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

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing
Date: 17 May 2000
Time: 11:30 a.m. 

President Jorda is very concerned by the reports of Ojdanic’s visit to Russia last week. The Prosecutor has requested that the President take action on this and so he will be writing a letter today to the Russian Ambassador to the Netherlands asking for clarification and an explanation on what would appear to be a significant issue of non-compliance by a permanent member of the Security Council.

I would also like to remind you that at the time that the indictment was issued a copy of the indictment, along with an international arrest warrant was sent to all permanent members of the Security Council in New York, so claims in the media that they were unaware Ojdanic had been indicted are not accurate. In addition, I think it is fair to say that the Milosevic indictment is probably the most famous and widely publicized indictment issued by this Tribunal so far.

In the Foca case, on 15 May, Trial Chamber II ordered that the Defence may disclose the witness statements of specified protected witnesses to medical experts as detailed in the order. Copies will be available after this.

The Galic provisional release hearing that was due to take place tomorrow has been postponed at the request of the Defence. No new date has been set, although the Defence has suggested 8 June when the next status conference has been scheduled.

In the Bosanski Samac case, an order on the request for the provisional release of Milan Simic was issued yesterday. Simic has 14 days in which to file certain guarantees.

In the Celebici appeal, we have received a list of witnesses to be called in connection with Landzo’s fourth ground of appeal and witness statements in the form of affidavits have been attached.

Finally, a reminder that the Krstic trial will resume next Monday, 22 May.

OFFICE OF THE PROSECUTOR
Paul Risley, Spokesman for the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) made no statement.

• Asked whether a copy of the letter from the President to the Russian Embassy would be made available, Landale replied that once it had been sent and received, he would ask for a copy to be provided.

• Asked whether he believed that it was strange for the President of Montenegro to be in The Hague but not visit the Tribunal, Landale replied that he did not believe it was strange as the President’s visit to The Hague was on completely separate issues.

Risley added that the Prosecutor and Deputy Prosecutor were away from The Hague today.

• Asked whether the visit by Ojdanic was the first visit outside of the former Yugoslavia by any of the five indictees on the Milosevic indictment, Risley believed that this was the first visit outside of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia by any of the five indicted on May 26 1999.

• Asked whether there was any news concerning the seizure of assets of any of the five individuals on the Milosevic indictment, Risley replied that a very important aspect of the OTP’s investigations included reviewing and seizing, if possible, the assets of these individuals.

• Asked whether any of these assets had been identified or frozen by the Tribunal and whether any of the UN Member states had attempted to seize them, Risley reemphasized that it was a very important part of the investigation, however, he declined to comment further in case it in anyway assisted the five indictees involved.

• Asked whether the list of 40 Dutch Bat. soldiers asked to testify in the Krstic case, (due to resume on Monday) would remain the same or whether the list had been reviewed and rectified, Risley replied that the Prosecution case would begin to focus on both the forensic aspects of the case and the evidence brought to bear by outside sources. He added that it might well be that additional Dutch Bat soldiers would testify.

• Asked for the attitude of the Prosecutor towards the visit of Ojdanic to Moscow, Risley replied that the Prosecutor was alarmed by these media reports and would like to determine whether or not the reports were true and why no steps were taken to arrest an individual under indictment by this tribunal.

• Asked for specifics on the request from the Prosecutor to the President, Risley replied that it was clear and to the point and he believed that the President and the Prosecutor shared a similar view on this matter.

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