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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: 15.10.2003
Time: 12:20
REGISTRY AND
CHAMBERS
Jim Landale, Spokesman for Registry and Chambers, made the following statement
With regard to the ongoing
cases:
On 13 October in The
Prosecutor v. Kordic and Cerkez, we received from the Appeals Chamber (Judges
Schomburg, presiding, Pocar, Mumba, Guney and Weinberg de Roca) a "Decision
on Motion for Clarification and Motions For Protective Measures". This
is a lengthy and detailed ruling and I refer you to the text of the Decision,
which will be available to you after this briefing.
In The Prosecutor v.
Momir Nikolic, Trial Chamber I has issued an "Order Summoning Miroslav
Deronjic To Appear As a Witness of the Trial Chamber Pursuant to Rule 98",
in which it orders Deronjic to appear as a witness at the Sentencing Hearing
of Momir Nikolic on Tuesday, 28 October. The Trial Chamber further states that
his testimony should inter alia cover:
"Persons present
and issues discussed at the meeting held in his office on the night of 13
July 1995; and
All meetings he
attended on 13 or 14 July 1995 at which Momir Nikolic was present, and the
issues discussed".
At the end of last week,
in The Prosecutor v. Slobodan Milosevic, we received the "Order
To The Right Honorable The Lord Owen To Testify and to Provide Written Statement
Prior to Testifying". The Trial Chamber ordered inter alia that
Lord Owen is "hereby summoned to testify on 3 and 4 November 2003".
We also have copies of Lord Owen’s Written Statement.
In the same case on 14 October,
the Trial Chamber rendered its "Decision on Prosecution Motion for Leave
to Add Witness Miroslav Deronjic", in which the Trial Chamber granted
the motion.
In The Prosecutor v.
Vojislav Seselj, on 7 October Trial Chamber II designated Judge Carmel A.
Agius to be the Pre-trial Judge in this case.
On 13 October, in The
Prosecutor v. Milutinovic, Ojdanic and Sainovic, we received a "Re-assessment
of the Accused Ability to Remunerate Counsel" from the Registrar, Hans
Holthuis.
On 14 October, President
Meron assigned Judge Jean-Claude Antonetti to The Prosecutor v. Mrksic, Radic
and Sljivancanin.
Again on 14 October, President
Meron assigned himself as the Pre-Appeal Judge in The Prosecutor v. Radislav
Krstic.
On the same day in the same
case, President Meron rendered the "Decision on the Prosecution’s Extremely
Urgent Motion for Extension of Time", in which he granted the Motion
and ordered that the Prosecution have "until the end of the day on Monday,
20 October 2003, to notify the Appeals Chamber as to whether it will seek admission
of any rebuttal evidence from the testimonies given by Mr. Momir Nikolic and
Mr. Dragan Obrenovic in the case of The Prosecutor v. Vidoje Blagojevic".
On 14 October, we received
a Decision from the Registrar, Hans Holthuis, in The Prosecutor v. Mitar
Vasiljevic, in which he decided to withdraw Mr. Tanaskovic and assign Mr.
Gerardus Godefridus Johannes Knoops as co-counsel for the accused, effective
as of 13 October 2003.
We have received a number
of scheduling orders.
In The Prosecutor v.
Dragan Obrenovic, Trial Chamber I has ordered inter alia that the
sentencing hearing will be held on 29 and 30 October 2003, from 3 to 6.30 p.m.
in Courtroom I.
In The Prosecutor v.
Miodrag Jokic, Trial Chamber I has ordered that
"the Prosecution
and counsel for Miodrag Jokic shall, by Friday 14 November 2003, file all
submissions and provide statements of any witnesses they might call in relation
to the sentencing hearing; and
the date for the
sentencing hearing shall be fixed by further Order".
In The Prosecutor v.
Dragan Nikolic, on 10 October 2003, we received a "Provisional Scheduling
Order for Sentencing Hearing". The sentencing hearing is due to be
held from 3 to 7 November 2003, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Trial Chamber ordered
inter alia the following:
That the parties shall
file their sentencing briefs and provide statements of any witnesses they
might call in relation to the sentencing hearing as well as any other relevant
information that may assist the Trial Chamber in determining the appropriate
sentence, no later than Thursday, 23 October 2003 at 12 p.m., and
That Professor Dr.
Ulrich Sieber is to file his expert report relating to sentencing practices
no later than Thursday, 23 October 2003 at 12 p.m.
Also, a reminder that the
sentencing hearing in the Mrdja case will take place on Wednesday 22 October
in Courtroom I at 2.15 p.m.
Finally, last week I incorrectly
announced that the sentencing hearing in The Prosecutor v. Miroslav Deronjic,
would be held on 27 to 30 October of this year. It will in fact be held on 27
to 30 January 2004. My apologies.
We will provide you with
a list of some of the other filings since last week at the end of the briefing.
All of those and the documents that I have mentioned are available on request
Florence Hartmann, Spokeswoman
for the Office of the Prosecutor, made the following statement:
The Prosecutor was in New
York before the Securtiy Council last Thursday and met with Colin Powell last
Friday in Washington. After this meeting Colin Powell made a very supportive
statement to the press in favour of the Tribunal. On Monday the Prosecutor,
Carla Del Ponte, was in Luxembourg where she met with the EU Ministers of Foreign
Affairs. A copy of her speech is available for you on request. Next Monday,
20 October 2003, the Prosecutor will be in London for a lecture before the London
School of Economics and will also meet with Jack Straw that day.
Related to the announcement
of Jim Landale that the statement of Owen is available, for the Prosecution
witnesses who are appearing in the Milosevic trial now and are not given their
statement in chief in court we will have the statement available. The statements
of Rupert Smith and Milan Milanovic are available. In the future we will provide
you with witness statements through the usual channels.
Regarding today’s operation
in Bosnia I would like to say the following:
Following an Order from
the Tribunal, the Office of the Prosecutor with the assistance of SFOR has conducted
a search operation in a number of locations in the Republika Srpska (RS) to
seize documents that the authorities have consistently failed to provide in
contravention of their binding legal obligations to cooperate with the Tribunal.
The Tribunal would like
to express its continued gratitude to SFOR for its valuable support, but wishes
to stress that the primary responsibility for the provision of such documents,
as with the apprehension of indicted persons, rests with the local authorities.
Questions:
Asked to specify what kind
of documents the Tribunal was looking for, Hartmann replied that she could not
comment since it was related to different cases and investigations. She added
that these documents had already been requested through the famous RFA (Requests
for Assistance), which had been sent to the authorities. When they failed to
respond the OTP had, like any other judicial body in any national system, the
possibility to have forces assist the OTP in order to seize the requested documents.
Asked when the operation
had started, Hartmann replied that the operation had started this morning and
was still ongoing. Another journalist asked whether the documents had been found,
Hartmann said that she did not know the conclusion of the operation and added
that the search warrant was for different locations.
Another journalist asked
whether private houses or official buildings or premises had been searched,
Hartmann said that she was not entitled to give details, yet if they became
available after the operation she would provide them.
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