ICTY Press Briefing - 8 September 1999

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing
Date: 8 September 1999
Time: 11:30 a.m.

REGISTRY AND CHAMBERS
Christian Chartier, Head of Public Information Services said the following:

"First, a number of follow-up matters:

As you can see, Jim Landale is away from the Tribunal today. He is in Sarajevo, supporting the informal visit being made by three Tribunal Judges, namely Judge May, Judge Robinson and Judge Bennouna. The Judges met yesterday with members of the Cantonal Court and attended a criminal trial; they also met with law professors and students from the Sarajevo University. Today they are expected to have a meeting at the Constitutional Court, with the Association of Judges in the Federation and with the Association of Judges and Prosecutors in Republika Srpska. This is an orientation-visit, initiated by the Coalition for International Justice and obviously designed to create the beginning of a bridge between the International Tribunal and the local justice system.

We informed you in the Weekly Update issued last Friday that the Prosecutor filed a Motion to be granted leave to amend the indictments against Kunarac and Kovac (Foca case).

Since then, Judge Vohrah has disposed of this Motion and granted the requested leave. The Prosecutor accordingly filed on 6 September an amended joint indictment. Copies will be made available to you after the briefing.

In short: the accused Kunarac and Kovac are now severed from their co-accused in the initial Foca indictment and are jointly indicted. In relation to the accused Kovac, initially charged with two counts of crimes against humanity for rape and enslavement, the Prosecutor has added two counts of violations of the laws or customs of war for rape and outrages upon personal dignity. With regard to Dragoljub Kunarac, the Prosecutor has just deleted a reference to Additional Protocol II Art.4 of the Geneva Conventions.

The next legal step is a further initial appearance of accused Kovac to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty to the additional counts brought against him.

Meanwhile, defendant Kovac has filed a Motion alleging defects in the form of the indictment. It must be noted that this Motion, filed on 2 September, is directed against the initial indictment; and that it was submitted by the accused himself in the absence of an assigned Counsel.

The matter of Defence Counsel for Kovac is still pending. On 14 August 1999, the defendant’s wife gave a power of attorney to Mr. Milan Vujin to represent and defend her spouse before the ICTY. However, on 19 August, the Deputy Registrar informed the accused that the appointment of Mr. Vujin was impossible in light of the on-going contempt proceedings he is the subject of. Although he was provided with a list of other possible Defence Counsels, the defendant insisted on the assignment of Mr. Vujin, and on 6 September, the Registrar confirmed the initial decision to refuse the appointment of Mr. Vujin as counsel for accused Kovac. This decision was motivated as follows: "the interests of justice do not permit the assignment of a counsel as long as he is charged with contempt of the Tribunal".

It is now for the accused to request the assignment of another defence lawyer or to elect in writing that he intends to conduct his own defence.

Copies of the above mentioned Registrar’s Decision are also available to you.

Also available are copies of the Decisions by Trial Chambers II and III to maintain the assignments of Defence Counsels for defendant Cerkez and for the six defendants in the Kupreskic and others case. This matter was covered by a press release issued earlier this week.

I would like to turn now to new matters:

Late last week, accused Mario Cerkez filed a Motion for provisional release. This Motion is confidential. However it appears from a letter from the Croatian Embassy in the Netherlands and from the Prosecution’s response to the Defence Motion, which were filed as public documents, that defendant Cerkez seeks leave to visit a family member in the hospital.

On the Defence side, it should be noted that a letter from the Embassy of Croatia is attached to the Motion stating that, if released, the accused will be under the permanent control of the relevant authorities.

On the Prosecution side, it should be noted that it opposes the Defence’s request. The matter is now for the Trial Chamber to decide upon.

In the Kupreskic and others case, three defendants have also filed motions for temporary release, namely Zoran Kupreskic, Mirjan Kupreskic and Drago Josipovic. Zoran and Mirjan Kupreskic would like to be able to visit their mother, who was taken into hospital last month. Drago Josipovic, who was temporarily released a couple of days in May to attend his mother’s funeral, now alleges that his two sons require his presence and that the trial takes too long.

All three defendants have secured guarantees from various authorities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to ensure their return into the Tribunal’s custody following their release, if granted.

The Prosecutor yesterday filed responses to these Motions, objecting to the release of all accused.

And last but not least… I must inform you with regret of the decision by Judge Antonio Cassese, the first President of the ICTY between 1993 and 1997, to resign early next year in order to resume his academic activities at Florence University. As President McDonald pointed out in her letter to the Secretary General conveying Judge Cassese’s resignation, quote: "Judge Cassese has rendered distinguished service and critical leadership to the Tribunal", end of quote.

Let me add that Judge Cassese’s extensive knowledge of international law, his exemplary commitment to the institution, his vision of international justice, his deep sense of duty and high ethics have been an enlightening inspiration to all of us at the Tribunal. Copies of Press Release no. 435, regarding this matter are available.

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

QUESTIONS:

Asked whether the Croatian government had made available a copy of their "white paper" concerning cooperation, to the United Nations and the International Community, Paul Risley replied that no communication had been received as yet from the Croatian Ambassador to The Hague. Perhaps the Croatians were waiting for the return of Graham Blewitt, Deputy Prosecutor, early next week, he concluded.
Asked whether the Tribunal was aware that "war crimes trials" had been held in Croatia, Christian Chartier confirmed that the Tribunal was aware that trials had taken place over the past few years, however, no number could be given. The Tribunal could not specify whether the charges against the accused fell within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal and knew that most of these trials were held in absentia, i.e. in the absence of the accused.
Asked whether the current visit by the Judges of the Criminal Tribunal to Sarajevo was the first visit of its kind, Chartier confirmed that this was the first time that judges of the Tribunal had held meetings in the former Yugoslavia with local Judges and Prosecutors. He added that the judges were there in their private capacity and not on legal duties as a Trial Chamber. He recalled that the President of the Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia had organized a symposium last year in November and that among the participants were Judges from Bosnia and Croatia.
Asked whether the visit was part of the Outreach program, Chartier confirmed that it was.
Asked for a comment on the press reports in Belgrade concerning the Tribunal investigations in Kosovo and in particular reports of unprofessional autopsies of Serb victims, Risley replied that the Security Council yesterday discussed the matter of the Tribunal and UNMIK in Kosovo including concerns raised by the Russian Ambassador concerning specific sites investigated by, and continuing to be investigated by the Tribunal.
Asked whether the Security Council would have further discussions on the subject of Kosovo, Risley replied that they were scheduled to do so. He added that these coincided with the new Dutch presidency of the Security Council and the return of Richard Holbrook from a visit to Kosovo, who would discuss his findings with the Security Council next week. Risley reconfirmed that it was not the policy of the Tribunal to provide details of matters under investigations. In Kosovo, forensic teams were permitted to provide strictly limited details of work upon conclusion at a particular site, and no more.
In this case, a mass grave site at Llapushnica was discovered and secured by KFOR in the US sector at the end of June, approximately 11 bodies were found, he said. A team of Austrians and Icelandic investigators arrived in July and concluded most of their investigations by the middle of August, however, their report was not conclusive in providing identification of the victims. He added that in most cases regarding investigations of mass grave sites in Kosovo, villagers identified some of the victims, however, in this case no identifications were made, adding to the possibility that the victims were Serb, as all Serbs in that village had left. Many allegations had been made in Belgrade and elsewhere that these victims were Serbs. The investigations would continue at Llapushnica as they would at other sites of war crimes across Kosovo. Allegations of a cover-up were unfounded, he concluded.
Asked whether there were any developments on the "Tuta" case, Risley replied that there were none to report.
Asked what further steps the Registrar could take on the reversal of the Trial Chamber decision to withdraw seven accused’s assignment of counsel, Chartier replied that there was nothing further that the Registrar could do at this stage. The initial decision was null and void, he added. Full rights were re-established, backdated to the day they were withdrawn, he concluded.
Asked to confirm that this was the final decision to be made, Chartier confirmed it was. However, if further evidence substantiating the position that the accused were no longer indigent became available to her, the Registrar could pursue the issue further.
Asked whether Russia’s concerns made to the Security Council were general or specifically concerning the mass grave suspected to have contained Serb victims, Risley replied that Miyet on behalf of the UN spoke to the Security Council and general concerns were raised.
Asked for a comment concerning the last Press release, in which a quote from Trial Chambers’ Decisions expressed the "common knowledge that media reports are not always reliable", Chartier replied that this statement should not have been taken out of context, namely a legal decision made on the basis of a legal finding. The Judges said that withdrawing the assignment of Defence was a "drastic step" and held that, in light of this, such a decision could only be based on "substantiated evidence": press reports were not sufficient to meet this standard of proof.

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