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Weekly Press Briefing - 3 November 2010

Date: 3.11.2010
Time: 12:00

Registry and Chambers:

Nerma Jelačić, Spokesperson for Registry and Chambers, made the following statement:

Good afternoon,

I will immediately turn to the latest developments in the ongoing cases:

In the trial of Vojislav Šešelj, the Chamber reminded the parties yesterday that a hand-writing expert is being appointed to examine Mladić’s notebooks. He is expected to submit his report by 15 December. Furthermore, the Chamber filed its public redacted decision on the funding of the defence team for the accused. The decision states that 50 per cent of the funds allocated, in principle, to a totally indigent accused, should be made available to the Defence team for the accused consisting of three privileged associates, a case manager and an investigator, based on the scheme for persons assisting indigent self-represented accused and on the basis of a determination of the complexity of this case, at Level 3, unless other information is provided.

In the case of Radovan Karadžić, the Trial Chamber has issued invitations to the European Union, the United Nations and the government of Venezuela to respond to the Accused’s motions for an order for the release of documents.

In its invitation to the EU, submitted last Wednesday, the Chamber has invited it to respond to the accused’s motion for an order for the release of documents pertaining to his contacts with the EU during 1992-96, and the alleged involvement of the European Union Monitoring Mission in the provision of arms to the Bosnian Muslim Army during 1994. The EU has until 10 November 2010 to respond.

In its invitation to the United Nations, submitted yesterday, the Chamber has invited the UN to respond by 16 November to Karadžić’s motion for an order for the release of documents related to discussions, meetings and other correspondences Ambassador Arria has had with the UN between 1 January 1992 and 1 September 1993.

In relation to this, the Chamber has invited the Venezuelan government to respond, also by 16 November, to the accused’s motion for an order for the release of material authored by Ambassador Arria which the government received between the same period.

In the Prlić and others case, the Trial Chamber on Monday ordered the parties to submit their final briefs by 13 December. The Prosecution’s closing arguments have been scheduled to be heard from 17 January 2011 onwards, for which it has been granted a total of 15 hours. Each Defence team will have 4 hours to present their closing arguments. The Defence has until Friday to ask for any changes to be made to the Scheduling Order.

In the re-trial of Haradinaj and others, the Prosecution last Thursday filed its revised fourth amended indictment. It has until 9 November to file tracked and clean versions of it and Defence has until 23 November to submit submissions stating whether they consider the new version of the Indictment to correspond to what is at issue in the partial retrial ordered by the Appeals Chamber. A copy of the indictment is available on the Tribunal’s website.

Onto the courtroom schedule for this week and next:

A Status Conference in the Appeals Case of Milan and Sredoje Lukić will be held on Thursday 11 November at 2:30 p.m. in Courtroom 1.

Proceedings in the trial of Momčilo Perišić resume tomorrow at 9 a.m in Courtroom II.

Hearings in the case of Radovan Karadžić, Mićo Stanišić and Stojan Župljanin, Zdravko Tolimir as well as Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović continue this week and next as scheduled.

Office of the Prosecutor:

Frederick Swinnen, Special Adviser of the Prosecutor, made the following statement:

Mr. Brammertz, the Prosecutor, will be on an official visit to Moscow, Russia between 8-10 November.

On 8 November, he will meet with senior officials of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He will address ongoing work of the Office of the Prosecutor, cooperation with States and the status of the completion strategy of the ICTY.

On 9 November, Mr. Brammertz will deliver a keynote speech at the opening of the conference on "Nuremberg trials: Historical and Legal Aspects" organized by the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of State and Law and the Moscow Institute of International Relations.

Questions:

Asked if she was able to say anything about the allegations of Vojislav Šešelj’s health deterioration discussed at yesterday’s administrative hearing, Nerma Jelačić said she was unable to address all allegations made by the accused due to confidentiality rules. However, she reiterated the information she provided to the media on Friday and that is that the accused underwent a medical procedure and not a surgery. The procedure indeed went according to the plan drawn up by the specialist before the procedure. There were no complications. As with all the detainees, the Medical Officer and his staff continue to monitor the wellbeing of their patients and will maintain close contacts with the treating specialists.

She added that in cases like that of Šešelj, where symptoms have been occurring over a long period of time, it is normal that a period of observation takes place after a medical procedure in order to determine if the symptoms will come back. The Registry is confident it is providing the best possible care to Šešelj and all other accused. The Chamber is also keen to safeguard the wellbeing of the accused as exemplified by its October 19 Order to conduct a fresh expert medical evaluatiton of Vojislav Šešelj. In this Order, the Trial Chamber noted that the three medical experts appointed to examine Šešelj filed a report from which the Chamber said, it follows “that the state of the health of the Accused – whose life does not appear endangered – has actually a more positivite outlook”. The Spokesperson said that this medical report could not, unfortunately, be shared with the media as it is confidential, unless the accused gives his consent for it to be released publicly. In this case the accused has specifically indicated that this report cannot be disclosed. She added that the Chamber has ordered the appointment of another panel in order to obtain additional information necessary to answer certain questions, such as the origin of the caridiac condition from which Šešelj suffers. The Registry is at the moment identifying potential candidates for this panel from a wide range of countries.