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

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing
Date: 4 September 2002
Time: 14:30

Good afternoon,

A document that was filed on 30 July, but has not yet been mentioned and should be brought to your attention is the "Decision on Motion for Review" in the Tadic case. The Motion was dismissed.

On 30 August, in the Prosecutor v. Blagojevic, Obrenovic, Jokic and Nikolic, we received the "Appeal of the Trial Chamber’s Decision on Dragan Obrenovic’s Application for Provisional Release".

Again on 30 August, in the Prosecutor v. Mile Mrksic, we received the "Defense Brief on Appeal Against Trial Chamber’s Decision to Deny Provisional Release".

Also on 30 August, in the Prosecutor v. Gojko Jankovic, we received a "Motion for Issue of Warrant of Arrest and Order For Surrender and for Orders Regarding their Transmission".

On 2 September in the Prosecution v. Blagojevic, Obrenovic, Jokic and Nikolic, we received the "Prosecution Request for Leave to File Consolidated Response to Pending Motion by the Accused Obrenovic, and to Anticipated Motion by Accused Blagojevic, Regarding Appeal on Applications for Provisional Release".

Also on 2 September, in the same case we received the "Appeal From the Trial Chamber’s Impugned Decision on Vidoje Blagojevic’s Application for Provisional Release".

On 3 September in the Prosecutor v. Dragan Zelenovic, we received a "Motion for Issue of Warrant of Arrest and Order For Surrender and for Orders Regarding their Transmission".

Again, on 3 September in the Prosecutor v. Mitar Rasevic, we received a "Motion for Issue of Warrant of Arrest and Order For Surrender and for Orders Regarding their Transmission".

Also on 3 September in the Prosecutor v.Savo Todovic, we received a "Motion for Issue of Warrant of Arrest and Order For Surrender and for Orders Regarding their Transmission".

Jean-Jacques Joris, Advisor to the Prosecutor, made no statement.

• Asked to comment about a report released yesterday by the Republika Srpska Office for Cooperation with the ICTY suggesting that Bosnian Muslims had imagined or fabricated the Srebrenica massacre, Landale replied that he had not yet seen the report, however that he had seen the media reports as to the contents of the report. If they were accurate, he would only describe the report as being outrageous and said that it flew in the face of all of the painstaking investigation conducted by the Office of the Prosecutor into the events following the fall of the Srebrenica enclave in July 1995. He continued to say that it was also important to point out that, specifically, the Krstic Judgement stated that "the Trial Chamber is satisfied that, in July 1995, following the take-over of Srebrenica, Bosnian Serb forces executed several thousand Bosnian Muslim men, the total number is likely to be within the range of 7,000 to 8,000 men". In addition, he mentioned that throughout the trial, General Krstic and his Defence team did not actually challenge the death toll as asserted by the Prosecution.
• Asked whether the Tribunal could comment about a story published in Zeri about an Albanian woman who testified in the Milosevic case and who did not want to return back to Kosovo and had asked for asylum in the Netherlands, Landale replied that he would like the journalists to refer to a written response on behalf of the Registry and the Prosecution. He added that this was a very sensitive issue, which dealt with protected witnesses and as a result he could not make any further comments that might jeopardize their safety.
• Asked for an indication on how long the Kosovo part of the Milosevic Trial would last and whether we could give some clarity about when the Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina part would start, Landale said that he could not be 100% sure, but said that the feeling was that the Kosovo part would end after a couple of days next week. If that were to be the case there would be a two week break before the beginning of Croatia and Bosnia, so we could be looking at around 26 September. Of course this could always change, he added.
• Asked to comment about an article in the Montenegrin daily Dan, which allegedly published the identity of Witness K41, Landale replied that he could not comment.
• Asked whether Joris could give any names of people testifying at the start of the Croatia part of the Milosevic trial since the Prosecution would start with the chain of command, Joris replied he could not disclose any names.
• Asked if there was any information about whether Mr. Holbrooke would testify before the Tribunal, Joris replied that he had nothing new to say since last week. The same question was asked about Mr. Lilic to which Joris replied with the same answer.

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