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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: 04.02.2004
Time: 12:20
REGISTRY AND CHAMBERS
Jim Landale, Spokesman for Registry and Chambers, made the following
statement
Good afternoon,
As you will have seen from the advisory we put out yesterday evening,
the Milosevic trial has been cancelled for this week due to the
accused’s ill-health. We will let you know when it will resume.
With regard to the court schedule and in addition to the
ongoing trials
There will be a status conference in The Prosecutor v. Dario
Kordic and Mario Cerkez before the Pre-Appeal Judge on 13 February,
starting at 2.15 p.m. in Courtroom II.
Finally, I will be away next week and so Christian Chartier will
be taking my place. As it will not be possible to have the briefing
on Wednesday my office will put out an advisory at the beginning
of week advising you when it will be held.
Office of the Prosecutor:
Florence Hartmann, Spokeswomen for the Office of the
Prosecutor made the following statement:
On 11 February 2004, the Prosecutor will be in Brussels and
she will meet with Javier Solana, EU High Representative and also
with representatives of the European Commission. In the afternoon
she will have meetings with the NATO leadership and the new NATO
Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and also with the Euro-Atlantic
Partnership Council.
The second point I would like to raise is that we will be able
to make copies of the opening statement in the Krasjinik case made
by Mark Harmon available once it has concluded.
The third element is that I would like to clarify any misunderstanding
or ambiguity about some statements attributed to the Prosecutor
regarding Ante Gotovina and published yesterday in the French press.
Ms. Del Ponte, as you know, has said that at least until the end
of last year Gotovina was in Croatia and that is the statement which
was published in Le Monde yesterday. Some news agencies created
some misunderstandings in order to clarify Hartmann emphasized that
Ms. Del Ponte never said that Gotovina could be in France.
Questions:
Asked where Gotovina was right now according to the OTP, Hartmann
replied that they did not have enough information to make a statement
at this moment. She continued that anyway she expected that, according
to the Rules, the authorities of Croatia were obliged to search
and to give regular reports on the results of their search and steps
taken. This could lead to two conclusions: either that Gotovina
was not in Croatia resulting from police investigations or that
he could be in another country. To which we could then act appropriately.
Asked if the visit to Brussels was a regular working visit,
Hartmann confirmed it was.
A journalist referred to a recent interview with Croatian Television
during which Carla Del Ponte was rather positive and optimistic
about cooperation with the Croatian Government. Asked to elaborate
on which elements this optimism was based on, Hartmann replied that
the Prosecutor was happy with the statements made by the new Government
in Croatia regarding the cooperation with the Tribunal. The only
element which was missing in the list of things Croatia had to do
to comply to the Tribunal was the arrest of Gotovina. The OTP had
heard the commitment of the Croatian Government to sort this problem
and expected the Government to take the appropriate actions, she
added.
Briefing Documents:
Prosecutor v. Milutinovic, Sainovic and Ojdanic:
30 January 2004 "General Ojdanic’s Opening Brief".
Prosecutor v. Vojislav Seselj:
29 January 2004 "Decision on the Interlocutory Appeal Concerning
the denial of a Request for a Visit to an Accused in the Detention
Unit".
Prosecutor v. Milan Babic:
28 January 2004 "Joint Motion for Additional Documentation
on Propaganda and Speeches by the Accused Milan Babic".
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