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ICTY Weekly Press Briefing
Date: 06.02.2008
Time: 12:00
Registry and Chambers:
Nerma Jelačić, Spokesperson for Registry and Chambers, made the following statement:
Good morning,
The President of the Tribunal, Judge Fausto Pocar and the Registrar, Hans Holthius yesterday had a video-conference meeting with the Security Council’s working group on ad-hoc Tribunals. The opportunity was used to discuss temporary increase of ad litem judges necessary to start new cases.
A four day hearing in the case of Rasim Delić, the former commander of the Main Staff of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ABiH), is scheduled to take place in Sarajevo this weekend. The hearings will be conducted on the premises of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina starting on Friday 8 February at 09.00 am. The hearings are scheduled to continue for up to four days in total, concluding Monday 11 February. The full text of the press release is available for you at the end of the briefing.
Now I will draw your attention to some important documents filed since last Wednesday:
In the case of Stanišić and Simatović, the Prosecution was ordered earlier this week to reduce the number of incidents relating to Croatia and Bosnia and file an amended indictment no later than Monday, 11 February.
A status conference in the case of Milan Mrkšić has been scheduled for 19 February 2008 at 4pm in Courtroom I. Counsel for Šljivančanin are welcome to attend but are under no compulsion to do so.
And two appeals were filed last week. In the first, the Prosecution requested a life sentence be given to Dragomir Milošević. Last year he was sentenced by the Trial Chamber to 33 years’ imprisonment. On Friday, 1 February, Momčilo Krajišnik appealed the judgment by which he was sentenced to 27 years’ imprisonment and asked he be found not guilty or a retrial be ordered.
In the Tribunal’s Courtrooms this week:
The 98bis hearings in Prosecutor v. Prlić et al finished yesterday afternoon. The Prosecution’s case-in-chief has finished now. Scheduling orders for the pre-defence hearing as well as 98bis decision will be issued in due course.
Tomorrow, 7 February 2008, the Prosecution will end its case-in-chief in the Popović et al. trial. Rule 98bis oral submissions should start on 14 February 2008. A pre-defence conference is scheduled to take place on 22 May 2008, with the first Defence witness to appear on 2 June 2008.
The Defence has continued presenting its witnesses in the Boškoski and Tarčulovski trial. Milutinović et al. continues as scheduled.
And the trial of Vojislav Šešelj continues this afternoon in Courtroom I and tomorrow morning from 9:00 in Courtroom III. It will resume next week on Tuesday at 9:00 in Courtroom I.
Office of the Prosecutor:
Olga Kavran, Spokesperson for the Office of the Prosecutor, made no statement.
Questions:
Asked whether the Prosecutor had any set plans to visit Belgrade, Kavran answered that there was no definite date yet though the plan was to go this month. She added that as soon as the date was known it would be announced.
Responding to a question regarding the recent changes to the prosecution team in the Šešelj case, Kavran explained that the team had expanded to include new trial attorneys. She added that this happened in other cases too and pointed out that the Office of the Prosecutor functioned as whole with resources being allocated as needs arose. She confirmed that Christine Dahl was still on the case.
A journalist asked whether the Prosecutor would be seen by the media any time soon, adding that people thought Olli Rehn seemed to be the only one speaking in the name of the Tribunal’s prosecution. Kavran responded that the Prosecutor was only giving profile interviews for the time being. She added that he would not speak to the media on issues specifically related to the work of the ICTY until after he had visited the region.
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