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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: 08.10.2003
Time: 12:20
REGISTRY AND
CHAMBERS
Jim Landale, Spokesman for Registry and Chambers, made the following statement:
Good afternoon,
The President
of the Tribunal, Judge Theodor Meron, addressed the Helsinki Commission of the
United States Congress yesterday. Copies of that speech will be put out as a
press release in the course of today.
President Meron
will be in New York today, where he will address the Security Council with Lord
Ashdown on the establishment of the Sarajevo War Crimes Chamber. He is then
due to address the Security Council for a second time tomorrow to present the
Tribunal’s Annual Report.
In this report,
in addition to giving a general picture of ICTY activities over the last year,
the President will focus on the prospects and problems of the completion strategy.
Finally, tomorrow
morning on 9 October, the President will also present the Annual Report to a
plenary meeting of the General Assembly.
Copies of all
these speeches will be made available to you in due course.
With regard to
the ongoing cases:
First, you should
have seen that this morning Trial Chamber I held a hearing to consider a joint
motion for consideration of Plea Agreement between Ranko Cesic and the Office
of the Prosecutor (OTP).
From my understanding,
the motion reflected a negotiated Plea Agreement whereby the accused would agree
to plead guilty to all counts of the third Amended Indictment.
Ranko Cesic entered
guilty pleas to all 12 counts. The Trial Chamber stated that it was satisfied
that the Plea Agreement met the requirements of Rule 62 bis of the Rules
of Procedure and Evidence and entered a finding of guilt on all 12 counts, but
will further consider whether to give its reasoning on count eight of the Indictment
at a later stage.
The Office of
the Prosecutor (OTP) recommended the Trial Chamber impose a sentence of between
13 and 18 years.
The Sentencing
Hearing will be scheduled in due course.
We have received
a number of scheduling orders.
In The Prosecutor
v. Blagoje Simic, Miroslav Tadic and Simo Zaric, Trial Chamber II has ordered
that the Judgement in this case shall be rendered on Friday 17 October 2003
at 10 a.m.
In The Prosecutor
v. Momir Nikolic, Trial Chamber I has ordered that the sentencing hearing
be held on 27 and 28 October, from 3 to 6.30 p.m. in Courtroom I.
In The Prosecutor
v. Miroslav Deronjic, Trial Chamber II has ordered that the sentencing hearing
be held on 27 to 30 January 2004. The Trial Chamber further ordered that the
Registrar appoint an expert to submit a report "on the Accused’s socialization,
which provides inter alia details on the Accused’s childhood, conditions under
which he grew up, school and work career and relations with friends and family
until today" and ordered that the report be submitted by 18 December
2003.
Similarly, in
The Prosecutor v. Dragan Nikolic, Trial Chamber II has ordered the Registrar
to again appoint such an expert to submit a report and that this be done by
Monday 20 October 2003.
Also, a reminder
that the sentencing hearing in the Mrdja case, initially scheduled for Monday,
22 September 2003 was cancelled and will now take place on Wednesday 22 October
in Courtroom I at 2.15 p.m.
Finally, on the
issue of scheduling, Pre-Appeals Judge Weinberg De Roca in the Kvocka, Radic,
Zigic and Prcac case has ordered that there be a status conference in Courtroom
I next Monday 13 October 2003, at 3 p.m.
On 1 October,
in The Prosecutor v. Slobodan Milosevic, we received the "Interlocutory
Appeal by the Amici Curiae against the Trial Chamber Order Concerning the Presentation
and Preparation of the Defence Case Dated 17 September 2003".
In the same case
on 2 October the Prosecution filed their "Response to Motion by Franko
Simatovic for Access to Transcripts and Documents".
On 6 October in
this case, the Trial Chamber issued its "Order of Further Instruction
to the Amici Curiae". In the Order, the Trial Chamber considered that
"the Trial Chamber deems it desirable, and in the interests of securing
a fair trial within a reasonable time, that the role of amici curiae be extended,
having regard to:
the recurring
medical condition of the Accused since 18 March 2002; and
the desirability
of the amici curiae giving greater assistance to the Accused",
The Trial Chamber
authorized "the amici curiae to receive such communications as the Accused
may make to them and to act in any way to protect and further the interests
of his Defence".
In The Prosecutor
v. Pavle Strugar, on 1 October Trial Chamber I issued its "Order
for Continuance of Provisional Release", in which it vacated the Order
of 24 September 2003, and ordered the Accused to "remain on provisional
release under the terms of the Trial Chamber’s Decision on Request for the Pre-Trial
Provisional Release of 18 November 2001".
In the same case
on the same day, we received the "Defense Pre Trial Brief".
On 30 September
in The Prosecutor v. Vojislav Seselj, we received Trial Chamber II’s
"Decision on Motion Number 19", in which it "partly
granted the third issue raised by the Accused, in that he will be allowed to
refer to exact time indications taken from video tapes or to quote directly
from them". The Trial Chamber denied the remainder of issues raised
by the Accused in the Motion.
On 2 October in
The Prosecutor v. Radoslav Brdjanin, we received the "Public
Version of ‘Prosecutor’s Response to the ‘Motion for Judgement of Acquittal
– Rule 98 bis’’ Filed on 5 September and Addendum Filed on 16-17 September 2003",
In the same case,
Trial Chamber II on 3 October issued its "Decision on the Defence
‘Objection to Intercept Evidence", in which it rejected Objection and
Supplemental Objection.
On 3 October in
Mejakic, Gruban, Fustar and Knezevic case, we received the "Prosecution’s
Pre-Trial Brief Pursuant to Rule 65 ter (E)(i)".
Finally, in The Prosecutor
v. Limaj, Bala and Musliu, on 6 October we received the "Prosecution’s
Consolidated Response to the Accused’s Applications for Leave to Appeal the
Trial Chamber’s Provisional Release Decisions".
All the documents
I’ve mentioned are available from us on request.
No one from the
Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) was available to attend the Press Briefing.
There were no
questions asked by journalists today.
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