ICTY Press Briefing - 10 November 1999

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

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing
Date: 10 November 1999
Time: 11:30 a.m.

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

First, a reminder that tomorrow the sentencing judgement will be handed down for the additional counts of which Tadic was found guilty of by the Appeals Chamber. This will take place at 9 o’clock in Courtroom III.

And, also a reminder that the Judges will meet in plenary next week for three days beginning on Monday. As you know, the new President of the Tribunal will be elected sometime during those three days. We will of course keep you posted on developments.

Finally, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, will pay a short courtesy call to the Tribunal early this afternoon. No press opportunities are scheduled.

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

The Prosecutor Madame Carla Del Ponte is in New York today accompanied by the Deputy Prosecutor, Graham Blewitt.

She is in New York to present our budget to the United Nation’s budget committee, the ACABQ. She has also been asked to address the Security Council on the range of issues before the OTP in both the Yugoslavia and Rwanda Tribunals.

Regarding the Yugoslavia Tribunal specifically, Madame Del Ponte will release to the Security Council preliminary facts and figures regarding our Kosovo Forensic Investigation.

She is expected to report to the Security Council at 11a.m. New York time. We will have copies of the text of her remarks available at 5 p.m. here.

The Prosecutor has just returned from her first trip to the region of the former Yugoslavia, visiting Skopje, Kosovo, Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Zagreb.

Yesterday the Prosecutor issued a press release regarding the case within the Rwanda Tribunal of Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza. The Prosecutor noted her commitment to the highest standards of conduct and fairness before each of the Tribunals for which she is Prosecutor. She intends to visit Rwanda and the Rwanda Tribunal courts in Arusha Tanzania in the near future.

President Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, will meet with senior officers of the OTP this afternoon, who will provide her with an update of our ongoing investigations in the former Yugoslavia.

QUESTIONS:

Asked whether he also spoke for the Rwanda Tribunal in his role as the Spokesman for the OTP, Risley replied that he spoke for the Prosecutor on any and all matters.

Asked whether any attempts were made by the OTP to set a trial date in the Barayagwiza case, Risley replied that, as was written in the Prosecutor’s Press Release, the OTP both here and in Kigali had carefully looked at the time line of this case, where specific motions were filed where it was felt that certain negligence had occurred, not only on the part of the OTP but also on the part of the Registry involved in this case. He added that it was an issue that the OTP took very seriously and the question was raised repeatedly as to whether there were problems. He concluded that he would give further details if requested.

Asked whether the OTP was afraid that this case damaged the credibility of the OTP, Risley replied that the issue was taken very seriously and certainly from that point the OTP was very concerned. He reconfirmed the fact that the OTP had owned up to the facts that were presented by the judges in their Appeal decision.

Asked for a reaction concerning a letter sent to the Prosecutor by the Croatian Justice Minister which mentioned a proposal on the issue of jurisdiction of Operations ‘Flash and Storm’ and whether the OTP planned to implement this joint proposal, Risley replied that the Prosecutor had received the communication from Separovic but had no reaction to it at this time. It had been sent to New York, he added.

Landale added that proposals from a lawyer representing Croatia suggesting changes to the Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence had been received and, as the President had noted in her speech to the General Assembly, they would be considered in due time.

Asked about a statement from the Croatian Justice Minister in which he said that President McDonald had accepted a Croatian proposal to grant provisional release to detainees who surrendered to the Tribunal and also that she had accepted a Croatian proposal to discuss the issue of jurisdiction, Landale replied that the issue of provisional release had been discussed for some time in the Registry and Chambers. He added that specific recommendations on this issue were contained in the report soon to be published by the Expert Group. It was these recommendations that President McDonald believed warranted serious consideration as she had said in her address to the General Assembly, he concluded.

Asked whether the Prosecution had asked for any specific sentence in the Tadic case, Risley replied that they had in the first hearing.

Landale added that a Prosecution brief had been submitted on that issue and was available to those interested.

Asked for information in advance on the Prosecutor’s speech today, Risley replied that he would forward the text of the Prosecutor’s remarks to the media.

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