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Please
note that this is not a verbatim transcript of the Press Briefing. It is merely
a summary.
ICTY Weekly
Press Briefing
Date: 26 January 2000
Time: 13:00 p.m.
REGISTRY AND
CHAMBERS
Jim Landale, Spokesman for Registry and Chambers, made the following statement:
Firstly,
as a reminder, President Claude Jorda will give a Press Conference tomorrow
at 11.00 a.m. in Courtroom I. All media are welcome to attend.
Secondly,
Vladimir Santic and Drago Josipovic, have filed two notices of appeal in the
Kupreskic and other case.
Finally,
the decision in the contempt of court case against Tadics former defence
counsel, Milan Vujin, is due on Monday 31 January at 10.00 a.m.
OFFICE OF THE
PROSECUTOR
Paul Risley, Spokesman for the Office of the Prosecutor, made the following
statement:
Madame
Carla Del Ponte met this morning with the Honourable David Scheffer, US Ambassador
at Large for War Crimes.
The Prosecutor will travel today to Berne in Switzerland, for meetings with
the Swiss Government concerning the Rwanda Tribunal.
She
will then be in Davos for the World Economic Forum on 28-29 January.
At
the beginning of next week, the Prosecutor will travel to London, where she
will meet British officials. This trip is similar to those already held in Paris
and Brussels.
Finally,
yesterdays arrest of Mitar Vasiljevic brings the total to 17 arrests made
by SFOR and the first for this year.
Landale
added that Vasiljevic had arrived at the UN Detention Unit at 10.30 last night.
QUESTIONS:
Asked
whether any other notices of appeal had been filed in the Kupreskic and
others case, Landale replied that there had not been.
Asked
a reaction from the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) concerning the reduction
in the Tadic sentence, Risley replied that this was not the sentence the
OTP had hoped for, however, that they were relieved that this appeared to
mark the end of this long lasting trial. The OTP would look to the future
and upcoming trials before the Tribunal, he concluded.
Asked
whether the Tadic trial was a good indication of the speed at which Tribunal
cases would proceed in the future, Landale replied that he did not believe
this to be the case. He added that this had been a long trial due to certain
delays, notably the Vujin contempt of court proceedings. He believed that
trials should proceed more quickly now as various amendments had been proposed
during plenary sessions and that the Rules Committee would continue to consider
ways of making the procedure more streamlined. This was something the Judges
were very mindful of and a continuous focus of discussion whenever they
met, he concluded.
Asked
what assistance the Swiss Government was giving to the Tribunal and what
the Prosecutor would discuss with the Swiss Government, Risley replied that
the Prosecutor would seek the cooperation and participation of the Swiss
Government with the Rwanda Tribunal.
Risley
concluded by saying that today was Australia day and that Deputy Prosecutor,
Graham Blewitt had today received the Order of Australia from the Australian
Government.
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