ICTY Weekly Press Briefing - 29th Nov 2006

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing

Date: 29.11.2006

Time: 12:00

Registry and Chambers:

Refik Hodžić, Spokesman for Registry and Chambers, made the following statement:

In its judgement issued yesterday, the Tribunal’s Appeals Chamber reversed the finding of the Trial Chamber that Blagoje Simić participated in a joint criminal enterprise whose aim was persecution of non-Serbs in the Bosanski Šamac municipality in northern Bosnia and reduced his sentence to 15 years. On 17 October 2003, Simić was convicted and sentenced to 17 years’ by the Trial Chamber.

The Appeals Chamber found that Simić was not informed that he was being accused of participating in a joint criminal enterprise until the Prosecution had finished presenting its case, which rendered the trial unfair.

The Appeals Chamber also reversed Simić’s conviction for persecution due to cruel and inhumane treatment in the form of torture and beating.

However, the Appeals Chamber upheld Simić’s conviction for aiding and abetting persecution in the form of the unlawful arrests and detention of non-Serb civilians, confinement of non-Serb prisoners in inhumane conditions, forced labour by Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Muslims, and forced displacement of non-Serb civilians.

The full Simić judgement is available in English both on the website and in hard copy. The summary of the judgment, as read out in court, is also available on our website in English, French and BCS.

SCHEDULE:



Moving on to the schedule, as you all know, we have had a busy few days in the courtrooms and this is going to continue for the rest of this week and next week.

Alongside the on-going trials in the Popović et al, Prlić et al, Milutinović et al and Mrksić et al, we also have the start of the contempt trial against Croatian journalist, Domagoj Margetić. This trial, which is scheduled to sit on Thursday and Friday, will take place in courtroom II, starting at 9am. Margetić was charged with publishing confidential witness information on his website.

Later in the day on Thursday, in courtroom I, there will be an appeal judgement in the case against Stanislav Galić. It is scheduled for 4pm. Galić, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army Sarajevo-Romanija Corps, was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment by the Trial Chamber for conducting a campaign of sniping and shelling attacks on the city of Sarajevo from September 1992 to August 1994.

At 4pm this afternoon there will be a hearing in the Milan Martić case to deal with final administrative matters.

There are two appeals hearings next week, both in courtroom I: in the Blagojević et al case on Tuesday and Wednesday from 8am to 12pm and in the Brđanin case on Thursday morning and all day Friday.

In the Mrksić et al case, the Šlivančanin defence is scheduled to close next Friday.

And lastly, there will be a status conference in the Bala case next Tuesday in courtroom II at 5:30pm.

FILINGS:



I now turn to some important filings from this week. In the Dragomir Milošević case, the Trial Chamber has issued a scheduling order for start of trial: the pre-trial conference will take place on 9 January 2007 with the trial itself starting one day later. No time or courtroom has yet been assigned.

The Prosecution in the Krajišnik case has filed its appeals brief arguing that the Trial Chamber imposed an inadequate sentence. It seeks the Appeals Chamber to quash the 27 year sentence imposed by the Trial Chamber and substitute it with a life sentence.

We have also received the Orić defence respondent’s brief and book of authorities in which the Orić defence opposes every ground of the prosecution’s grounds for appeal.

As you all know the Šešelj trial started earlier this week without the presence of the accused in the courtroom. During the pre-trial conference immediately preceding the start of trial, the Trial Chamber ordered that standby counsel permanently take over conduct of the defence. The Trial Chamber has now filed in writing the reasons for this decision.

Office of the Prosecutor:



Anton Nikifofov, Advisor to the Prosecutor, made the following statement:

I only have one announcement to make: the Prosecutor is travelling tomorrow to Sarajevo for meetings with the relevant authorities, among which are members of the Presidency of BiH, the High Representative and other officials; due to the complex situation with the weather at Sarajevo Airport it is not possible at the moment to confirm the schedule of all meetings.



Questions:

A journalist asked for the Prosecutor’s response to the news that NATO had invited Bosnia and Hercegovina, Serbia and Montenegro to join the partnership for peace. In response, Nikiforov stated that the Prosecutor was surprised by the decision and regrets it was made as it looks like a reward for the lack of progress on co-operation and for not full co-operating fully with the office of the Prosecutor.

In response to a question for an update on Šešelj’s medical condition and whether it was true, as had been reported in some Belgrade media that he was now in a wheelchair, Hodžić answered that for reasons of privacy the Tribunal did not comment on the status of the health of any detainee. He added that Šešelj was still refusing to take food and medicine offered by the staff of the Detention Unit and that he had grown weaker because of that. He added this situation had also been made clear during the pre-trial conference earlier this week.

A journalist asked whether the Detention Unit had any means of preventing Šešelj from starving himself to death. Hodžić answered that the health of all the detainees was taken very seriously, again stating that Šešelj’s refusal to take food and medicine had caused his health to deteriorate and that the situation was being closely monitored. He made it clear that the Tribunal would intervene should a medical necessity arise to protect Šešelj’s health and life.

In response to what the legal posibilities were to deal with Šešelj’s refusal to take food or medicine, Hodžić made it clear that the Tribunal would act on the assessment of its medical officer, based on the Tribunal’s own rules and the rules of Detention, to protect Šešelj’s health and life. He added that he could not go into details into what form that intervention may take as he did not want to speculate on something that had not happened.

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