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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: 13 October
1999
Time: 11:30 a.m.
REGISTRY AND CHAMBERS
Jim Landale, Spokesman for Registry and Chambers, made the following announcements:
First, I would like to announce that an order scheduling a
Judgement by Trial Chamber I in the case of the Prosecutor v. Goran Jelisic
was filed on 12 October 1999. The order reads:
Pursuant to article 23 of the Statute and rule 98 ter of
the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the Tribunal, Goran Jelisic shall be
brought before Trial Chamber I on 19 October 1999 at 14.30 p.m. in Courtroom
I.
Secondly, I would like to remind you that the Tadic sentencing
hearing for the additional counts that he was found guilty of by the Appeals
Chamber on 15 July 1999, will take place this Friday, 15 October, at 10.00 am.
Also, the Tadic Rule 77 hearing tomorrow will be from 9.00
13.00 in the morning and from 14.30 17.30 in the afternoon.
On documents:
On 11 October, Counsel for Radoslav Brdjanin filed an interlocutory
appeal of the Decision on motion to dismiss indictment, which had been filed
on 31 August 1999.
And, on 7 October, a defence preliminary motion on the form of
the indictment was filed in Kunarac and Kovac case.
Copies of those and all other documents I have mentioned can be
obtained from us after the briefing.
OFFICE OF THE PROSECUTOR
Paul Risley, Spokesman for the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP), made the following
announcements:
Five forensic investigation teams, coming from the United Kingdom,
Germany, Denmark, Canada, and Austria and made up of 68 persons in total were
in Kosovo today, investigating mass graves and scenes of war crimes on behalf
of the Tribunal. The Danes would leave tomorrow and a Swedish team would arrive
on Friday, he said.
A French Gendarmerie Caving exploration team recently completed
several descents into mineshafts at the Trepce Mines, near Mitrovice. These
descents had so far revealed no evidence of war crimes or of mass graves.
The OTP offered the services of Tribunal forensic medical experts
if required for the ongoing UNMIK criminal investigation into the murder of
a UN international staffer in Pristina on Monday, Risley said.
QUESTIONS:
Asked if the order was a continuation of the trial,
Landale repeated that it was a Notice of Judgement by Trial Chamber I in
the case of the Prosecutor vs. Goran Jelesic.
Asked if there was anything additional he could provide in
written form, Landale replied that at this stage there was simply the order
he had referred to. He would be happy to provide copies of that, he said.
Asked if the Rules of Procedure and Evidence was a public
document, Landale replied that it was, and that again he would be happy
to provide the journalist with a copy.
Asked whether there had been any reaction from the Security
Council concerning Croatia, Landale replied that there had been no change
since the Presidents letter of 27 September clarifying some of the
remarks made recently by Justice Minister Separovic.
Asked where the investigative teams in Kosovo were situated,
Risley responded that there were five teams spread across all of the UN
sectors in Kosovo. Risley added that the figure of 68 was only todays
figure.
Asked whether Croatia had provided any further documents to
the Tribunal, Risley replied that a submission had been received yesterday
by OTP. He added that the OTP would be reviewing the documents this morning.
Asked whether the Prosecutor intended to go the Republika
Srpska soon, Risley replied that the Prosecutor had announced her intention
to go to Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia in the near future. The Republika
Srpska was within the jurisdiction of the Prosecutor and she could therefore
make a specific visit there or simply visit Sarajevo.
Asked whether the Prosecutor had had any interesting meetings
lately, Risley replied that she had continued to meet with Ambassadors in
The Hague. He added that she would maybe have a meeting with the Romanian
ambassador this week. She had also had meetings with her investigative teams,
who briefed her on all elements of the investigations, he concluded.
Asked what was discussed during the meeting with the ambassadors,
Risley replied that in the most part the discussions related to the ways
the specific countries cooperated with the Tribunal in relation to information
and services given. He added that in the case of Romania the government
had offered to send Romanian forensic teams to Kosovo. They would be asked
to go in the spring, as investigations for this year were due to close,
he concluded.
Asked for the deadline for the teams remaining in Kosovo,
Risley replied that the Danish team would leave tomorrow. He added that
apart from the Swedish team arriving on Friday, few other changes would
occur this year. He believed that the other teams would likely leave by
the end of October due to the inclement weather conditions.
Asked to clarify a report claiming that no mass graves had
been discovered in Kosovo, Risley replied that this report was inaccurate.
He added that there were more than 400 sites of mass graves or scenes of
crime that merited investigation by OTP in Kosovo. Out of these, 150 should
have been completed by the end of the year. This being around one third
of the total amount completed during the first summer of investigation.
He added that the investigators would return next summer, however, that
it was unlikely that investigations at all the sites would be concluded.
The purpose of the work was to gather the evidence necessary to indict particular
individuals on charges of war crimes.
Asked whether any evidence of removal of evidence had been
found in the mine, Risley replied that investigations continued. He added
that the work by the team was very public and that the investigation involved
more than just looking into the shaft, but included also talking to witnesses
aware of information of what had occurred. Nothing specific had been found,
he added.
Asked about the Croatian Government coming to a decision today
on the Appeal by Mladen Naletilic Tuta, Risley replied that
the Tribunal had been assured by the Croatian Government that, if the appeal
was denied and all legal options completed, they would do all in their power
to extradite him.
Landale added that this was only one element in the non-compliance report
sent to the Security Council by President McDonald. He added that he was
not aware of any official documents being received by the Registry, and
he repeated that President McDonald had stated that Croatia would still
be in non-compliance until Mr. Naletilic actually arrived here at the Tribunal.
Asked whether Croatia would then be in compliance, Landale
replied that this was one element of President McDonalds report to
the Security Council on non-compliance. There was also the issue of Operations
Flash and Storm, which was, as yet, unresolved. The issue now rested
with the Security Council, he added.
Asked about sentencing in the Jelesic case, Landale replied
that it had been decided at the time Jelesic pleaded guilty to the 31 out
of 32 counts he had been charged with, that sentencing would be decided
once the genocide charge had been resolved.
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