ICTY Press Briefing (revised)

Please note that this is not a verbatim transcript of the Press Briefing. This is merely a summary.

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing : Revised Version
Date: 1 September 1999
Time: 11:30 a.m.

REGISTRY AND CHAMBERS
Jim Landale, Spokesman for the Registry and Chambers made the following announcements:

The only thing that I have today is a motion for leave to file an amended indictment joining Dragoljub Kunarac and Radomir Kovac's cases together, which was submitted on 30 August 1999. Copies are available to those who want them.

OFFICE OF THE PROSECUTOR
Paul Risley, Spokesman for the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) made no announcements.

QUESTIONS:

Asked whether the Prosecutor had reviewed the documents submitted by the Croatian Government and whether any of these documents related to ‘Operations Flash and Storm’, Paul Risley replied that the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) had no new announcements regarding reviewed documents other than those already discussed in previous briefings.

Asked about the President’s refusal to refer to the Security Council the issue of the consolidated list of documents from the Croatian authorities, Risley replied that the OTP concurred that the matter could be dealt with through the courts.

Asked what procedures would be put into place concerning this matter, Risley replied that no announcement had been made on this subject. Jim Landale added that the process referred to was the issuing of a binding order.

Asked whether a request had been submitted during General Talic’s initial appearance for a dual Trial, Landale stated that a request for joinder had been made and that a motion was due in a few days.

Asked for his opinion concerning the fact that Croatia had stated that the Tribunal was acting ‘politically’ in its exertion of pressure on the Croatian Government, Risley replied that, from his understanding, a HINA report stated that last Monday the Croatian National Security Council had met and unanimously agreed to fully cooperate with the Tribunal.

Asked whether this had happened before or after the statement made by the Deputy Prosecutor, Graham Blewitt was published in Croatia, Risley replied that it had been done before that.

Asked whether the practice of confirming that a person was on or was not a sealed indictment, as previously in the cases of Plavsic, Arkan, and now in the case of Tudjman was a new practice, Risley replied that it was not a new practice. However, the OTP had the ability to provide specific information with regard to specific individuals as the Deputy Prosecutor, had done. He added that the Deputy Prosecutor’s comment had been fairly limited and simply said that at this time there was not a sealed indictment against President Tudjman.

Asked about a briefing a month ago in which Graham Blewitt stated that the Prosecutor was ready to propose to Croatia that the question of jurisdiction regarding ‘Operation Storm’ be brought before the trial chamber as was done in the case of Serbia regarding Kosovo, Risley replied that an announcement on that matter would be provided in coming days.

Asked what the Tribunal policy was on those indicted or not indicted and whether certificates existed saying that persons were not on the public lists and if they did, what the purpose of these certificates were, Risley replied that the Deputy Prosecutor’s words were exceptional and that there was no practice or policy making public the existence or non-existence of sealed indictments. It was an issue dealt with on case by case basis, he added.

Asked to confirm whether the Deputy Prosecutor had told the Croatian Ambassador that Tudjman was not on a sealed indictment, Risley replied he was not familiar with such reports. However, two nights ago the Deputy Prosecutor had said directly to a reporter that Tudjman was not under a sealed indictment presently.

Asked about the alleged leak of a list of Bosnian Serbs on sealed indictments, Risley replied that it did not appear that any information from the Tribunal had been inappropriately revealed and based on the successful arrest of General Talic, the OTP felt confident that the process of using sealed indictments remained successful.

Asked if the authorities in the Republika Srpska were ready to cooperate with the Prosecutor’s proposal to share information concerning sealed indictments, Risley confirmed that the Prosecutor Justice Louise Arbour, had made this proposal in July during her trip to the former Yugoslavia, however, she concluded that the authorities within the Republika Srpska were not prepared to cooperate with the Tribunal and had not even provided information for the apprehension of any of the individuals under sealed indictment. He added that there were 20 outstanding publicly indicted individuals believed to be within the Republika Srpska and that these authorities could indicate their cooperation by compelling their surrender first if they truly desired to meet the criteria set out in order to allow for the exchange of confidential information from the Tribunal.

Asked to explain the fact that Talic was arrested in Vienna when SFOR had been issued with his warrant for arrest since 14 March, Risley replied that the decision of when to arrest someone was for SFOR or other cooperating bodies to make, based on security and risk factors to their own people. The Tribunal had no criticism of SFOR’s performance and level of cooperation as SFOR had arrested three people in the last 90 days. Although arrest warrants were dated on a particular day, it was up to the OTP to decide when to share specific arrest warrants with specific parties, so while the Talic indictment might have been dated March 14, it was the decision of the OTP as to when to divulge this information to other parties, he said.

Asked about Justice Arbour’s comment that there was in fact no list of sealed indictments, Risley replied that the method of providing information to cooperating parties was not in the form of a list, per se, but rather information on particular people provided solely and separately. Other parties could produce their own lists as certain journalists had done. The use of the term ‘list’ was inappropriate when describing the confidential methods of providing information to cooperating parties, he added.

Asked if any progress had been made regarding a Tribunal investigation in the case of the New York Times receiving information inappropriately concerning Operation Storm, Risley replied that he would seek an update on this matter.

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