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ICTY Weekly Press Briefing - 12 December 2008


Registry and Chambers:

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

Good afternoon,

I have the pleasure to draw your attention to the Tribunal’s new website which was launched today. I hope you will find it both useful and interesting. The new address for the website in English is www.icty.org and for French www.tpiy.org.

On court filings, I can advise you about some provisional release issues:

In the ongoing Herzeg-Bosna leadership case, last Friday, Milivoj Petković’s request for provisional release was granted but the decision was stayed pending appeal from the Prosecutor’s office. On Monday, Slobodan Praljak, one of Petković’s co-accused, requested the Appeals Chamber to reverse the Trial Chamber’s decision of 2 December 2008 which denied his request for provisional release.

Dragoljub Ojdanić, an accused in the Milutinović and others case, requested on Wednesday to be provisionally released on compassionate and humanitarian grounds. The decision by the Trial Chamber is pending.

And finally, on Friday, Veselin Šljivančanin was recalled from provisional release for the duration of the appeals hearing which has been scheduled for the 21 and 23 January 2009.

Last Wednesday, Stojan Župljanin filed a motion to join his case with that of Radovan Karadžić. The Trial Chamber yesterday ordered OTP, Mićo Stanišić’s defence counsel and Karadžić to file a response to Župljanin’s motion by 15 December.

Now for the schedule:

Next week will be the last week of hearings before the court’s winter recess. The recess will begin on 22 December with trials resuming on Monday 12 January 2009, with the exception of the trial of Vojislav Seselj. The Seselj trial will resume on 8 January at 9:00am in courtroom II.

Also, allow me to provide a reminder that the judgement in the contempt case of Astrit Haraqija and Bajrush Morina will be rendered next Wednesday, 17 December at 2:15pm in courtroom I. Haraqija and Morina are charged with contempt for trying to persuade a protected witness not to testify in the trial of Ramush Haradinaj and others.

The hearings in the case of Lukić and Lukić trial have been cancelled for this week. The trial is scheduled to resume on Monday with the commencement of the defence case for Milan Lukić.

The trials of Vojislav Šešelj, Gotovina and others, Momčilo Perišić and Popović and others will continue this week and next.

The schedule is subject to change so please check the Tribunal’s website for changes.

Office of the Prosecutor:

Olga Kavran, Spokesperson for the Office of the Prosecutor, made no statement.

Questions:

A journalist asked why the case of Lukić and Lukić has been cancelled, Jelačić explained that the Defence has asked the Trial Chamber for more time to prepare their witnesses.

Asked about the decision on the Prosecution motion to terminate Seselj’s self-representation, Jelačić clarified that the decision was stayed for now and that she could not discuss the redacted reasoning of the decision. Asked about the date at which Šljivančanin is due to return to the Detention Unit, Jelačić said that the order did not provide any details regarding the date of his arrival and that she is waiting to get clarification.