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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: 01.10.2003
Time: 12:20
REGISTRY AND
CHAMBERS
Jim Landale, Spokesman for Registry and Chambers, made the following statement:
Good afternoon,
The President of the Tribunal,
Judge Theodor Meron, will be going to New York and Washington in the coming
days. He will brief the Helsinki Commission of the United States Congress next
Tuesday, 7 October, and will be seeing US Government officials dealing with
war crimes issues on Monday 6 and Tuesday 7 October.
These meetings will be held
in the context of the constant efforts to obtain and maintain maximum international
support for the Tribunal, both on the political and financial levels.
In New York, President Meron
will meet with high officials of the United Nations Secretariat and the President
will twice address the Security Council. Once with Lord Ashdown on the establishment
of the Sarajevo War Crimes Chamber on 8 October, and the second time to present
the Tribunal’s Annual Report to the Security Council on 9 October.
In this report, in addition
to giving a general picture of ICTY activities over the last year, the President
will focus on the prospects and problems of the completion strategy.
In the morning of 9 October,
the President will also present the Annual Report to a plenary meeting of the
General Assembly.
Finally, during his visit
to United Nations Headquarters, President Meron will also meet with members
of the Security Council.
Today, Judge Jean-Claude
Antonetti, who was appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations
to be a permanent Judge of the ICTY, will be sworn in officially when he takes
the solemn declaration. Judge Antonetti of France was appointed to replace Judge
Claude Jorda, who recently resigned to take up his duties as a Judge at the
International Criminal Court. Judge Antonetti will serve the remainder of Judge
Jorda’s mandate until 16 November 2005. For details of his biography, I refer
you to the press release that we put out on 23 September 2003.
In order to accommodate
these developments and considering that under Article 12(2) of the Statute,
the Appeals Chamber must be composed of seven permanent judges and each Trial
Chamber of three permanent judges, President Meron has assigned Judge Schomburg
to the Appeals Chamber and Judge Antonetti to Trial Chamber II, with immediate
effect. As with all members of the Appeals Chamber of the ICTY, Judge Schomburg
automatically becomes a member of the ICTR Appeals Chamber. Judge Schomburg
will be sworn in as an ICTR Judge later today.
With regard to the ongoing
cases:
In The Prosecutor v.
Slobodan Milosevic, you should all be aware of the oral ruling rendered
by the Trial Chamber in yesterday’s hearing. Having seen some of the media reports,
however, I would like to make this clarification: There will be a hearing next
Monday, subject to the Accused being fit. Thereafter, hearings will be on a
three days a week basis. Which three days the Trial Chamber decides to sit,
it will announce in due course.
Related to yesterday’s hearing,
we have copies of the "Amici Curiae Submissions in Response to the Order
of the Trial Chamber Concerning the Implications of the Accused’s Health Dated
24 September 2003" as well as the corrected version of the Prosecution’s
submissions on that matter.
On 30 September, the Appeals
Chamber (Judges Pocar, presiding, Jorda, Shahabuddeen, Hunt and Guney) handed
down its "Decision on Interlocutory Appeal on the Admissibility of Evidence-in-Chief
in the Form of Written Statements", in which the Appeals Chamber by majority
(Judge Hunt dissenting):
"Allows the appeal
from the Decision of the Trial Chamber, in so far as it
Finds that, as a
matter of law, the Rules allow for the admission of a written witness statement
under Rule 89 (F) when the witness: a) is present in court, b) is available
for cross-examination and any questioning by the judges, and c) attests that
the statement accurately reflects his or her declaration and what he or she
would say if examined; and
Returns the matter
to Trial Chamber III for it to consider the admission of evidence in accordance
with this present Decision".
On the same day in the Milosevic
case, Trial Chamber III issued its "Order to the Prosecution to Finalise
its Witness List", in which it ordered as follows:
"The Prosecution
shall produce, within 21 days, a definitive witness list, setting out the
names of the witnesses it intends to call for the remainder of the Prosecution
case; and
The list may include
confidential and/or ex parte schedules in order to protect witnesses".
Following yesterday’s hearing
in the Deronjic case, in which Miroslav Deronjic pleaded guilty to persecutions
on political, racial or religious grounds as a crime against humanity, you should
have received copies of the Plea Agreement and the Second Amended Indictment.
Extra copies are available on request.
In The Prosecutor v.
Mitar Vasiljevic, on 26 September President Meron issued an Order assigning
Judge Schomburg to replace Judge Jorda in this case.
In The Prosecutor v.
Limaj, Bala and Musliu, President Meron issued an Order assigning Judges
Schomburg, Guney and Weinberg de Roca to the Appeals Chamber to consider applications
for leave to appeal Trial Chamber I’s decisions rejecting the provisional release
applications from all three accused.
In The Prosecutor v.
Mladen Naletilic and Vinko Martinovic, also known as Tuta and Stela, both
accused filed on 26 September 2003 their responses to the Prosecution’s Appeal
Brief.
On 26 September in The
Prosecutor v. Hadzihasanovic and Kubura, we received the "Prosecutor’s
Third Amended Indictment".
Then, on 30 September in
this case, Trial Chamber II issued its "Decision on the ‘Application of Amir
Kubura for Certification of the Trial Chamber’s Decision on Form of Indictment
of 17 September 2003’", in which the Trial Chamber denied the Application.
Finally, on the same day
in The Prosecutor v. Blagojevic and Jokic, "Mr. Jokic’s Request for
Disclosure of Documents Removed From Zvornik Brigade Headquarters" was filed.
All the documents I’ve mentioned
are available from us on request.
Florence Hartmann, Spokeswoman
for the Office of the Prosecutor, made the following statement:
The Prosecutor will visit
Belgrade on Friday 3 October 2003, Zagreb on Monday 6 October and will then
on 9 October travel to New York to present the Annual Report to the U.N. Security
Council. In Belgrade the Prosecutor will meet with the President of Serbia &
Montenegro Mr. Marovic, and will also have meetings with other state officials
such as Mr. Svilanovic, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia & Montenegro
and with the Minister of Defence of Serbia & Montenegro. She will meet with
officials of Serbia including the Prime Minister of Serbia, Mr. Zivkovic and
other officials of the government.
Questions:
Asked whether the date of
the start of the Trial of Strugar has been changed with reference to the arrest
of Mr. Kovacevic, Landale replied that it was still scheduled for 9 October
2003.
Asked when we could expect
Kovacevic, Landale replied the Tribunal would like to see him transferred in
good time.
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