Date: 18.09.2013
Time: 12:30
Registry and Chambers:
Magdalena Spalińska, Spokesperson for Registry and Chambers, made the following statement:
Good afternoon,
I’ll begin by highlighting certain court filings issued over the past week.
In the case of Vojislav Šešelj, Presiding Judge Antonetti yesterday issued an Order abrogating the Scheduling Order from 12 April of this year which had set the Trial Chamber Judgement for 30 October. This abrogation is pending the resolution of the matter in relation to the disqualification of Judge Harhoff.
Also in the Šešelj case, on 13 September President Meron dismissed Šešelj’s complaint in relation to his privileged telephone communications with his legal advisors. The accused claimed that he was unable to establish privileged communications by telephone with his advisors and asked the President to restore them. President Meron noted that privileged communications had already been restored on 19 August, and that as a result, the Accused's request was moot. The complaint was therefore dismissed in its entirety.
In the case of Mićo Stanišić and Stojan Župljanin, the two defence teams filed a joint motion on 11 September in relation to the upcoming Panel’s reconsideration of the decision disqualifying Judge Harhoff from the Šešelj case. The joint motion was filed on the basis that the teams have an interest in the Panel’s final decision because Judge Harhoff was a member of the Trial Chamber that convicted Stanišić and Župljanin. In their motions the teams claim, amongst other points, that there is no basis for reconsideration of the disqualification decision.
In the case of Radovan Karadžić, on 12 September the Appeals Chamber dismissed in its entirety Karadžić’s appeal of the ‘Decision on Accused’s Motions for Severance of Count 1 and Suspension of Defence case’ rendered by the Trial Chamber on 2 August. In response to the issues raised by the Accused in his appeal, the Appeals Chamber found that the Rule 98bis Appeal Judgment explicitly addressed Karadžić’s contentions regarding the confluence of genocidal intent and the actus reus of genocide and that the Trial Chamber had correctly determined that the Rule 98bis Appeal Judgement made a final determination with regard to the Accused’s Rule 98bis motion for acquittal. The Rule 98bis Appeal Judgement rendered on 11 July 2013 reversed the Trial Chamber’s Decision to acquit Karadzic of genocide in certain municipalities of Bosnia and Herzegovina under Count 1 and reinstated the charges against Karadžić under this count.
In the case of Prlić et al., a Status Conference will be held on 8 October at 10 am in Courtroom III. The six former high-ranking officials were convicted on 29 May 2013 by the Trial Chamber for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed between 1992 and 1994.
In the case of Zdravko Tolimir, a Status Conference will be held on 28 October at 10am in Courtroom I. Tolimir, former Assistant Commander and Chief for Intelligence and Security of the Main Staff of the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS), was sentenced to life imprisonment on 12 December 2012 for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in 1995 after the fall of the enclaves of Srebrenica and Žepa, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In the courtrooms, the trial of Ratko Mladić is scheduled for this week and next. Yesterday, Manojlo Milovanović, a former Chief of the Main Staff of the Republika Srpska Army, began his testimony. The Prosecution has so far called 139 witnesses in this trial.
In the case of Goran Hadžić, the Prosecution witness Vilim Karlović began and completed his testimony today. Mr Karlović was a member of the Croatian Army taken prisoner during the war in Vukovar. The Prosecution has so far called 78 witnesses in this trial. The trial has now adjourned for the week.
As a final reminder, the trial of Radovan Karadžić is scheduled to resume on 28 October.
Office of the Prosecutor:
Ljiljana Pitesa, OTP Senior Information Assistant made no comment.
Questions:
A journalist asked for information on the date and candidates for the forthcoming presidential elections, and whether the voting will be public. Spalińska explained that the elections will be held in the autumn but that as this is an internal matter for the Tribunal, further details will not be made public.