Weekly Press Briefing - 30 November 2011

Date:  30.11.2011
Time: 12:00

The media office would like to issue a correction to the statement made at this week's press briefing regarding the draft pre-trial plan for the case of Goran Hadžić. The provisional date for commencement of trial is set for October 2012 and not January 2013 as previously reported. Both parties are still to file any comments on the plan by 6 December 2011 before the plan can be formally adopted.

Registry and Chambers:

Nerma Jelačić, Spokesperson for Registry and Chambers, made the following statement:

Good afternoon,

I’ll turn first to the case of Goran Hadžić. Yesterday pre-trial Judge Guy Delvoie issued a draft pre-trial work plan. The draft plan sets the provisional date of January 2013 for the start of trial and proposes that pre-trial briefs be filed by the Prosecution by 11 May 2012 and by the Defence by 8 June 2012. Both parties were ordered to file any comments on the plan by 6 December 2011 after which it will be formally established. Hadžić, former President of the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK), is charged with a number of crimes committed in eastern Slavonia, Croatia, from June 1991 to December 1993, including persecutions, murder, imprisonment, torture, inhumane acts, cruel treatment, deportation and wanton destruction.

I will turn next to the activities in the courtroom.

The Srebrenica component of the case of Radovan Karadžić started last Thursday and so far four witnesses have been called to testify. The Srebrenica component is the last of the four components of the Prosecution case which included Sarajevo, hostage taking and the municipalities. The Chamber is currently hearing the testimony of Evert Albert Rave, who was deployed to the Srebrenica enclave as liaison officer and field security advisor of the Dutch Battalion between January and July 1995. The next witness will be Roger Patelski who was deployed to the Srebrenica enclave as a private in the DutchBat contingent.

The trial in the contempt case of Dragomir Pećanac commenced this morning following the Chamber’s denial of the Accused’s request to dismiss the charges brought against him on the basis that the evidence is insufficient for a conviction of contempt of the Tribunal. The Chamber found that it would be in the interests of justice for the relevant facts to be determined in the course of a trial. The trial is expected to last until tomorrow afternoon.

As for the upcoming courtroom schedule:

Hearings in the case of Mićo Stanišić and Stojan Župljanin will resume next Monday, 5 December, at 9:00 in Courtoom I with the testimony of protected witness SZ-007 who will testify in closed session.

Proceedings in the case of Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović will resume next Tuesday, 6 December, at 14:15 in Courtroom II, with the further cross-examination of Prosecution witness Manojlo Milovanović, who was Chief of Staff of the Republika Srpska Army during the relevant period. Milovanović testified from 23 to 29 April 2010 and has been recalled by Stanišić’s Defence for further cross-examination on matters related to Mladić’s notebooks and audio recordings which were admitted into evidence after he testified.

Next Thursday, 8 December, a Status Conference in the case of Ratko Mladić will be held at 16:00 in Courtroom I.

The next Status Conference in the case of Vlastimir Đorđević has been scheduled for 16 January 2012 at 9:30 in Courtroom II.
   
Finally, in the re-trial of Haradinaj and others, proceedings will resume on Monday, 13 February to hear the testimony of one remaining protected Prosecution witness.

Office of the Prosecutor:

Frederick Swinnen, Special Adviser to the Prosecutor, made the following statement:

The Prosecutor will address the UN Security Council to present his report on 7 December 2011. The meeting is currently scheduled to begin at 15:00.

Questions:

Asked whether a decision had been made by the Registrar concerning Vojislav Šešelj’s privileged communications with his legal advisors after the expiry of the ban on such communications on 28 November, Jelačić answered that the Registrar had decided to extend the monitoring of the Accused’s privileged communications with legal associates for a period of one month. This decision was taken on the basis of the arguments set out in the Registrar’s original decision. Jelačić confirmed that the Accused has appealed this decision to the Tribunal’s President, who is yet to make a decision on the issue.

Asked how many witnesses OTP planned to present during the Srebrenica segment of the Karadžić case, Swinnen responded that the prosecution planned to call approximately 60 witnesses for this component. Written evidence would also be presented.