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

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing
Date: 23.10.2002
Time: 10:30

REGISTRY AND CHAMBERS

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

Good morning,

There is no-one here from the Prosecutor’s Office this morning.

The President of the Tribunal, Judge Claude Jorda, will be travelling to New York in the coming days. He is due to address the General Assembly on Monday 28 October and the Security Council the following day, 29 October. We will keep you informed of what he says and hopefully will be able to give you copies of his speeches to both bodies once he has made them.

In terms of court documents:

We have copies of the three indictments that were unsealed by Judge Schomburg on Monday, namely against Drago Nikolic, Vujadin Popovic and Ljubisa Beara.

On 16 October, we received the "Prosecution’s Report on Publication of Extracts From Prosecution Witness Statement of Nikola Samardzic in Dan Newspaper on 9 October 2002", which some of you might already have.

Then on 18 October, we received a "Document Filed by the Amici Curiae Re: Croatia".

On 18 October, we received a letter from the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia to the Registrar, notifying him that Mr. Goran Mikulicic had been appointed as Legal Counsel of the Croatian Government in the case.

Also on 18 October, we received the "Republic of Croatia’s Brief in Reply to Prosecution’s Response of 10 October to the Application of the Republic of Croatia to Submit an Interlocutory Appeal Against the Warrant of Arrest and Order for Surrender of 20 September 2002".

Then on 21 October, we received, the "Prosecution’s Response to the Request From the Republic of Croatia for a Review of the Judge’s Decision of 17 September Confirming the Indictment Against Janko Bobetko and the Orders for His Arrest and Surrender of 20 September 2002".

On 16 October, we received a "Request for Pardon or Commutation of Sentence" filed to the President of the Tribunal, Judge Claude Jorda.

On 18 October, we received the "Decision on Momcilo Krajisnik’s Motion to Dismiss or For Alternative Relief", dismissing the Motion.

Again on 18 October and in the same case, we received the "Decision on Momcilo Krajisnik’s Motion for Provisional Release and Evidentiary Hearing", which dismissed both Motions.

On 15 October, we received an "Application for Leave to Appeal on Decision on the Motion for Provisional Release".

On 16 October, we received the "Prosecution’s Motion for Reconsideration of Commencement Date of the Accused’s Case".

In terms of the court schedule:

In the Prosecutor v. Radovan Stankovic, there will be a status conference on Tuesday 5 November at 3 p.m.

One other matter: a point was made in court today in the Milosevic trial by Judge May about publication of some details mentioned by Mr. Milosevic. Those people in the Public Gallery heard the details but they have been redacted from the delayed feed. As pointed out by Mr. Nice, publication of those details would constitute a contempt of court and would expose anyone who did publish those details to liability.

• Asked if he could say whether President Jorda was going to complain about specific countries to the United Nations, Landale replied that he would not make any comment about what the President might say to the Security Council or to the General Assembly before he actually did so.
• Asked whether President Jorda would take seriously Carla del Ponte’s warning that the response by President Kostunica and the law for co-operation with the Tribunal was not good enough and that the Security Council had to do something about the lack of co-operation, Landale pointed out that the Prosecutor did not warn the President. He made reference to Rule 7 bis of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, which set out guidelines for reporting states to the Security Council for non-co-operation.

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