| Press Release | REGISTRY |
(Exclusively for the use of the media. Not an official document)
The Hague, 12 May 2000
JL/ P.I.S./ 498-e
Austria to provide experts to assist the investigations of the Office of the Prosecutor in Kosovo.
On Friday 12 May 2000, the United Nations and Austria signed an agreement for the provision of qualified personnel to assist the investigations being currently conducted in Kosovo by the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Austria has agreed to dispatch three teams, each containing six experts. Each team will stay in Kosovo for approximately one month. The first team will depart for Kosovo at the end of May 2000.
This agreement was signed at the seat of the ICTY by H.E. Dr. Alexander Christiani, the Austrian Ambassador, accompanied by Dr. Gerhard Zettl, Minister Counselor, and by Ms. Dorothee de Sampayo Garrido-Nijgh, the Registrar of the International Tribunal, on behalf of the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
The latter informed the President of the General Assembly on 27 January of his intention to accept gratis personnel for the Office of the Prosecutor, and the Registrar of the ICTY sent a letter on 4 February 2000 inviting United Nations’ Member States to provide qualified personnel.
Austria is one of the 14 States that signed similar agreements in 1999. Discussions are on-going with a number of other States prepared to assist the operations of the Office of the Prosecutor in Kosovo.
This is the third agreement to be signed this year following agreements with Canada and Sweden.
*****
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
For more information, please contact our Media Office in The Hague
Tel.: +31-70-512-8752; 512-5343; 512-5356 - Email: press [at] icty.org ()
Follow ICTY on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube