Registry and Chambers:
Magdalena Spalińska, Spokesperson for Registry and Chambers, made the following statement:
Good afternoon,
Following the official closure of the Prosecution's case in the Mladić trial, the Chamber ordered last week that the Rule 98bis submissions will take place from 17 to 19 March 2014 at 9:30 am in courtroom I. Rule 98bis of the Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence provides that at the close of the Prosecutor's case, the Trial Chamber shall, by oral decision, and after hearing the oral submissions of the parties, enter a judgement of acquittal on any count if there is no evidence capable of supporting a conviction. In addition, the Chamber ordered that the Defence case commence on 13 May preceded by the Pre-Defence Conference a day before. The Defence is to file its witness and exhibit lists by 28 April.
In the case of Radovan Karadžić, hearings concluded on Monday, 3 March. The Defence case will officially close in due course once the Trial Chamber renders decisions on pending evidence related motions.
On the 3 March, the Defence for Zdravko Tolimir filed a public redacted version of his Appeal Brief. The appellant set forth 25 grounds of appeal, inviting the Appeals Chamber to overturn all the convictions or to significantly reduce the sentence imposed by the Trial Chamber. In December 2012, the Trial Chamber found Tolimir guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in 1995 after the fall of the enclaves of Srebrenica and Žepa, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Finally, I will now highlight several upcoming events.
Tomorrow, the Tribunal’s Outreach Programme will launch a third round of its regional youth outreach project with a presentation at the Fifth Gymnasium in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. As in previous years, the project will comprise of presentations for high school and university students across the former Yugoslavia, introducing the young people to the work of the Tribunal and its contribution to the establishment of facts about the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990’s. The project is generously supported by the Government of Finland.
Beginning this Saturday 8 March, a selection of photos of Tribunal Judges, staff members and courtrooms by Dutch photographer Friso Keuris will be featured in the exhibition The Good Cause at Stroom cultural center in The Hague. The photographs will be on display until 1 June as part of the larger exhibition called See you in The Hague, held in various venues around the city. The initiative, consisting of exhibitions, lectures and presentations, sheds light on the different facets of The Hague as the International City of Peace and Justice.
Questions:
No questions were asked.