| 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, Tomorrow, the 11 bis Referral Bench will hold a hearing on the Prosecutor’s request to refer the case against Mrksic, Sljivancanin and Radic to either Croatia or Serbia and Montenegro starting at 9 a.m. in Courtroom I. Representatives from both governments have been invited to be present in court and to give oral submissions. There will be a status conference in this case tomorrow at 2.30 p.m. in Courtroom II. As I announced last week, there will also be an 11 bis hearing on the Prosecutor’s request to refer the case against Todovic and Rasevic to Bosnia and Herzegovina tomorrow at 2.15 p.m. The Referral Bench has invited the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina to attend the hearing and present oral submissions, should it wish to do so. The Judges in the Milosevic case yesterday issued an Order in which they affirmed that they would be rendering a Decision in the contempt case against Kosta Bulatovic this Friday, but also stated that Mr. Bulatovic did not need to return to The Hague. We will of course endeavor to get you that Decision as soon as we receive it on Friday. This week, ICTY Outreach is hosting a working visit to the ICTY by Judges of the Supreme Court of Serbia. The working visit, which has been organised at the request of and sponsored by UNDP in Belgrade is aimed at strengthening the channels of communication between the Serbian Judiciary and the ICTY and thus facilitating the transfer of knowledge, experience and relevant material, accumulated through the practice of the ICTY, to the domestic courts. Last Friday, ICTY Outreach hosted a visit of 20 students from the Zagreb Law Faculty. They heard presentations on the organisation and functioning of the Tribunal, as well as the applicable law, and followed court proceedings. The visit was part of a tour of international legal institutions in Luxembourg, Bruxelles and The Hague. The further initial appearance of Milorad Trbic has been scheduled for this afternoon at 2.15 p.m. in Courtroom I. There will be status conferences in The Prosecutor v. Vladimir Lazarevic this Friday at 3.30 p.m. in Courtroom I; and in The Prosecutor v. Milutinovic et al. also on Friday in the same courtroom at approximately 4.30 p.m. Office of the Prosecutor: Florence Hartmann of the Office of the Prosecutor made the following statement: At the invitation of the President, The Prosecutor will address the OSCE Permanent council on 19 May 2005 in Vienna and a visit would be related to the OSCE project related to building domestically strong judiciary system. Secondly the new Cermak/Markac indictment submitted by the OTP has been filed following an Order from the Trial Chamber further to the Defense request for additional clarification. I wish to underline that the timing of the filing of this new amended indictment was in accordance with the Trial Chamber's Order. The OTP filed the document on 6 May 2005, on the day of the deadline given to the OTP to do so. The new indictment, in terms of the concept and participants of the Joint Criminal Enterprise, is not fundamentally new or different from the old, existing indictment, except that in many places it provides more information, rather than less. Neither the existing nor the amended indictment criminalizes the "Homeland War," nor does it say or even suggest that "everyone" in the Croatian Army was a war criminal. Landale reminded the journalists that at this stage the amended Cermak and Markac indictment was a proposed indictment and had not been confirmed by the Judges. Questions: A journalist asked why persons named in several cases as being part of Joint Criminal Enterprises had not all been indicted, and whether there were certain criteria that had to be met in order to be indicted? Hartmann replied that not everybody had been indicted by the ICTY. The mandate had never been to indict every single individual that had ever been part of the crimes. For this reason, the ICTY hoped that local jurisdictions dealing with war crimes issues would initiate their own investigations and would indict those who had not been indicted by the ICTY. Asked if the Prosecutor had made a selection based on seniority to indict, Hartmann replied that several factors played a role, for instance the accessibility of documents, evidence material and time constraints. She added that this should not prevent anybody else continuing the job initiated by the ICTY and it was hoped that the local jurisdictions would do just that. Documents: The Prosecutor v. Slobodan Milosevic 10 May 2005 – Contempt Proceedings Against Kosta Bulatovic: Order On Issuance Of Decision. The Prosecutor v. Dragomir Milosevic 10 May 2005 – Prosecution’s Response To The Accused’s Motion For Provisional Release. The Prosecutor v. Mrksic et al 10 May 2005 – Letter to Registry From Republic of Croatia. The Prosecutor v. Radoslav Brdanin 10 May 2005 – Response To Prosecution’s Brief On Appeal. The Prosecutor v. Sefer Halilovic 9 May 2005 – Decision On Motion For Prosecution Access To Defence Documents Used In Cross-examination Of Prosecution Witness. The Prosecutor v. Rasim Delic 10 May 2005 – Decision On Motion Seeking Review Of The Registry Decision Stating That Mr Stephane Bourgon Cannot Be Assigned To Represent Rasim Delic. The Prosecutor v. Milan Martic 9 May 2005 – Prosecution Response To Second Defence Motion For Provisional Release. The Prosecutor v. Haradinaj et al. 5 May 2005 – Prosecution’s Response To Defence Motion On Behalf Of Ramush Haradinaj For Provisional Release. The Prosecutor v. Blagojevic and Jokic 9 May 2005 – Prosecution’s Brief On Appeal. |