UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia, which is closing after 24 years, drew praise Wednesday from its president, the U.S. and many Security Council members — but not from Russia, which called it biased and anti-Serb. The council established the tribunal in 1993 to deal with atrocities during the conflicts in the Balkans in the 1990s. It was the first international court to investigate and prosecute allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide since the tribunals in Nuremberg and Tokyo after World War II. “We are convinced that a whole range of its decisions have discredited the very idea of international justice,” Iliichev said. Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said her country shares the assessments that it “greatly lived up to the expectations of the international community” by fighting against impunity and ensuring accountability for war crimes.

Source: Washington Post December 07, 2017 00:19 UTC