ICTY Press Briefing - 2 August 2000

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

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing
Date: 2 August 2000
Time: 11:30 a.m.

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

First, in the Krstic trial: further to the evidentiary hearing held partly in closed session on 28 July 2000, Trial Chamber I issued a decision on the same day ordering that the audio-visual recording of the session be unsealed and transmitted to the media on 4 August 2000 at 9.30 a.m. in the public gallery of Courtroom III. The exhibits tendered during the session will also be unsealed at that time.

On 1 August, Radoslav Brdanin filed an application with the Appeals Chamber for leave to appeal the decision of 25 July 2000 refusing him provisional release. Copies of that application will be available to you after this briefing.

On 1 August, the defence for Mario Cerkez filed an expert witness statement from Mrs. Anja Nikolic-Hoyt, who is a linguistic expert from Zagreb. The witness statement is related to assertions presented in the background section of the amended indictment of 30 September 1998. The defence case-in-chief in the Kordic and Cerkez case will continue after the summer court recess.

For those who don’t have copies, we now have the amended indictment in the Sikirica and others case, concerning crimes allegedly committed at the Keraterm prison camp in north-western Bosnia in 1992.

A volume of the Tribunal’s Basic Documents in BCS is now available, courtesy of the Tribunal’s Outreach Programme. It includes the Statute, the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, the Rules of Detention, and other related rules.

Finally a reminder that Friday will be the last day of hearings before the Tribunal’s summer court recess. Trials will resume on Monday 28 August and the next briefing is scheduled for 30 August.

OFFICE OF THE PROSECUTOR
Paul Risley, Spokesman for the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP), made the following statement:

The Prosecutor returns from leave tomorrow.

During the next press briefing, we will give an update of the OTP’s continuing investigations in Kosovo.

QUESTIONS:

Asked for a reaction on reports of the arrest of four Dutchmen in Serbia, Risley replied that the OTP had no comment on those media reports and certainly no involvement.

Asked for a reaction to the fact that people were now trying to claim the bounty offered by the United States (US) Government, Risley replied that this was a question to be directed at the US Government.

Asked whether he saw any credibility in these stories, Risley replied that he did not.

Asked whether this situation made the OTP reflect on the wisdom of offering bounties, Risley replied that it was necessary to be careful of the vocabulary used on this subject. He said that the US Government was offering money for information leading to the arrest of individuals. He added that this was not bounty hunting per se. Again, these questions should be addressed to the US Government.

Asked whether (in the light of the arrest of eight people in connection with Todorovic’s alleged kidnapping), he thought the legality of Todorovic’s arrest would change in any way the case before the Tribunal, Risley replied that he did not believe so, based on the information in the news story he read and the allegations contained in this news story of a reported arrest. This did not appear to change any of the facts before the Judges of the Tribunal at this moment regarding the Todorovic case. He added that it was necessary to look at what the Judges would decide following the hearing two weeks ago on that matter. He did not believe that the recent media reports changed any of the facts of Todorovic’s detention and transfer to The Hague.

Asked what the Prosecutor’s official standpoint was on the Todorovic arrest, Risley replied that Todorovic was arrested in Bosnia and he was transferred to The Hague according to the Rules developed by the Tribunal.

Asked whether there was any third party involved in the arrest of Todorovic, Risley replied that it would be sheer speculation to comment on that matter, but certainly the arrest itself was well documented and took place in Bosnia.

Landale added that there was a decision outstanding in this matter. There was a hearing the other day on this matter and it was now time to wait and see what the Trial Chamber would decide.

Asked whether the OTP saw the arrest as the moment the indictee was in the hands of SFOR, Risley replied that this was the case and to discuss what happened before this time was speculation.

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