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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 REGISTRY AND
CHAMBERS 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:
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. |