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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, addressed the Helsinki Commission of the United States Congress yesterday. Copies of that speech will be put out as a press release in the course of today. President Meron will be in New York today, where he will address the Security Council with Lord Ashdown on the establishment of the Sarajevo War Crimes Chamber. He is then due to address the Security Council for a second time tomorrow to present the Tribunal’s Annual Report. 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. Finally, tomorrow morning on 9 October, the President will also present the Annual Report to a plenary meeting of the General Assembly. Copies of all these speeches will be made available to you in due course. With regard to the ongoing cases: First, you should have seen that this morning Trial Chamber I held a hearing to consider a joint motion for consideration of Plea Agreement between Ranko Cesic and the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP). From my understanding, the motion reflected a negotiated Plea Agreement whereby the accused would agree to plead guilty to all counts of the third Amended Indictment. Ranko Cesic entered guilty pleas to all 12 counts. The Trial Chamber stated that it was satisfied that the Plea Agreement met the requirements of Rule 62 bis of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence and entered a finding of guilt on all 12 counts, but will further consider whether to give its reasoning on count eight of the Indictment at a later stage. The Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) recommended the Trial Chamber impose a sentence of between 13 and 18 years. The Sentencing Hearing will be scheduled in due course. We have received a number of scheduling orders. In The Prosecutor v. Blagoje Simic, Miroslav Tadic and Simo Zaric, Trial Chamber II has ordered that the Judgement in this case shall be rendered on Friday 17 October 2003 at 10 a.m. In The Prosecutor v. Momir Nikolic, Trial Chamber I has ordered that the sentencing hearing be held on 27 and 28 October, from 3 to 6.30 p.m. in Courtroom I. In The Prosecutor v. Miroslav Deronjic, Trial Chamber II has ordered that the sentencing hearing be held on 27 to 30 January 2004. The Trial Chamber further ordered that the Registrar appoint an expert to submit a report "on the Accused’s socialization, which provides inter alia details on the Accused’s childhood, conditions under which he grew up, school and work career and relations with friends and family until today" and ordered that the report be submitted by 18 December 2003. Similarly, in The Prosecutor v. Dragan Nikolic, Trial Chamber II has ordered the Registrar to again appoint such an expert to submit a report and that this be done by Monday 20 October 2003. Also, a reminder that the sentencing hearing in the Mrdja case, initially scheduled for Monday, 22 September 2003 was cancelled and will now take place on Wednesday 22 October in Courtroom I at 2.15 p.m. Finally, on the issue of scheduling, Pre-Appeals Judge Weinberg De Roca in the Kvocka, Radic, Zigic and Prcac case has ordered that there be a status conference in Courtroom I next Monday 13 October 2003, at 3 p.m. On 1 October, in The Prosecutor v. Slobodan Milosevic, we received the "Interlocutory Appeal by the Amici Curiae against the Trial Chamber Order Concerning the Presentation and Preparation of the Defence Case Dated 17 September 2003". In the same case on 2 October the Prosecution filed their "Response to Motion by Franko Simatovic for Access to Transcripts and Documents". On 6 October in this case, the Trial Chamber issued its "Order of Further Instruction to the Amici Curiae". In the Order, the Trial Chamber considered that "the Trial Chamber deems it desirable, and in the interests of securing a fair trial within a reasonable time, that the role of amici curiae be extended, having regard to:
The Trial Chamber authorized "the amici curiae to receive such communications as the Accused may make to them and to act in any way to protect and further the interests of his Defence". In The Prosecutor v. Pavle Strugar, on 1 October Trial Chamber I issued its "Order for Continuance of Provisional Release", in which it vacated the Order of 24 September 2003, and ordered the Accused to "remain on provisional release under the terms of the Trial Chamber’s Decision on Request for the Pre-Trial Provisional Release of 18 November 2001". In the same case on the same day, we received the "Defense Pre Trial Brief". On 30 September in The Prosecutor v. Vojislav Seselj, we received Trial Chamber II’s "Decision on Motion Number 19", in which it "partly granted the third issue raised by the Accused, in that he will be allowed to refer to exact time indications taken from video tapes or to quote directly from them". The Trial Chamber denied the remainder of issues raised by the Accused in the Motion. On 2 October in The Prosecutor v. Radoslav Brdjanin, we received the "Public Version of ‘Prosecutor’s Response to the ‘Motion for Judgement of Acquittal – Rule 98 bis’’ Filed on 5 September and Addendum Filed on 16-17 September 2003", In the same case, Trial Chamber II on 3 October issued its "Decision on the Defence ‘Objection to Intercept Evidence", in which it rejected Objection and Supplemental Objection. On 3 October in Mejakic, Gruban, Fustar and Knezevic case, we received the "Prosecution’s Pre-Trial Brief Pursuant to Rule 65 ter (E)(i)". Finally, in The Prosecutor v. Limaj, Bala and Musliu, on 6 October we received the "Prosecution’s Consolidated Response to the Accused’s Applications for Leave to Appeal the Trial Chamber’s Provisional Release Decisions". All the documents I’ve mentioned are available from us on request. No one from the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) was available to attend the Press Briefing. There were no questions asked by journalists today. |