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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:
8 January 2002
Time:
11.30
REGISTRY AND
CHAMBERS
Jim
Landale, Spokesman for Registry and Chambers, made the following statement:
Good morning and
happy New Year,
As you all know,
pursuant to Rule 73 bis of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, the pre-trial
conference for the Milosevic Kosovo trial will be held tomorrow, Wednesday 9
January 2002, but you should note that it will start at 9.30 a.m. and not 9
a.m. as previously advertised. You are all welcome to attend.
On 4 January,
Judge Richard May, in his capacity as pre-trial Judge, issued an order setting
out the issues to be raised by the Trial Chamber during the hearing. The order
states that:
The Prosecution
should be prepared to address the Trial Chamber at the pre-trial conference,
on the following matters:
a. The
number of Prosecution witnesses to be called;
b. The protective
measures, if any, likely to be sought for each witness;
c. The order
in which the witnesses are to be called;
d. The number
of witness statements or transcripts of prior testimony sought to be admitted
pursuant to Rule 92 bis of the Rules and the proposed timetable for submission
of those documents and determination by the Trial Chamber;
e. The current
status of disclosure pursuant to Rule 66 (A) of the Rules, including the necessary
translations into the language of the accused;
f. The current
status of translation into one of the working languages of the International
Tribunal of all documents to be produces as exhibits during trial; and
g. The current
status of disclosure of exculpatory material pursuant to Rule 68 of the Rules;
The order also
states that "the amici curiae should address the Trial Chamber at the
pre-trial conference as to any extensions to their brief (if any) which they
consider appropriate".
In addition on
4 January, the Trial Chamber issued its decision on the Prosecution’s Motion
for Protective Measures. Copies of that will be available after this briefing.
On 21 December
2001, Judge Aphons Orie issued orders on the motions for provisional release
from both Miodrag Jokic and Rahim Ademi, which were filed 18 and 21 December
2001 respectively, in which he ordered "that the Motion[s] and all related
filings or relevant documents be remitted to the Trial Chamber seized of the
case for it to decide on the merits of the Motion[s] in due course".
We will keep you
informed as to any developments with regard to both of those cases.
Following the
decision on 14 December 2001 by the Appeals Chamber to deny Momcilo Krajisnik
provisional release, on 29 December a ‘Renewed Motion for Provisional Release’
was filed. In the motion, among other things, the accused argues that the composition
of the Trial Chamber has now changed with the replacement of Judge Fassi Fihri
with Judge O-Gon Kwon and that "It may well be that Judge O-Gon Kwon
would be persuaded by arguments made by the defense which had been deemed by
Judge Patrick Lipton Robinson to warrant provisional release". Copies
of that motion will be available after this.
On 19 December
2001, scheduling orders for a joint hearing on the Prosecution’s Motion for
Joinder and Joint status conference were filed in Obrenovic, Dragan Jokic and
Blagojevic cases. The hearing has been set for Tuesday 15 January between 9.30
and 1 p.m. and 2.30 and 4 p.m. in Courtroom I.
On 21 December,
we received copies of the Defence Response to the Prosecution’s Appeal Brief
in the Krstic case. Copies will be available after this.
On 4 January,
we received the Defence Preliminary Motion in the Banovic case. Again, copies
available after this.
In terms of the
upcoming court schedule:
-Tomorrow, Wednesday
9 January, there will be a status conference in the Nikolic case in Courtroom
II between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
-On Friday
11 January, there will be a status conference in the Banovic case in Courtroom
I at 2.30 p.m.
-And as
I have already mentioned, the hearing on motion for joinder, in the Obrenovic,
Dragan Jokic and Blagojevic cases is set for Tuesday 15 January.
Florence Hartmann,
Spokeswoman for the Office of the Prosecutor, made the following statement:
I would like
to wish you all a very good, exciting and successful 2002. I would also like
to tell you that the Prosecutor has been back at the Tribunal since yesterday.
She will remain working in The Hague until next week. During the third and fourth
weeks of January she will be in Arusha and Kigali.
QUESTIONS:
Asked whether
tomorrow’s pre-trial conference would be the last one to take place before
the beginning of the trial, Landale replied that, to his understanding, it
would be the last conference in which Milosevic would appear before 12 February.
He added, however, that there could be a hearing under Rule 92 bis
at which he would not have to appear.
Asked whether
there was any news on the Prosecutor’s request to appeal against the Decision
on joinder in the Milosevic case, Landale replied that there was no news on
this issue for the time being. He added that this issue was with the Appeals
Chamber not the Trial Chamber so it did not have any direct effect on the
pre-trial conference tomorrow, however, it was reasonable to expect that it
was something that would be looked at in the near future.
Asked to
re-confirm that this issue was not expected to be raised during the pre-trial
conference, Landale replied that this was the case. He added that there could
be passing references made to it, but it was not a subject that would be focused
upon.
Asked to
confirm that 12 February was still the planned starting date for the Milosevic
Kosovo case, Landale replied that at this time this was the case.
Asked for
an update on the conditions of detention of Mr. Milosevic and whether there
was still a camera in his cell, Landale replied that there was no camera in
his cell. He added that Mr. Milosevic was being treated under the same conditions
as all the other detainees.
Asked for
an update on Milosevic’s recent visits, Landale replied that he received visits
from his two Belgrade lawyers yesterday and today. They were also scheduled
to visit him tomorrow. Apart from that the last visits were made last year.
Asked whether
there was any news about any future visits from his wife, Landale replied
that he believed that there would be a visit by his wife in the near future.
Asked
whether Milosevic or the amici curaie had filed any documents since
Milosevic’s last appearance in court, Landale replied that as far as the accused
went, no. As far as the amici curaie went he would have to check, because
it made reference in the Trial Chamber Order to briefs by the amici curaie
which he had not yet seen.
Asked whether
there had been any written indication from Milosevic that he had changed his
position, Landale replied that there had not.
Asked whether
there was any indication as to whether Milosevic was now reading the documents
sent to him, Landale replied that right from the outset Milosevic had access
to that material. Whether he was now reading it or not, he would check, he
added.
Asked whether
he had received a visit from the French lawyer Jacques Verges, Landale replied
that he would check into this.
Asked why
the Prosecutor was not in favour of the provisional release request made by
Rahim Ademi, Hartmann replied that the OTP decided on the issue of provisional
release on a case by case basis. She added that there where cases were the
OTP supported requests for provisional release and others where they did not
support them. The OTP did not support the provisional release for all the
Bosniak cases. It did support the Halilovic motion for release. It was against
the motion from Hadzihasanovic, Aligic and Kubura.
In the case
of Ademi the OTP’s position was that he was not fulfilling all of the conditions
the OTP established under its criteria for provisional release. The OTP opposed
the motion and the decision had to be taken by the Chamber. The issue was
still ongoing and there had been no public hearing on this issue.
Asked for
a comment on stories in the media in the last weeks which stated that several
accused wished to hand themselves over to the Tribunal, Hartmann replied that
on the basis of what the OTP knew it was only media speculation. The OTP was
in no position to comment as to whether there had been any discussions in
their own countries with their own authorities. The OTP had not been informed
of any possible arrivals. Usually the OTP or the Registry would be informed
a few hours or days before a voluntary surrender, to make sure that an accused
could express their will to voluntarily surrender without being arrested while
travelling to The Hague.
Landale
added that the Tribunal would welcome any voluntary surrender as it would
get the new year off to a good start. It was still the obligation for all
indictees to be apprehended and brought to The Hague, he added.
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