A former judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Wolfgang Schomburg, said in Split on Friday that the joint criminal enterprise doctrine was not envisaged by the statute of either the ICTY or the International Criminal Court or most scientific circles.
The joint criminal enterprise does not show actual accountability and this doctrine is very dangerous and unacceptable, as it interprets guilt very broadly and is not founded in international law, Schomburg said at an international symposium at Split's law school.
He said the doctrine was not envisaged in the ICTY statute but that after 10 years, it had become accepted as a norm.
The individual perpetrator should be punished, not some abstract group, said Schomburg.
The accountability of persons from the former Yugoslavia must not be based on the joint criminal enterprise argument, as it provides for a broad possibility of determining guilt and the judge can create accountability, he said.
According to Schomburg, the joint criminal enterprise comes from Anglo-Saxon and not European continental law.
Commenting on the recent sentence against Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac, he said one should not give in to emotion in this case but thoroughly analyse the ruling and focus on preparing an appeal.
Responding to a question, Schomburg said it was very important who would be on the appellate chamber for Gotovina and Markac.
He praised the fact that Croatia had accepted the ICTY's jurisdiction, notably in the context of the participation of international forces in the establishment and preservation of peace in this part of Europe.
