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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: 11.05.2005
Time: 12.15
Registry and Chambers:
Jim Landale, Spokesman for Registry and Chambers, made the
following statement:
Good afternoon,
Tomorrow, the 11 bis Referral Bench will
hold a hearing on the Prosecutor’s request to refer the case against
Mrksic, Sljivancanin and Radic to either Croatia or Serbia and Montenegro
starting at 9 a.m. in Courtroom I. Representatives from both governments
have been invited to be present in court and to give oral submissions.
There will be a status conference in this case tomorrow at 2.30
p.m. in Courtroom II.
As I announced last week, there will also be an
11 bis hearing on the Prosecutor’s request to refer the case
against Todovic and Rasevic to Bosnia and Herzegovina tomorrow at
2.15 p.m. The Referral Bench has invited the Government of Bosnia
and Herzegovina to attend the hearing and present oral submissions,
should it wish to do so.
The Judges in the Milosevic case yesterday issued
an Order in which they affirmed that they would be rendering a Decision
in the contempt case against Kosta Bulatovic this Friday, but also
stated that Mr. Bulatovic did not need to return to The Hague. We
will of course endeavor to get you that Decision as soon as we receive
it on Friday.
This week, ICTY Outreach is hosting a working visit to the ICTY
by Judges of the Supreme Court of Serbia.
The working visit, which has been organised at the request of and
sponsored by UNDP in Belgrade is aimed at strengthening the channels
of communication between the Serbian Judiciary and the ICTY and
thus facilitating the transfer of knowledge, experience and relevant
material, accumulated through the practice of the ICTY, to the domestic
courts.
Last Friday, ICTY Outreach hosted a visit of 20 students from the
Zagreb Law Faculty. They heard presentations on the organisation
and functioning of the Tribunal, as well as the applicable law,
and followed court proceedings. The visit was part of a tour of
international legal institutions in Luxembourg, Bruxelles and The
Hague.
The further initial appearance of Milorad Trbic
has been scheduled for this afternoon at 2.15 p.m. in Courtroom
I.
There will be status conferences in The Prosecutor
v. Vladimir Lazarevic this Friday at 3.30 p.m. in Courtroom
I; and in The Prosecutor v. Milutinovic et al. also on Friday
in the same courtroom at approximately 4.30 p.m.
Office of the Prosecutor:
Florence Hartmann of the Office of the Prosecutor
made the following statement:
At the invitation of the President, The Prosecutor
will address the OSCE Permanent council on 19 May 2005 in Vienna
and a visit would be related to the OSCE project related to building
domestically strong judiciary system.
Secondly the new Cermak/Markac indictment submitted
by the OTP has been filed following an Order from the Trial Chamber
further to the Defense request for additional clarification. I wish
to underline that the timing of the filing of this new amended indictment
was in accordance with the Trial Chamber's Order. The OTP filed
the document on 6 May 2005, on the day of the deadline given to
the OTP to do so. The new indictment, in terms of the concept and
participants of the Joint Criminal Enterprise, is not fundamentally
new or different from the old, existing indictment, except that
in many places it provides more information, rather than less.
Neither the existing nor the amended indictment
criminalizes the "Homeland War," nor does it say or even
suggest that "everyone" in the Croatian Army was a war
criminal.
Landale reminded the journalists that at this stage
the amended Cermak and Markac indictment was a proposed indictment
and had not been confirmed by the Judges.
Questions:
A journalist asked why persons named in several
cases as being part of Joint Criminal Enterprises had not all been
indicted, and whether there were certain criteria that had to be
met in order to be indicted? Hartmann replied that not everybody
had been indicted by the ICTY. The mandate had never been to indict
every single individual that had ever been part of the crimes. For
this reason, the ICTY hoped that local jurisdictions dealing with
war crimes issues would initiate their own investigations and would
indict those who had not been indicted by the ICTY.
Asked if the Prosecutor had made a selection based
on seniority to indict, Hartmann replied that several factors played
a role, for instance the accessibility of documents, evidence material
and time constraints. She added that this should not prevent anybody
else continuing the job initiated by the ICTY and it was hoped that
the local jurisdictions would do just that.
Documents:
The Prosecutor v. Slobodan
Milosevic
10 May 2005 – Contempt Proceedings
Against Kosta Bulatovic: Order On Issuance Of Decision.
The Prosecutor v. Dragomir
Milosevic
10 May 2005 – Prosecution’s
Response To The Accused’s Motion For Provisional Release.
The Prosecutor v. Mrksic et
al
10 May 2005 – Letter to Registry
From Republic of Croatia.
The Prosecutor v. Radoslav
Brdanin
10 May 2005 – Response To Prosecution’s
Brief On Appeal.
The Prosecutor v. Sefer Halilovic
9 May 2005 – Decision On Motion
For Prosecution Access To Defence Documents Used In Cross-examination
Of Prosecution Witness.
The Prosecutor v. Rasim Delic
10 May 2005 – Decision On Motion
Seeking Review Of The Registry Decision Stating That Mr Stephane
Bourgon Cannot Be Assigned To Represent Rasim Delic.
The Prosecutor v. Milan Martic
9 May 2005 – Prosecution Response
To Second Defence Motion For Provisional Release.
The Prosecutor v. Haradinaj
et al.
5 May 2005 – Prosecution’s Response
To Defence Motion On Behalf Of Ramush Haradinaj For Provisional
Release.
The Prosecutor v. Blagojevic
and Jokic
9 May 2005 – Prosecution’s Brief
On Appeal.
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