ICTY Weekly Press Briefing - 18th Jan 2006

Please note that this
is not a verbatim transcript of the Press
Briefing. It is merely a summary.

Date: 18.01.2006

Time: 12:00

Registry and Chambers:

Alexandra Milenov, Spokesman for Registry
and Chambers, made the following statement:

Good Afternoon,

My name is Alexandra Milenov, I am the
Registry Liaison Officer for Serbia and
Montenegro. I am normally posted to the
Belgrade Field Office. As many of you
already know, Jim Landale, who served
as the Tribunal’s Registry and
Chambers Spokesperson with distinction
for quite a number of years has left
the Tribunal. I will be fulfilling the
Spokesperson’s functions on a temporary
basis, while at the same time continuing
my work in Belgrade. I intend to go back
to Belgrade as soon as this is possible.
While I am here, I can be reached at
the same phone numbers that you used
to contact Jim Landale.

I would like to welcome you all
back after the holiday season. As you
may be aware, the Tribunal’s trials
are back in session and working full
steam. The trials against Republika
Srpska leader Momcilo Krajisnik, Republika
Srpska Krajina leader Milan Martic,
Bosnian Army officer Naser Oric have
recommenced and will be in session for
the rest of the week. Also in court this
week is the trial against Croatian journalist
and editor Ivica Marijacic and former
Croatian Security Service head Markica
Rebic for contempt of the Tribunal. The
trail against Slobodan Milosevic is set
to recommence next week on Monday 23
January.

I would like to draw your attention
to a couple of status conferences that
will be held in the next week. The status
conference in the case against Croatian
army and police leaders Ivan Cermak and
Mladen Markac will take place on Friday
20 January. During this status conference
the accused will be asked to enter a
plea to new charges which were confirmed
in the latest amended indictment on 14
December. The accused will enter their
pleas via videolink. Please check the
court schedule in order to confirm the
time of the status conference, as there
may be a change. There will also be a
status conference in the case against
Vojislav Seselj, which is scheduled for
Tuesday 24 January 2006 at 12:00.

I would like to bring to your attention
that the Tribunal’s budget for
2006 and 2007 was approved at UN headquarters
in New York to the amount of 276 million
dollars. The Tribunal went to great effort
to streamline its work and there is zero
growth in the budget based on the previous
biennium (in fact, there is negative
growth.) I note that the General Assembly
praised the Tribunal for "presenting
a logical results-based budgeting framework
that is well-structured both quantitatively
and qualitatively."

Since the last press briefing, quite
a number of documents have been filed
with the court. Please do take a moment
to review our last weekly update (no.
385), which sets them all out. If you
require any of them, my office will be
pleased to assist you.

Lastly, the reconstruction of the
courtrooms is well underway. The reconstruction
is being done principally in order to
accommodate trials involving multiple
accused. Court room II has been completed,
court room one is currently being worked
on, and reconstruction of court room
III is scheduled to start next month.
Please check the court room schedule
for the next couple of weeks in order
to confirm the location of trials.

I would like to take this opportunity
to say that I look forward to working
with you in the coming weeks.

Office of the Prosecutor:

Florence Hartmann, Spokesperson for
the Office of the Prosecutor, made the
following statement:

Ms. Del Ponte will be traveling to Brussels
tomorrow for meetings with the following
officials. There will be a press opportunity
after the Prosecutor’s meeting
with Olie Rehn and possibly after her
meeting with Solana.

11:30 – NATO Secretary General
Hoop Scheffer

15:30 – EU Foreign Policy Chief
Javier Solana

16:15 – EU Commissioner of Expansion
Olie Rehn (Press opportunity after)

Questions:

Asked if there was any information
on the guarantees from the Russian government
for the request for provisional release
of Slobodan Milosevic, Milenov stated
that the Trial Chamber had issued an
order last week requiring the defence
for Milosevic to submit any further materials,
including guarantees by the Russian government
by the end of today and that she had
no further comment.

Asked if there was any information
on the operation of the Bosnian police
launched to capture Ratko Mladic, Hartmann
replied that she had no comment and that
according to all information available
at the OTP, Mladic was in Serbia.

Asked if there would be a motion
by the Prosecution to join the Ivan Cermack
and Mladen Markac case with the Ante
Gotovina case, Hartmann stated that she
had no information on what will be discussed
at the status conference.

Asked if the Tribunal planned to
take action against Domogoj Margetic
for revelaing the identity of two protected
witnesses on a website, Milenov stated
that she was not aware of any particular
measure being taken at the moment in
relation to the Margetic case but that
the Tribunal does take these matters
seriously and that indictments have been
issued in the past for those kinds of
actions.

Milenov pointed out that the Tribunal’s
orders that it issues to protect certain
witness testimonies were done so for
important reasons. These reasons were
to protect the witness or to protect
other witnesses or victims who the witness
may be discussing during this testimony.
Violating the orders of the Tribunal
to protect the confidentiality of a witness
was a serious matter and that there had
been several indictments against those
who had in various ways breached the
orders of the Tribunal. There was an
ongoing trial at the moment and one expected
in the future for contempt. Any further
incidence the Tribunal would take very
seriously, Milenov said.

Asked if there was confirmation
that the Prosecutor would be in Belgrade
on 6 February 2006, Hartmann said that
she could confirm that there would be
a visit in the beginning of February
and that a precise date would be announced
in due time. The visit would be a working
visit relating to the remaining issues,
access to documents and the issue of
the fugitives. Hartmann reiterated that
there were six remaining fugitives, five
of these believed to be in Serbia amoung
which two were indicted for genocide.

Asked if the Prosecutor would request
action from NATO during her meeting tomorrow,
Hartmann replied that it was a working
visit relating to their relationship.
Hartmann said that NATO continued to
collect information related to fugitives
and that they are in position to take
action on any future information, as
done so in the past.

Hartmann said that during the Prosecutor’s
meeting with the EU was to give an update
on the degree of cooperation of Serbia
with the Tribunal. The EU required in
the SAA agreement in October 2005 that
Serbia fully cooperate with the Tribunal
and an update would be made by the Prosecutor
on the quality and reality of this cooperation,
as she does on a regular basis with other
states. Hartmann stated that in the case
of Serbia, there was the issue of remaining
fugitives and that no one had been arrested
in Serbia since Beara and that the only
transfers that took place in early 2005
were the result of voluntarily surrender.
The Tribunal expects the authorities
to solve the problem of the remaining
fugitives by arrests.

Asked if the Prosecution would request
the 100 unredacted documents from Croatia
mentioned in the Marijacic and Rebic
trial, Hartmann replied that she would
check into the matter.

Documents: