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

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing
Date: 7 April 1999
Time: 11:30 a.m.

REGISTRY AND CHAMBERS
Today, Jim Landale, the ICTY Spokesman, made the following announcements:

Hopefully you will have all received the copies of the press release that we sent out yesterday on the order by Trial Chamber I for the appearance of a number of witnesses in the Blaskic case before closing arguments (press release 393). Copies of that press release are available for those who want them.

Also as a reminder, the Kordic and Cerkez trial will begin next Monday, 12 April in Courtroom III. We have copies of the Prosecution pre-trial brief in that case and also in the Simic and Others case available for you after this.

Finally, on Monday 5 April, the President of the Tribunal, Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, received the American Bar Association’s Leadership Award at the Supreme Court in Washington. We have copies of the speech President McDonald gave at the event for those interested.

QUESTIONS:

• Asked if there would be any legal obstacles if indictments had been issued against the people called to appear as witnesses, Mr Blewitt, Deputy Prosecutor, referred to the Tadic case. A number of defence witnesses had been afraid of being arrested and had therefore testified by video link or had been given safe passage by order of the Trial Chamber. He added that this indicated that no one had immunity and that if a person came to the Tribunal and was the subject of an indictment, he could possibly be arrested.

• Asked whether the Tribunal had received any response to the order to appear as witnesses, Landale answered that he was not aware of any response or problems having been raised as a result of this order.

• Asked if this was the first time that witnesses were ordered to appear, Landale answered that this had also occurred in the Kupreskic case, but that then the witnesses were kept confidential.

• Asked what the legal consequence would be if a witness did not comply with the order to appear, Landale answered that he was not aware of any problems and that in the past, General Morillon had indicated his willingness to appear before the Tribunal as a witness, if asked.

• Asked what the investigators were doing to investigate war crimes committed in Kosovo, Blewitt replied that he could not go beyond what the Prosecutor had said last week that there were people dispatched to the region to work with others in the field in order to gather evidence and documents. Blewitt said that they were working to identify key witnesses among refugees who had seen atrocities being committed in Kosovo. He added that separate requests had been made to the United States, Great Britain, NATO and other organisations in order to receive evidence but said that more could be done.

• Asked how many people were in the field, Blewitt answered that the Prosecutor had said that she did not want to divulge the presence in the field, but he did say that people from other teams were being put on the Kosovo team in order to provide assistance.

• Asked what type of crimes were being committed, Blewitt answered that there had been reports of mass executions, summary executions, allegations of systematic rape, looting, theft of personal property, destruction of villages, identity papers taken to prevent return and deportations. He added that all of this together amounts to persecution as a crime against humanity and that all of these alleged crimes fell within the Tribunal’s jurisdiction, but that the material needed to be analysed before it could be established as being evidence.

• Asked if there was any political suggestion to pressure the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) into issuing and indictment against Milosevic or against any other high political official in Yugoslavia, Blewitt answered that there had been no pressure, but that discussions were ongoing with countries involved in the NATO exercise about the possibilities. He added that an indictment was evidence driven and that if the evidence was there that was going to support a charge, the OTP would not hesitate to bring an indictment and they would have no regard to the position of political leaders.

• Asked if there had been a reaction to the announcement of Arkan being indicted, Blewitt replied that the FRY embassy had ceased to have any dealings with the OTP and that for two weeks now, they had refused to accept any documents. He added that the OTP had contact with Mr. Raznjatovic’s lawyer who had indicated that he was going to file an affadavit with the Registry.

• Asked if making Arkan’s indictment public had the intended result, Blewitt answered that this was impossible to answer and that only time would tell.

• Asked what it meant for arrest warrants (in relation to Arkan) if the FRY Embassy had ceased dealings with the ICTY, Blewitt answered that the arrest warrant had been forwarded to Mr Raznjatovic’s lawyer who had acknowledged the existence of the warrant.

• Asked what had prompted the FRY Embassy’s refusal, Blewitt answered that he assumed it had been the NATO airstrikes, but that there had been no official comment from the Embassy. He added that the OTP had been told about the refusal to receive documents from the ICTY over the phone.

• Asked how the contact with Arkan’s lawyer had occurred, Blewitt answered that the lawyer had contacted the OTP last Thursday.

• Asked if NATO as a source of evidence as well as monitors in the field was different compared to the past, Blewitt answered that it was a variation of the theme and that, for example, UNPROFOR had provided evidence as well. Regarding evidence being provided by NATO, Blewitt added that it would be wrong to say the OTP had not received any evidence, but that it had not received what it expected, having heard those public statements coming from the United States, the United Kingdom and NATO.

• Asked if there was a possibility of holding people criminally responsible for unfounded propaganda, Blewitt answered that in itself this was not possible, but that you had to look at the purpose behind the propaganda. An example of this was seen in Rwanda. He added that if propaganda was used for example to incite genocide, that could constitute a criminal offence.

*****