# Example — verifying a WCC-BiH citation end-to-end

## The request

The user is writing on Rule 11 bis referrals from ICTY and asks:

> "Quel a été le premier cas Rule 11 bis transféré de l'ICTY à la WCC-BiH, et avec quelle issue ?"

## Step 0 — Identify the document

The question requires identifying:
- **The earliest Rule 11 bis referral** from ICTY to the WCC-BiH
- **Two documents**: (i) the ICTY Referral Bench decision; (ii) the WCC-BiH first-instance verdict

## Step 1 — Plan citations

Form:
- *Prosecutor v. Radovan Stanković*, ICTY Referral Bench, Decision on Referral of Case under Rule 11 bis with Confidential Annex, Case No. IT-96-23/2-PT, 17 May 2005.
- *Prosecutor's Office of BiH v. Radovan Stanković*, Court of BiH, Section I for War Crimes, First-Instance Verdict, Case No. X-KR-05/70, 14 November 2006.

## Step 2 — Verify

1. **IRMCT/ICTY archives.** Locate the Referral Bench decision of 17 May 2005 in the IT-96-23/2 case file. Confirm date, case number, and the referral decision substance.
2. **sudbih.gov.ba.** Locate the Stanković case at the Court of BiH. Confirm Case No. X-KR-05/70 and First-Instance Verdict date 14 November 2006.
3. **OSCE Mission to BiH archive.** Confirm Stanković's institutional history: convicted at first instance, sentenced, **escaped custody in 2007**, recaptured, re-trial proceedings extended.

**Existence verified across multiple Tier 1 sources.**

## Step 3 — Draft

> The **first** case referred by the ICTY to the WCC-BiH under Rule 11 bis was *Prosecutor v. Radovan Stanković*. The Referral Bench's Decision on Referral of Case under Rule 11 bis was issued on 17 May 2005 (*Prosecutor v. Stanković*, ICTY Referral Bench, Case No. IT-96-23/2-PT, 17 May 2005), making Stanković the **first ICTY indictee transferred to a national jurisdiction under Rule 11 bis**. The case concerned crimes committed in Foča in 1992 — sexual violence and other offences against Bosniak women detained at Karaman's House.
>
> The WCC-BiH issued its First-Instance Verdict on 14 November 2006 (*Prosecutor's Office of BiH v. Stanković*, Court of BiH, Section I for War Crimes, Case No. X-KR-05/70). Stanković was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment. The case took an unusual turn when Stanković **escaped from custody in 2007**; he was recaptured in 2012, and subsequent proceedings extended into the 2010s.
>
> The Stanković case is significant for two reasons: institutionally, it marked the operational test of Rule 11 bis cooperation between ICTY and WCC-BiH; substantively, it consolidated the BiH-level jurisprudence on conflict-related sexual violence in continuation of the ICTY's *Kunarac et al.* findings.

## Step 4 — Self-audit

- ICTY Referral Bench and WCC-BiH First-Instance Verdict identified as **distinct documents** with distinct case numbers — Trap 3 (Rule 11 bis vs locally-initiated) handled
- Court correctly identified as **Section I for War Crimes of the Court of BiH** (state level) — Trap 2 (state vs entity/cantonal) handled
- Diacritic preserved (**Stanković**, not "Stankovic")
- Note on subsequent escape and recapture — institutional record preserved
- Did **not** characterise the WCC-BiH as "now closed" — Trap 6 handled

## The lesson

A precise WCC-BiH citation for a Rule 11 bis case requires **two parallel citations**: the ICTY Referral Bench decision (the institutional source of the WCC-BiH's jurisdiction over that specific case) and the WCC-BiH judgment itself. The ICTY archives and sudbih.gov.ba must both be consulted. Failing to cite the ICTY referral document leaves the institutional context incomplete; failing to cite the WCC-BiH judgment leaves the outcome undocumented.