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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: 16.04.2003
Time: 11:50
REGISTRY AND
CHAMBERS
Jim Landale, Spokesman
for Registry and Chambers, made the following opening statement:
First I would like to clarify
something said at the briefing last week with regard to what additional time
is to be granted to the Prosecution in completing their case-in-chief in the
Milosevic trial. The Trial Chamber ruled on the deadline for the Prosecution
to complete its case on 2 April, indicating that they would be granted an additional
54 days from the May 16 deadline to compensate them for trial days lost due
to the Accused’s ill-health. The Trial Chamber is yet to receive any further
request for additional time from the Prosecution.
You would have
seen that the Stakic trial ended yesterday with the completion of the closing
arguments. By our calculations, the trial statistics are as follows:
Prosecution
witnesses: 56 (of which 37 live and 19 under Rule 92bis)
Defence witnesses: 45 (of which 37 live, 7 under Rule 92bis and
1 under Rule 94bis)
Chamber witnesses: 6
Total number of trial days from 16 April 2002 until and including 15 April 2003:
150
You should also
have noted that Naser Oric entered not guilty pleas to the six charges contained
in the Indictment against him at yesterday’s initial appearance. Copies of that
Indictment are also available to those who haven’t yet got a copy.
With regard
to other developments related to on-going proceedings:
Next week,
there are no trials scheduled due to the Easter break and the continued ill-health
of the lead Defence counsel in the Brdjanin case and this Friday is an official
UN holiday.
On 14 April
we received a Scheduling Order the Prosecutor v. Blagojevic, Obrenovic,
Jokic and Nikolic ordering that a Pre-Trial Conference be held on 5 May
2003 in Courtroom III, commencing at 2.15 p.m. and that the trial should commence
the following day 6 May 2003 at 2.15 p.m. in Courtroom III.
And, in the
Prosecutor v. Milutinovic, Sainovic and Ojdanic, Milutinovic’s provisional
release hearing has been rescheduled to Thursday 1 May 2003, commencing at
2.30 p.m.
Among the court
documents we have received since the last briefing, the following are brought
to your attention:
On 15 April,
the The Prosecutor v. Radoslav Brdjanin, we received from Trial Chamber
II (Judge Agius (presiding), Judge Janu and Judge Taya) an "Order
Concerning Allegations Against Milka Maglov".
This followed
a statement of a witness who was supposed to give evidence for the Prosecution
in this case filed on 19 April 2002, alleging that Milka Maglov, at the time
co-counsel for Radoslav Brdjanin, intimidated the Witness; the appointment on
26 April 2002 of an amicus curiae to investigate the allegation; and
an oral hearing on the matter on 10 July 2002.
The Trial Chamber
found that "facts before this Trial Chamber, if believed could lead
to the conclusion that a) Milka Maglov approached the Witness and intimidated
him; and/or b) Milka Maglov revealed the identity of the Witness to a member
of the public, in violation of an order of a Chamber;"
The Trial Chamber
further considered "that on the basis of this, there are sufficient
grounds to proceed against Milka Maglov for contempt" and referred
the matter to the President to designate a Trial Chamber to proceed according
to Rule 77(D)(ii) of the Rules.
In the same
case and on the same day, we received the Trial Chamber’s "Decision
on Defence Motion for Additional Adjournment", in which it ordered
that the proceedings in the case should resume on Monday, 19 May 2003.
On 11 April,
Trial Chamber I issued an "Order for Termination of Provisional Release
For Dragan Jokic and Return to the Tribunal" in the Prosecutor
v. Blagojevic, Obrenovic, Jokic and Nikolic. The Trial Chamber ordered
that the Accused shall surrender to the custody of the Tribunal on 29 April
2003.
On 8 April,
in The Prosecutor v. Slobodan Milosevic Trial Chamber III (Judge May,
presiding, Judges Robinson and Kwon) issued an "Order Concerning a
Chronology of Events in the Croatia Part of the Case". The Chronology
of events concerning the Croatia part of the proceedings were annexed to the
Order and the parties were ordered to file any objections or proposed amendments
to the Chronology within 14 days.
On 9 April
in the Milosevic case, we received the "Amici Curiae Response to Additional
Information Regarding the Prosecution Motion for Judicial Notice of Adjudicated
Facts Dated 2 April 2003".
On the following
day and again in the Milosevic case, we received the Trial Chamber’s "Decision
on Prosecution Motion for Judicial Notice of Adjudicated Facts",
in which the Trial Chamber admitted "the first 130 paragraphs of facts
set out in Annex A to the Motion, but does so in the form set out in the attached
Schedule under the heading ‘Actual Text’, and does not admit the remainder
of the facts set out by the Prosecution in Annex A to its Motion".
The full text of the document will be available after this.
On the same
day and again in the Milosevic case, we received an "Order Concerning
the Response of the Government of Serbia and Montenegro to the Trial Chamber’s
Request For an Investigation into Violation of its Order For Protective Measures".
Again in the
Milosevic case, on 11 April, we received the "Public in Part and in
Part Ex Parte and Confidential Prosecution’s Further Omnibus Motion for Leave
to Amend the Witness List and Request Protective Measures for Sensitive Source
Witnesses".
And, also on
11 March in this case we received the "Prosecution’s Submission of
the Expert Report of Audrey Budding" entitled "Serbian Nationalism
in the Twentieth Century: Historical Background and Context". Copies
are available on request.
On 15 April
in The Prosecutor v. Darko Mrdja we received Trial Chamber II’s "Decision
on Darko Mrdja’s Request for Provisional Release", in which the Chamber
denied the application.
Copies are
also available for those who want them of the "Defence Pre-Trial Brief"
in the Prosecutor v. Sefer Halilovic.
Copies of all
the documents I have mentioned are available to you on request.
We also have copies
of the new Basic Documents folders for you after this. If you would like to
receive emailed updates could you please provide us your names and email addresses
after the briefing.
Finally, we will
keep you posted as to whether or not there will be a press briefing next week.
There are no trials but if there is something to be addressed there will be
a briefing. There will be no press briefing the following week on 30 April as
it is Queen’s Day and an official UN holiday.
Questions:
Asked to confirm
that from May 16, the Prosecution in the Milosevic case would be given an additional
54 working days to conclude their case, Landale replied that this was correct
and that this followed an Oral ruling by Judge May. He added that an issue that
had been raised in court was a possible further application from the Prosecution
for additional time. This had not been received yet, but if the Trial Chamber
received such an application, it would be considered, he said.
Asked whether
the Stakic Judgement would be rendered before the summer break, Landale replied
that Judge Schomburg indicated yesterday in court that the Trial Chamber would
try to render the Judgement sometime in July, so, before the summer recess.
However, he added that Judge Schomburg had cautioned that he did not want to
set any deadlines in stone as the Trial Chamber did not want to disappoint anyone
if a deadline was not met.
Asked whether
the Tribunal had received an official request from Belgrade to interrogate Mr.
Milosevic concerning investigations into the assassination of the Serbian Prime
Minister, Landale replied that the Tribunal had not received anything official
from Belgrade with regard to interviewing Mr. Milosevic.
Asked what position
the Tribunal would take if Milosevic’s wife requested to visit him again, in
view of the fact that there was an arrest warrant issued for her in Belgrade,
Landale replied that if an international arrest warrant had been issued for
Mira Markovic, it would be a for the Dutch authorities and not just the Tribunal
to consider any application made to visit Mr. Milosevic. The Tribunal had not
received any such request, he concluded.
Asked whether
the Tribunal was looking into what the Serbian Minister of Interior said this
week concerning the people responsible for the Ovcara crimes, Landale replied
that this issue had been discussed during one of the last briefings. The Tribunal
had seen the statements that had been made. The Tribunal’s position was clear;
Indictments were issued against a number of people concerning the Ovcara massacre.
One person had died in custody, another was currently in custody and two others,
Mr. Sljivancanin and Mr. Radic, were fugitives from international justice. The
Tribunal would like those individuals to be apprehended and transferred at the
earliest possible opportunity. They had been at large for a considerable time
and the Tribunal would be keen to see them in The Hague so that proceedings
could be started, he said.
Asked whether
it had already been decided where Biljana Plavsic would serve her sentence and
would such information normally be announced publicly as soon as the decision
was made, Landale replied that the Tribunal would inform the media once an individual
had arrived in the country where they were to serve sentence.
Asked how
long this procedure normally took, Landale replied that there was no set period.
Once everything had been ironed out to the satisfaction of all parties then
a transfer could take place.
Asked whether
any requests had come from Belgrade to interview Mr. Seselj, Landale replied
that he had seen media reports concerning this matter, but the Tribunal had
not received anything official.
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