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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: 16.06.2004
Time: 12.00 p.m.
Registry and Chambers:
Jim Landale, Spokesman for Registry and Chambers, made the following
statement:
Good afternoon,
Firstly, minutes ago we received copies of Trial
Chamber III’s "Decision on Motion for Judgement of Acquittal"
in the Milosevic case. Copies will be made available to you after
this briefing.
There have been some reports in the media recently
about the transfer of cases from the Tribunal to other jurisdictions,
and especially the Ademi and Norac cases. The speculation about
purported agreements or commitments by the Tribunal on this issue
is misleading. The decision whether and when to transfer any case
to any particular jurisdiction is within the competence of the appropriate
Trial Chamber, which would decide after due consideration of the
particular case in the light of the Statute, the Security Council
resolutions and the Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence.
In relation to that very issue, on 10 June 2004,
the ICTY’s Rules Committee approved amendments to Rule 11 bis
of the Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence. The text
of the amended Rule, which comes into force tomorrow, will be made
available to you after this.
On behalf of the Tribunal’s Outreach Programme, Chambers and OTP
representatives of the ICTY took part in the second session of the
training programme for Croatian Judges and Prosecutors involved
in war crimes cases, held near Zagreb on Friday and Saturday, 11
and 12 June.
The programme has been organised at the initiative of the Croatian
Ministry of Justice and supported by ICTY Outreach, in accordance
with the Tribunal's mandate to assist in strengthening the capacity
of local judiciaries to handle war crimes cases. This was the second
of six training sessions to be held over six months.
At this session, the participants discussed charging
practices and drafting indictments, the admission and evaluation
of evidence, sentencing practice, protection of witnesses, as well
as other relevant practical issues.
The aim was to compare the Croatian legal system
to the rules that apply in international law and at the ICTY so
as to better identify all the relevant issues for conducting war
crimes trials in Croatia, whether those trials are brought before
local courts as a result of local investigations, or on the basis
of information and evidentiary materials provided by the ICTY OTP
to the Croatian State Prosecutors’ Office, or as a result of the
possible transfer of ICTY cases involving intermediary and lower
level accused in accordance with Rule 11 bis of the Tribunal’s
Rules of Procedure and Evidence.
As you are all aware, the Pre-Defence Conference
in the Milosevic trial will be held tomorrow starting at 10 a.m.
in Courtroom I. As you should have seen, the list of journalists
granted accreditation was posted on our website yesterday, so those
of you who applied for and were granted a place in the public gallery
can pick up tickets at the advertised times.
You will also see from the list of documents that
we have for you after the briefing, that Judge Bonomy certified
on 10 June 2004 that he had familiarised himself with the record
of the proceedings in the Milosevic case, as required by Rule 15
bis.
In terms of the remainder of the court schedule:
There will be a status conference in The Prosecutor
v. Blagoje Simic on 17 June at 2.30 p.m. in Courtroom II.
Finally, I have with me a lunch menu from the caterers
who run the cafeteria upstairs. If you are interested in ordering
food from the menu call the extension number indicated and you can
arrange for them to bring it down to you in the lobby. Please do
not ring the Press Office to place or chase up orders.
See
also the latest ADC-ICTY press briefing.
Office of the Prosecution:
Florence Hartman for the Office of the Prosecutor made no statement.
Questions:
In relation to the training programme for Croatian Prosecutors and
Judges facilitated by the ICTY Outreach Programme, a journalist wondered
whether it would be possible to receive copies of speeches and statements
made at the sessions. In response, Landale stated that he would take
up the matter with Outreach, asking them to get in touch with the
journalist to discuss what documents were available.
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