ICTY Weekly Press Briefing - 21st Feb 2007

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing

Date: 21.02.2007

Time: 12:00

Registry and Chambers:

Refik Hodžić, Spokesman for Registry and Chambers, made the following statement:

A two-day visit by a delegation of judges from the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina was concluded yesterday. The group, led by the President of the Court, Meddžida Kreso, met with the President of the ICTY, Fausto Pocar and participated in round-table discussions with the ICTY judges on a number of issues relevant to the transfer of cases. The judges noted various developments which have accelerated and improved cooperation between the Tribunal and the Court of BiH. ICTY judges have expressed satisfaction with the way Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has handled the cases transferred from the Tribunal under the Rule 11bis.

On 26 and 27 February, President Fausto Pocar and Registrar Hans Holthuis will attend an expert group meeting entitled "Planning for residual issues and mechanisms for international and hybrid criminal tribunals." This meeting, organized by the International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) and the law faculty of the University of Western Ontario, will discuss archive and legacy issues related to the ICTY, ICTR, the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the Extraordinary Chambers for the Court in Cambodia. It will be attended by representatives of the 4 courts, UN officials, government representatives, the ICTJ and other NGOs and universities.

SCHEDULE:

There is a sentencing hearing in the Zelenović case this Friday at 9:00am in courtroom II. You all received the scheduling order for that hearing last week. This hearing may continue next Tuesday at 11:30am but this has yet to be confirmed.

There are several important hearings scheduled for next week, all in courtroom II. The first one is on Tuesday, with a status conference in the Rasim Delić case at 9:00am.

The status conference in the case of Vojislav Šešelj on Wednesday has moved from courtroom I to courtroom II and will now commence at 9:15am. The following day will see the pre-trial conference in the Haradinaj case taking place at 9:00 am. All accused are to be present. The trial is scheduled to begin on 5 March. All ongoing trials in the Milutinović et al., Popović et al., Prlić et al. and the Milošević cases will continue this and next week. I urge you all to check the schedule regularly for any last minute changes.

TODAY’S FILINGS:

A document filed late yesterday was the Trial Chamber’s order to grant the Šainović’s defence’s Rule 70 motion restricting the disclosure of information it receives from the government of the USA. This document will be forwarded to you once it becomes available.

This morning a document was filed in the Gotovina et al case ordering the Prosecution to reduce the scope of the indictement. This is a written order affirming an oral order made during the 9 February status conference. If you wish to receive this document, please make a note of it on the document list and we will forward it to you.

Office of the Prosecutor:

Olga Kavran, Spokesperson for the Prosecutor made the following statement:

Mme Carla Del Ponte will be in Strassbourg on Friday. The European Foundation for Culture has awarded Wolfgang Petritsch, the former High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina the European Award for Human Rights for 2006, and the Chief Prosecutor has been asked to deliver a speech on this occasion.

David Tolbert, the deputy Prosecutor, will also attend the expert group meeting next week mentioned by Refik.

Questions:

Asked why the Šešelj case had been reassigned to a new Trial Chamber, Hodžić replied that the original Trial Chamber in the Šešelj case had been assigned the Haradinaj case which was scheduled to start on 5 March.

In answer to a further question on this suggesting that the reassignment was a result of Šešelj’s motion to dismiss the Trial Chamber, Hodžić reiterated that the reassignment was a scheduling matter. He pointed out that one Trial Chamber could not sit on two cases at the same time. Asked when the Šešelj case was then scheduled to start, Hodžić reminded journalists of the Trial Chamber’s order for Šešelj to inform it when he felt fit to conduct his defence and that the Trial Chamber would then make a decision on a trial date. He hoped that the status conference next week would provide more clarity. He again stressed that the Trial Chamber presided by Judge Orie would be sitting in the Haradinaj case from 5 March.

Asked if the OTP was carrying out any investigations into the car crash that killed a Haradinaj witness last weekend in Montenegro, Kavran responded that she could give no comment on that, adding that the OTP never made comment on any possible investigations. She added that the Prosecutor’s office took such things very seriously.

A journalist asked whether the ICTY judges discussed the idea of setting up regional war crimes tribunals after the ICTY closes with President of the Court Bosnia and Herzegovina, Meddžida Kreso. In response, Hodžić answered that the discussions focused on procedural issues of transferred cases and that he was not aware of discussions on the idea of the regional war crimes court.

Documents: