ICTY Weekly Press Briefing - 1st Feb 2006

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

Date: 01.02.2006

Time: 12:20

Registry and Chambers:

Alexandra Milenov, Liaison Officer for Registry and Chambers, made the following statement:

Good Afternoon,

The Tribunal was pleased to welcome yesterday a delegation of representatives from the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, the Assembly of the Republic of Montenegro and the State Union Assembly of Serbia and Montenegro. During their short visit the group met with the Registrar, some OTP officials and attended a court session.

I would like to take this opportunity to inform you about a couple of our Outreach activities. As I announced last week, the Humanitarian Law Center, a Belgrade-based NGO, and the Tribunal held a conference last Saturday 28 January 2006 on the Tribunal's work to hold accountable perpetrators who committed crimes in Foca, Bosnia and Herzegovina. This event was inspired by a series of conferences that the Tribunal has held in Bosnia and Herzegovina called ‘Bridging the Gap Between the Tribunal and Local Communities.' In these conferences, Tribunal representatives go to the community where crimes were committed and explain what the Tribunal has done to investigate, prosecute and try the perpetrators. We have held such conferences in Brcko, Foca, Srebrenica, Konjic and Prijedor. CD Roms in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian containing indictments, judgments, testimonies, evidence and other materials related to each event are available for those who would like further information on the Bridging the Gap series. Please contact our offices in The Hague, Belgrade, or Sarajevo to obtain a copy.

I would also like to inform you that the Outreach Programme is a regular contributor to a new journal on war crimes issues published in Belgrade called "Justice in Transition." The second edition has just come out and in it you will find an article that the Outreach Programme authored on crimes committed in Foca, which we submitted to coincide with last Saturday's conference in Belgrade. The article focuses on the case against Dragoljub Kunarac, Radomir Kovac and Zoran Vukovic, who the Tribunal convicted of raping and sexually enslaving Bosnian Muslim women. The second edition also publishes a biography of our new President, Fausto Pocar, and an article by Judge Theodor Meron. The journal is published in hard copy in Serbian, and in English and Serbian on-line at www.pravdautranzicji.com. On their website you will also find the journal's first edition, which includes an article submitted by Outreach on facts the Tribunal has established in its cases dealing with crimes committed in Srebrenica.

In terms of court scheduling, the trial of Momcilo Krajisnik, a high-level political leader of the war-time Bosnian Serb entity, has been adjourned until Thursday, 16 February 2006. The trial of Bosnian Army officer Naser Oric continues in courtroom II as does the trial of Milan Martic, a high-level political leader of the war-time Croatian Serb entity. The trial of former Yugoslav and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic will continue in courtroom III as will the trial of Yugoslav National Army officers Milan Mrksic, Miroslav Radic and Veselin Sljivancanin. The newly renovated courtroom I will re-open next Thursday, 9 February with the Mrksic et al trial, and courtroom III will close for reconstruction on that date until 20 March.

Office of the Prosecutor:

Florence Hartmann, Spokesperson for the Office of the Prosecutor, made the following statement:

Ms. Del Ponte will be traveling in the Former Yugoslavia for a working visit next week. She will meet in Belgrade on Monday 6 February, Rasim Ljajic, President of the National Council for Cooperation with the ICTY, with Vojslav Kostunica, Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, Zoran Stankovic, Minister of Defense of Serbia and Montenegro and with the Prosecutor for War Crimes Vladimir Vukcevic. A media opportunity should be organized around 13.00 at the Government of Serbia building

Later on February 6, Ms Del Ponte will reach Bosnia Herzegovina. Late on Monday and on Tuesday 7 February in Sarajevo, she will be meeting EUFOR and NATO officials. She will meet also the new High Representative, Dr. Christian Schwarz-Schilling and his office as the State Prosecutor and his team dealing with War Crimes

On February 8, 2006, Ms. Del Ponte will be in Rome meeting with Mr. Fini, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy.

Questions:

Asked what Ms. Del Ponte meant when she said in a Le Figaro interview that she would apply the same pressure to Serbia and Montenegro as was used on Croatia for cooperation with the Tribunal, Hartmann said that the EU set conditionality by opening the negotiations for the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) in early October 2005, and the conditions were clearly stated in the decision. One of the conditions was the full cooperation by Serbia and Montenegro with the Tribunal.

Hartmann said that during Del Ponte's meeting in Brussels on 19 January with the Commissioner Olli Rehn and the High Representive Javier Solana it was repeated that if Serbia and Montenegro was not fulfilling the obligations, including cooperation with the Tribunal, it would have to face possible consequences. They underlined that the pace and the conclusion of the SAA negotiations would depend on full cooperation with the ICTY and that the EU can contemplate the idea of suspending the negotiation in case of Belgrade's failure to fully cooperate.

Hartmann said that because of this conditionality, the EU has asked the Prosecutor to update them on a regular basis on the level of cooperation of states, in this case Serbia and Montenegro, like in the past she was informing the EU on the cooperation provided to the ICTY by Croatia.

Asked when there would be a final decision on Slobodan Milosevic's motion for provisional release to seek medical treatment in Russia, Milenov said that the media would be informed once a decision had been handed down. Milenov added that the Trial Chamber considered carefully all the issues before they came to a conclusion.

Asked if there was a deadline for the Trial Chamber to make its decision on the provisional release, Milenov answered no that there were typically no deadlines for applications for provisional release. In part, each application for provisional release would be different depending on the circumstances of the case, said Milenov.

Milenov stated that requests were made for family reasons, funerals, medical reasons or waiting for the beginning of a trial. The accused in each case had to satisfy the Trial Chamber that he would return for the beginning of the trial when ordered and that he would not present any danger to victims, witnesses or other persons. Milenov pointed out that defence often submitted various materials to support the application and that the prosecution also had a right to express its view on the matter. The Trial Chamber had to then consider all of the materials before it came to a decision.

A journalist referred to a report in the Croatian media stating that negotiations had taken place for Milosevic to go to Russia if he allowed the trial to continue in his absence, Milenov said that there was no possibility of negotiating behind the scenes with the judges. The judges would issue a decision based on the materials that they had available to them from the prosecution, defence or in some cases, from the registry.

Documents: