A/HRC/11/41 page 25 IV. MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS IN INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE A. International Criminal Court 85. Central African Republic. Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, the alleged President and Commander-in-chief of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) was transferred to The Hague on 3 July 2008, following his arrest by Belgian authorities on 24 May 2008 at the request of the ICC. He initially appeared before Pre-Trial Chamber III of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on 4 July 2008. 86. Darfur, Sudan. The Special Rapporteur regrets that, at the time of writing of this report, no developments have been reported by the Government regarding the execution of warrants for Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb on 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He urges the Government to follow up promptly on the Court’s request of October 2007. 87. On 4 March 2009, the Pre-Trial Chamber I issued a warrant for the arrest of Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir, President of the Sudan, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The crime of genocide is not included in the warrant issued for the arrest. Nevertheless, the judges stressed that if additional evidence is gathered by the Prosecution, the decision would not prevent the Prosecution from requesting an amendment to the warrant of arrest in order to include the crime of genocide. This is the first warrant of arrest ever issued for a sitting Head of State by the ICC. 88. Democratic Republic of the Congo. On 18 November 2008, the ICC decided to proceed with the trial of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, the founder and leader of the Union des patriotes congolais (Union of Congolese Patriots). Trial Chamber I recommenced the trial on 26 January 2009. On 26 September 2008, the charges were confirmed for Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, the alleged former leader of the National Integrationist Front (FNI) and Germain Katanga, the alleged commander of the Patriotic Resistance Force in Ituri (FRPI). B. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia 89. On 26 February 2009, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) handed down its first judgement for crimes perpetrated by Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and Serbian forces against Kosovo Albanians during the 1999 conflict in Kosovo. Former Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Šainović, Yugoslav Army (VJ) General Nebojša Pavković and Serbian Police General Sreten Lukić were each sentenced to 22 years’ imprisonment for crimes against humanity and violation of the laws or customs of war. Yugoslav Army General, Vladimir Lazarević, and Chief of the General Staff, Dragoljub Ojdanić, were found guilty of aiding and abetting the commission of a number of charges of deportation and forcible transfer of the ethnic Albanian population of Kosovo and each sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment. Milan Milutinović, the former President of Serbia, was acquitted of all charges. 90. Radovan Karadžić, who was arrested on 21 July 2008 by the Serbian authorities, was subsequently transferred to the ICTY on 30 July 2008. Crimes for which he was indicted include genocide, complicity in genocide, extermination, murder and wilful killing. He initially appeared before the court on 31 July 2008.