to accountability and the Rule of Law” co-organized by MP Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Vice President of the Turkish Justice and Development Party, and by Parliamentarians for Global Action. In her remarks, the President explained the initiative undertaken by a number of States Parties to ask the United Nations Security Council to refer the situation of Syria to the ICC. She also highlighted the fact that despite the known criticism about the way the Council has been able to follow up its previous referrals of situations to the Court the Council has increasingly been able to acknowledge the contribution of the Court to the fight against impunity and to international peace and security.

On 3 May, President Intelmann visited Washington DC to speak on the topic “Assessing the International Criminal Court’s Impact: The View of Member States” at the Council on Foreign Relations. The President also met with high level officials from the US State Department to address the on-going activities of States Parties related to cooperation and capacity building.