THE HAGUE: Serge Brammertz, who led the UN investigation into the Hariri assassination in Lebanon, on Tuesday, will take up his post as chief prosecutor of the UN war crimes court for the former Yugoslavia.
The 46-year-old Belgian has two important tasks before him at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY): stepping up the pressure to arrest the most wanted fugitives Karadzic and Mladic and closing down the court in 2010.
Brammertz succeeds the mediagenic Carla Del Ponte who held the post of ICTY prosecutor for eight years. Previously, he headed the UN investigation into the assassination of Lebanese ex-prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
Before than he was deputy prosecutor in charge of investigations of the International Criminal Court, the world’s first permanent war crimes court also based in The Hague.
There he led investigations into atrocities committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Darfur and Uganda.
Born in Eupen in the German-speaking region of Belgium, Brammertz has degrees in law and criminology from Belgian universities and was a professor of law at the University of Liege.
He started his career as a lawyer before quickly moving up in the ranks of the Belgian national prosecutor’s office. In 2002 Brammertz became federal prosecutor in Belgium.
He is considered an expert in fighting cross border organised crime, and international legal cooperation in the fields of terrorism, arms trafficking and human rights violations.
Brammertz is a demanding boss, but works very hard himself and always makes time for his colleagues, a former assistant who did not want to be named, said.
The Belgian prosecutor is expected to continue much as Del Ponte has but be more pragmatic.
Brammertz shies away from media interest and considers himself more of a magistrate than a diplomat. He has yet to comment publicly on his appointment to the ICTY.
In The Hague he will focus on trying to bring the last remaining fugitives to justice before the tribunal is set to close its doors in 2010.
The most wanted fugitives are Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military chief, and his former political boss Radovan Karadzic.
The pair have been indicted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity over the bloody campaign of ethnic cleansing during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia.
Their indictment includes charges over 1995 massacre of nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys at the Bosnian town of Srebrenica.
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