ICTY Weekly Press Briefing - 13th Jul 2006

Please note that this
is not a verbatim transcript of the Press
Briefing. It is merely a summary.

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing

Date: 13.07.2006

Time: 12:30 p.m.



Registry and Chambers:

Christian Chartier, Senior Information Officer, made the following statement:

Let me start with some last minute news: the Trial Chamber has scheduled a further appearance of the accused Zelenovic for tomorrow, Friday 14 July at 8 a.m. in courtroom I.

The President of the Tribunal, Judge Fausto Pocar, yesterday addressed the Euro Atlantic Partnership Council on the issue of cooperation between the Tribunal and the judiciaries in the former Yugoslavia. The President stressed that “the transfer of criminal justice proceedings from the international to the domestic level will only succeed where there are sufficient resources and adequate capacity to handle fairly and efficiently complex criminal trials. If national proceedings lack impartiality or independence and the proceedings are designed to shield the accused, they will undermine efforts to bring peace and reconciliation in the region and could even lead to instability. The text of the President’s address is available to you.

The ICTY Registrar, Hans Holthuis, returned yesterday from a two-day working visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina. On Monday, he visited the village of Grabovica, where he met with family members of Bosnian Croats murdered in Grabovica in September 1993. He provided the families with copies in BCS of the Halilovic judgement that dealt with the crimes committed in Grabovica. The families were grateful for the Registrar’s visit, they expressed hope that further prosecutions would be pursued by local prosecutors in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that the perpetrators would reveal the whereabouts of the bodies that are still missing.

On Tuesday, the Registrar visited the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he had a tour of the Court and the Detention unit and held meetings with staff of the Court’s Registry. The Registrar confirmed the Tribunal’s commitment to provide continued support to the Court of BiH. In the last 18 months, ICTY Registry staff has exchanged expertise with colleagues in Sarajevo in a broad range of areas, including witness support, court management, defence issues, court security, translation and interpretation services, as well as legal support to judges.

The Registrar also provided the Court with an official collection of certified electronic copies of ICTY judgements.



Earlier this morning, Judge Ole Bjorn Stole (Norway) was sworn in as ad litem reserve Judge, to serve on the Popovic et al. trial. This trial, in which former senior Bosnian Serb military officials are charged with genocide against Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica, is due to commence tomorrow, following the pre-trial conference taking place later today in courtroom III, as of 2.15 p.m.

With regard to this trial, please note that the Trial Chamber issued this morning a Decision granting a joint Motion by the accused Miletic and Gvero, who will be again set on temporary provisional release after the hearing of tomorrow and who will have to return to the Detention Unit on 14 August 2006.

Last note in respect of the Popovic et al. trial: in addition to the press advisory issued on Tuesday as a curtain raiser, I would like to draw your attention to a comprehensive Case Information Sheet with has been released on the ICTY website, under the page Cases and Judgements.



Other trial will continue as follows: Milutinovic et al. trial in Courtroom I, and the Martic and Krajisnik trials sitting in courtroom II.

In terms of filings, the following in addition to the usual documents’ list:

- on 11 July 2006, Trial Chamber III sitting on the Milutinovic et al. case, which opened last Monday, issued the written reasoning for the oral decision made at the Pre-trial Conference that three killing sites (Racak, Padaliste and Dubrava Prison) would not be part of the trial, save a further determination by the Judges.

The Chamber considered that “unlike other killing sites, none of the three is associated with what the prosecution terms ‘deportation sites’, which are locations from which persons were allegedly forcibly displaced” (…) and that “none of the three sites is located in the 13 municipalities the prosecution identified as the focus of its case.

Furthermore, the Judges emphasize that evidence in respect of these three sites “may eventually be permitted, should the Chamber conclude that it is necessary to hear such evidence in order to have a full appreciation of the events giving rise to the criminal proceedings”. And, finally, the Chamber stresses that it’s Decision should “in no way” be interpreted as meaning that “the events in these three locations are of less significance or are not representative of the Prosecution’s case against the Accused”.

- Another noteworthy filing is the public redacted version of the Prosecution’s request for review or reconsideration of the Blaskic case, “on the basis that there are new facts which have come to the attention of the prosecution with one year of the pronouncement of the final judgement” in the case. As you all remember, the Appeals Chamber issued its Judgement on 29 July 2004, and the Prosecution filed its request for review or reconsideration on 29 july 2005. The document is now publicly available.

The two documents I have just mentioned will be sent electronically to open upon request.

Finally, as a reminder, summer recess begins next week and last until 6 August 2006.

After the recess, in the week of 7 to 11 August the Milutinovic et al. trial will continue in courtroom I, and on Thursday 10 August (also in courtroom I) there will be a pre-defence conference in the Mrksic et al. case.

The next press briefing will take place on Wednesday 9 August. In the meantime, I wish you all a good summer break!

Office of the Prosecutor:

Anton Nikiforov, Advisor to the Prosecutor and acting Spokesperson of the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP), made the following statement:

Today the Croatian State Attorney, Mladen Bajic with his colleague prosecutors will be visiting the Tribunal to sign a Memorandum of understanding with the Prosecutor on access to Electronic Disclosure System (EDS) and next week there will be a visit by the Serbian war crimes Prosecutor, Vladimir Vukcevic with a similar purpose, he will also sign such a memorandum of understanding. We believe it is very important development for cooperation with national prosecutors in the region. (A similar MOU has been already signed with the State Prosecutor of Bosnia and Herzegovina.)

Questions:

Asked when Carla Del Ponte will speak at the Popovic et al. start of the trial, Nikiforov replied that he believed that this would be at the beginning but reminded the journalist that the Pre-trial proceedings can continue tomorrow if needed; it all depends on today’s proceedings. He added that it would be a short statement of about 10 minutes.

Asked to comment on the Serbian government action plan for the apprehension of general Mladic which was delivered to the Office of the Prosecutor Yesterday, Nikiforov answered that he could not say much about it only that the OTP has received some new information about the action plan. The OTP is constantly in contact with both Belgrade and Brussels and the EU Finnish Presidency on this issue. He also mentioned that it is the Serbian Government’s Plan so it is for them to comment in more details.

Asked whether the European Union (EU) is considering to hold talks with Serbia on joining the EU even though Mladic is not arrested. Nikiforov replied that the OTP’s position has never changed - the OTP needs to see results. An action plan can only be considered as a mean to achieve results but assessments can only be made based on results not on promises or plans. He added that the OTP has not heard any change of mind in the European Union, they have always insisted on the delivery of Mladic, while the OTP wants all six remaining accused at large arrested not only Mladic and expects results. If this plan helps – good, but assessments can only be made upon getting results.

Document List