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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: 2 February 2000
Time: 11:30 a.m.
REGISTRY AND
CHAMBERS
Jim Landale, Spokesman for Registry and Chambers, made the following statement:
Firstly, to confirm that Zoran, Mirjan and Vlatko Kupreskic, along with Drago
Josipovic and Vladimir Santic have all filed notices of appeal against the Judgement
and Sentences that were handed down on 14 January.
In
addition, last Monday, 31 January, the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) filed
a notice of appeal on the Sentencing and Judgement handed down for Vladimir
Santic and Drago Josipovic.
On
31 January, the defence for Zoran Vukovic filed with the Trial Chamber a request
for Vukovic to be joined to the Kunarac and Kovac indictment and that the beginning
of the trial, currently scheduled for 20 March 2000, be postponed until 2 May
2000.
Next,
with regard to upcoming court dates we now have the following:
On
9 February, the appeal in the Aleksovski case will is due to begin;
On 2 March, the appeal in the Furundzija case will begin;
And, on 20 March, we have the start of the Kunarac and Kovac case.
Also,
the Vasiljevic case has been assigned to Trial Chamber II, consisting of Judges
Hunt, Mumba and Pocar. Vasiljevic was arrested by elements of SFOR on 25 January.
On
1 February Judge Hunt issued a decision dismissing Momir Talics motion
for provisional release and for dismissal of his indictment. Copies of that
will be available after this.
Finally,
Judge Fausto Pocar will be officially sworn in next Tuesday 8 February. As you
know, Judge Pocar has been nominated to replace Judge Cassese.
OFFICE OF THE
PROSECUTOR
Paul Risley, Spokesman for the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP), made the following
statement:
The
Prosecutor is in The Hague today having returned from a two-day trip to London
where she met with Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon,
and other key officials of the British Defence and Foreign Ministries. This
was the Prosecutors first official visit to London.
On
Friday, the Prime Minister of Montenegro, Mr. Filip Vujanovic, is expected to
meet with the Prosecutor here in The Hague.
Madame
Del Ponte leaves on Tuesday for Arusha. She is expected to remain at the Rwanda
Tribunal for the remainder of the month of February.
QUESTIONS:
Asked for
an official confirmation of the visit by the Prime Minister of Montenegro,
Risley replied that apparently the Prime Minister of Montenegro was travelling
in the United States at the present time and intended to visit the Tribunal
on his return trip. He believed the visit would take place, noting that
an earlier scheduled trip by the Prime Minister had been cancelled.
Asked whether
the Prime Minister would meet with the Prosecutor during his visit, Risley
replied that he would.
Landale added
that he was trying to ascertain whether there was a meeting scheduled with
the Registrar. He would inform journalists if a meeting was scheduled, he
added.
Asked what
the agenda of the meeting would be, whether they concerned bilateral relations
between the Tribunal and Montenegro and whether the relations between the
two parties were good, Risley replied that this would be the first meeting
between representatives of the Government of Montenegro and the Prosecutor.
He added that
the Deputy Prosecutor had at times met with various officials of Montenegro
and that this meeting was on the request of the Prime Minister to discuss
matters between the Tribunal and Government officials in Montenegro.
Presently, the
OTP did not have a liaison office in Montenegro, however the OTP had established
relations with the Government for the purpose of gaining information.
Asked what
the agenda for the meeting would be and whether there would be requests
made for the production of evidence, Risley replied that there had been
exchanges of requests and other similar matters between the OTP and the
Government of Montenegro in the past and those were expected to continue.
Asked whether
there was anything new concerning Tadic leaving The Hague, Landale replied
that no decision had been made. He added that it was ultimately up to the
President to decide which of the five countries that had agreements with
the Tribunal, Tadic would serve his time in. The President could talk to
a number of people and take advice before coming to any decision. As soon
as a decision was made the press would be informed, he added.
Asked whether
there had been any concrete signs of improved cooperation from the new Government
of Croatia, Risley replied that there had been none as far as he was aware.
Landale agreed,
but added that the President had noted the recent positive comments by the
new Croatian Foreign Minister and had welcomed them.
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