ICTY Press Briefing - 15 September 1999

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

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing
Date: 15 September 1999
Time: 11:30 p.m.

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

As you all know Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, the President of the Tribunal, met Croatian Justice Minister Separovic this morning. The talks were positive and constructive.

The Registrar met yesterday with Minister Separovic in the absence of the Prosecutor and Deputy Prosecutor and agreed to pass on to the Office of the Prosecutor a number of documents that the Minister wished to hand over on behalf of the Croatian Government.

On 10 September, the Appeals Chamber ordered that sentencing for the additional counts in the Tadic judgement should be decided by a Trial Chamber. The question of which Trial Chamber is to be decided by President McDonald. After the decision on these additional counts, the Appeals Chamber will decide on the Appeal against Sentencing Judgement. This decision follows oral arguments from the parties heard by the Trial Chamber on 30 August.

On 13 and 14 September, Trial Chamber II issued its decisions on the motions for provisional release submitted by Zoran Kupreskic, Mirjan Kupreskic, Drago Josipovic and Dragan Papic. The Trial Chamber ruled in all cases that it was unable to find that exceptional circumstances had been shown in the motions of the accused, and that "the accused have not shown that they or their families would suffer any exceptional hardship because of this that would go beyond the usual consequences of their detention."

Furthermore, they ruled that the fact Josipovic’s family was experiencing difficulties, and especially the fact that his children were left without parental guidance "is a common consequence of his being in custody and thus not an exceptional circumstance, either".

Finally, we now have copies of Mlado Radic’s pre-trial brief in the ‘Kvocka and Others’ case for those who are interested.

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

Late yesterday evening (New York time), the Prosecutor, Justice Louise Arbour, and the Deputy Prosecutor, Graham Blewitt, were scheduled to give an end of term briefing to the Security Council, he said.

Yesterday, the Croatian Government submitted documents to the OTP, Risley said. The Deputy Prosecutor, Graham Blewitt, would review the documents upon his return to The Hague. A press briefing would be scheduled if and when anything relevant to the media emerged he added.

The new Prosecutor, Mrs. Carla Del Ponte, arrived in The Hague today, Risley said, adding that no press conference or photographic opportunities had been planned. If this situation changed the Press would be informed once a decision had been made.

QUESTIONS:

Asked what Carla Del Ponte would be doing during her first week in The Hague, Risley replied that she would probably spend the initial period familiarizing herself with her new surroundings.
Asked whether the new Prosecutor planned to visit Rwanda in the near future, Risley replied that she was likely to visit Rwanda, however no date was known at this time. He added that with a new Prosecutor, the Tribunal had to be considerate of the security precautions applied regarding advanced schedules and trips.
Asked whether Carla Del Ponte was due to meet soon with the Security Council, Risley replied that there was no regular procedure in place for such a meeting. However, Justice Arbour met the Security Council very early into her term at the Tribunal, and he expected that the same courtesy would be extended to the new Prosecutor.
Asked whether increased security would be required for the new Prosecutor, Risley replied that due to Kosovo, the security for Justice Arbour had increased. Furthermore, additional specific issues relating to Carla Del Ponte’s previous position had to be taken into consideration. He added that security would be an issue, however he believed this would have no real effect on the media.
Asked for news of the extradition of Tuta, Risley replied that there was no new news at present.
Asked whether a date for trial had been set for the ‘Kvocka and others’, Landale said that he had received no court order to that effect.
Asked to confirm that Justice Arbour had left without extending the indictment on Milosevic in connection with Kosovo and Bosnia, Risley confirmed that this was the case.

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