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| The Press Briefing can be viewed on the ICTY YouTube channel |
Date: 22.6.2011
Time: 12:00
Registry and Chambers:
Martin Petrov, Chief of the Office of the Registrar, made the following statement:
Good afternoon,
I will immediately turn the courtroom schedule:
Hearings in the cases of Radovan Karadžić, Mićo Stanišić and Stojan Župljanin, Jovića Stanišić and Franko Simatović as well as Zdravko Tolimir continue this week and next as scheduled.
In the Karadžić case, the Chamber is currently hearing the testimony of Asim Džambasović, a former officer in the Yugoslav People’s Army in Bosnia. He is the 78th witness to be called by the Prosecution.
Trial Chamber I has since yesterday been listening to the testimony of the first witness called by the Defence of Jovica Stanišić. The witness is protected and testifying in closed session.
In the Stanišić and Župljanin case, the Chamber is currently hearing the testimony of Simo Tuševljak, a professional policeman who worked as General Crime Prevention Coordinator of the city of Sarajevo. He is the 6th Defence witness to be called by Mićo Stanišić’s defence team.
This afternoon, the Chamber will continue hearing the testimony of Milomir Savčić in the case of Tolimir. Savčić is former Commander of the 65th motorised protection regiment of the Army of Republika Srpska. He is the 115th witness to be called by the Prosecution.
Turning to the latest activities conducted as part of the War Crimes Justice Project:
Since last Wednesday, the Tribunal has provided training to Bosnian and Macedonian legal professionals working on war crimes cases in locating and researching ICTY information and materials relevant to their work. The training was held in Sarajevo and Skopje. Since the launch of the War Crimes Justice Project in July 2010, the Tribunal has conducted a total of 27 training sessions for over 120 legal professionals from Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Kosovo.
Finally, the Tribunal’s President, Judge Patrick Robinson, and the Registrar, Mr. John Hocking, are in Zagreb for a two-day meeting of the Informal Consultative Working Group on the Establishment of Information Centres in the former Yugoslavia. The goal of the meeting, which is supported by the Swiss Department of Federal Affairs and Swisspeace, is to further discuss the establishment of information and documentation centres across the region, as well as access to the Tribunal’s judicial archives. The Security Council, in Resolution 1966(2010), requested the Tribunal to cooperate with the countries of the former Yugoslavia and other interested parties to facilitate the establishment of such information centres. This is the second meeting of the Working Group since its establishment.
Office of the Prosecutor:
Frederick Swinnen, Special Adviser to the Prosecutor, made no statement.
Questions:
Asked whether Ratko Mladić had submitted a request to see a doctor of his choice, Martin Petrov responded that the Registry has to date not received such a request.
Asked whether Mladić has made any requests regarding his Defence counsel, Martin Petrov responded that there have been further meetings between Registry officials and the Accused. The Accused has however yet to select Counsel and has not made any specific request to date.
Asked whether Mladić has applied for legal aid, Petrov responded that he has not yet made any request to that effect either. Petrov explained that Mladić has the possibility to select Counsel of his own choosing, in which case he will be remunerating that Counsel himself, or to request legal aid. Petrov added that Mladić has had several meeting with representatives of the Office of Legal Aid and Detention over the past three weeks to discuss these matters, but the Registry has not received any requests from him yet.
Asked whether the Office of the Prosecutor could provide any updates on whether the cases of Mladić and Karadžić will be joined, Frederick Swinnen responded that the OTP is in the phase of preparing the case and is still studying all options, including this one. Swinnen added that it was too early to talk about the strategy of the case. However, he said that Mr. Brammertz had indicated earlier that the prosecution will probably not request a joinder of the two cases.
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International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
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