ICTY Press Briefing - 8 January 2002

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

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing
Date: 8 January 2002
Time: 11.30

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

Good morning and happy New Year,

As you all know, pursuant to Rule 73 bis of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, the pre-trial conference for the Milosevic Kosovo trial will be held tomorrow, Wednesday 9 January 2002, but you should note that it will start at 9.30 a.m. and not 9 a.m. as previously advertised. You are all welcome to attend.

On 4 January, Judge Richard May, in his capacity as pre-trial Judge, issued an order setting out the issues to be raised by the Trial Chamber during the hearing. The order states that:

The Prosecution should be prepared to address the Trial Chamber at the pre-trial conference, on the following matters:

a. The number of Prosecution witnesses to be called;

b. The protective measures, if any, likely to be sought for each witness;

c. The order in which the witnesses are to be called;

d. The number of witness statements or transcripts of prior testimony sought to be admitted pursuant to Rule 92 bis of the Rules and the proposed timetable for submission of those documents and determination by the Trial Chamber;

e. The current status of disclosure pursuant to Rule 66 (A) of the Rules, including the necessary translations into the language of the accused;

f. The current status of translation into one of the working languages of the International Tribunal of all documents to be produces as exhibits during trial; and

g. The current status of disclosure of exculpatory material pursuant to Rule 68 of the Rules;

The order also states that "the amici curiae should address the Trial Chamber at the pre-trial conference as to any extensions to their brief (if any) which they consider appropriate".

In addition on 4 January, the Trial Chamber issued its decision on the Prosecution’s Motion for Protective Measures. Copies of that will be available after this briefing.

On 21 December 2001, Judge Aphons Orie issued orders on the motions for provisional release from both Miodrag Jokic and Rahim Ademi, which were filed 18 and 21 December 2001 respectively, in which he ordered "that the Motion[s] and all related filings or relevant documents be remitted to the Trial Chamber seized of the case for it to decide on the merits of the Motion[s] in due course".

We will keep you informed as to any developments with regard to both of those cases.

Following the decision on 14 December 2001 by the Appeals Chamber to deny Momcilo Krajisnik provisional release, on 29 December a ‘Renewed Motion for Provisional Release’ was filed. In the motion, among other things, the accused argues that the composition of the Trial Chamber has now changed with the replacement of Judge Fassi Fihri with Judge O-Gon Kwon and that "It may well be that Judge O-Gon Kwon would be persuaded by arguments made by the defense which had been deemed by Judge Patrick Lipton Robinson to warrant provisional release". Copies of that motion will be available after this.

On 19 December 2001, scheduling orders for a joint hearing on the Prosecution’s Motion for Joinder and Joint status conference were filed in Obrenovic, Dragan Jokic and Blagojevic cases. The hearing has been set for Tuesday 15 January between 9.30 and 1 p.m. and 2.30 and 4 p.m. in Courtroom I.

On 21 December, we received copies of the Defence Response to the Prosecution’s Appeal Brief in the Krstic case. Copies will be available after this.

On 4 January, we received the Defence Preliminary Motion in the Banovic case. Again, copies available after this.

In terms of the upcoming court schedule:

-Tomorrow, Wednesday 9 January, there will be a status conference in the Nikolic case in Courtroom II between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
-On Friday 11 January, there will be a status conference in the Banovic case in Courtroom I at 2.30 p.m.
-And as I have already mentioned, the hearing on motion for joinder, in the Obrenovic, Dragan Jokic and Blagojevic cases is set for Tuesday 15 January.

Florence Hartmann, Spokeswoman for the Office of the Prosecutor, made the following statement:

I would like to wish you all a very good, exciting and successful 2002. I would also like to tell you that the Prosecutor has been back at the Tribunal since yesterday. She will remain working in The Hague until next week. During the third and fourth weeks of January she will be in Arusha and Kigali.

QUESTIONS:

Asked whether tomorrow’s pre-trial conference would be the last one to take place before the beginning of the trial, Landale replied that, to his understanding, it would be the last conference in which Milosevic would appear before 12 February. He added, however, that there could be a hearing under Rule 92 bis at which he would not have to appear.

Asked whether there was any news on the Prosecutor’s request to appeal against the Decision on joinder in the Milosevic case, Landale replied that there was no news on this issue for the time being. He added that this issue was with the Appeals Chamber not the Trial Chamber so it did not have any direct effect on the pre-trial conference tomorrow, however, it was reasonable to expect that it was something that would be looked at in the near future.

Asked to re-confirm that this issue was not expected to be raised during the pre-trial conference, Landale replied that this was the case. He added that there could be passing references made to it, but it was not a subject that would be focused upon.

Asked to confirm that 12 February was still the planned starting date for the Milosevic Kosovo case, Landale replied that at this time this was the case.

Asked for an update on the conditions of detention of Mr. Milosevic and whether there was still a camera in his cell, Landale replied that there was no camera in his cell. He added that Mr. Milosevic was being treated under the same conditions as all the other detainees.

Asked for an update on Milosevic’s recent visits, Landale replied that he received visits from his two Belgrade lawyers yesterday and today. They were also scheduled to visit him tomorrow. Apart from that the last visits were made last year.

Asked whether there was any news about any future visits from his wife, Landale replied that he believed that there would be a visit by his wife in the near future.

Asked whether Milosevic or the amici curaie had filed any documents since Milosevic’s last appearance in court, Landale replied that as far as the accused went, no. As far as the amici curaie went he would have to check, because it made reference in the Trial Chamber Order to briefs by the amici curaie which he had not yet seen.

Asked whether there had been any written indication from Milosevic that he had changed his position, Landale replied that there had not.

Asked whether there was any indication as to whether Milosevic was now reading the documents sent to him, Landale replied that right from the outset Milosevic had access to that material. Whether he was now reading it or not, he would check, he added.

Asked whether he had received a visit from the French lawyer Jacques Verges, Landale replied that he would check into this.

Asked why the Prosecutor was not in favour of the provisional release request made by Rahim Ademi, Hartmann replied that the OTP decided on the issue of provisional release on a case by case basis. She added that there where cases were the OTP supported requests for provisional release and others where they did not support them. The OTP did not support the provisional release for all the Bosniak cases. It did support the Halilovic motion for release. It was against the motion from Hadzihasanovic, Aligic and Kubura.

In the case of Ademi the OTP’s position was that he was not fulfilling all of the conditions the OTP established under its criteria for provisional release. The OTP opposed the motion and the decision had to be taken by the Chamber. The issue was still ongoing and there had been no public hearing on this issue.

Asked for a comment on stories in the media in the last weeks which stated that several accused wished to hand themselves over to the Tribunal, Hartmann replied that on the basis of what the OTP knew it was only media speculation. The OTP was in no position to comment as to whether there had been any discussions in their own countries with their own authorities. The OTP had not been informed of any possible arrivals. Usually the OTP or the Registry would be informed a few hours or days before a voluntary surrender, to make sure that an accused could express their will to voluntarily surrender without being arrested while travelling to The Hague.

Landale added that the Tribunal would welcome any voluntary surrender as it would get the new year off to a good start. It was still the obligation for all indictees to be apprehended and brought to The Hague, he added.

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