ICTY Press Briefing - 28 June 2000

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

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing
Date: 28 June 2000
Time: 12:30 p.m.

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

Firstly, Dusko Sikirica’s initial appearance before Trial Chamber III will take place on Friday 7 July 2000 at 1430 hours in Courtroom III, where he will be asked to enter a plea to the charges contained in the indictment against him. All media are welcome to attend.

Please also note that an amended indictment was confirmed on 30 August 1999 and kept under seal until his detention and transfer to The Hague on 25 June 2000.

In the amended indictment, Sikirica is charged on the basis of his individual criminal responsibility, as well as superior criminal responsibility with two counts of genocide, three counts of crimes against humanity and two counts of violations of the laws or customs of war for his alleged role as commander of the Keraterm prison camp in north-western Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On 23 June, a defence statement on motion for provisional release was filed by the defence for Stanislav Galic. This includes submissions from the accused himself, his defence counsel and his wife. On the same date Galic’s defence also filed their reply to the Prosecutor’s Response in Opposition to Motion for Provisional Release.

On 27 June, a Prosecutor’s Response to Defence Motion for Judgement of acquittal pursuant to Rule 98bis was filed in the Foca case. We have copies of those documents available after this.

Finally, a reminder that the Defence case in the Foca trial will begin next Monday, 3 July.

Paul Risley, Spokesman for the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) made the following statement:

The Prosecutor is in Arusha today, she will be there until the end of the week. The Deputy Prosecutor is currently on leave.

QUESTIONS:

Asked why there was such a long postponement of the Sikirica initial appearance, Landale replied that when Sikirica arrived at the detention unit he had a medical check up, one of the normal formalities for a new detainee. During the check up some injuries were detected that were sustained during the detention operation, he added. He went on to say that these were minor injuries, however, they required attention and it was decided by a doctor that this should be done before Sikirica’s initial appearance took place.

Asked what kind of injuries Sikirica sustained during his arrest, Landale replied that they were minor injuries.

Asked for an update on the investigations in Dubrovnik, Risley replied that he could not give many precise details, apart from the fact that the OTP was receiving excellent cooperation from the Government of Croatia. He added that the OTP currently had a team of investigators working in and around the Dubrovnik area. He concluded that the Prosecutor had publicly revealed her intention to complete this investigation and to issue indictments before the end of this year.

Asked for further information on the Prosecutor’s visit to Arusha, Risley replied that he did not have much information to give apart from the fact that there was a Plenary taking place in Arusha which the Prosecutor would be following.

Asked to comment about a statement allegedly made by Radio Free Europe that he had confirmed that investigations were being carried out against journalists for instigation of crimes, Risley replied that four days ago a reporter for Radio Free Europe had asked him several questions on that issue. He added that for the record, the OTP had no journalists under investigation in the former Yugoslavia, although the OTP might in the future.

He went on to say that to some degree the reporter from Radio Free Europe had put words into his mouth, implying that he had confirmed that there were ongoing investigations. He concluded by reiterating the fact that the OTP would never confirm who targets of its ongoing investigations were, until the OTP was prepared to make indictments and it was the same for this case and that he did not know of any publicly known events or occurrences that would lead one to believe that journalists would be under investigation.

Risley added finally that the reporter from the Radio Free Europe was incorrect in saying that he was confirming any investigation, as targets of investigations were not confirmed in that way.

Asked to comment on a report quoting Mr. Thaci as stating categorically that there were no investigations against KLA leaders, Risley replied that, an investigation from the Prosecutor always began with a specific allegation of a crime. He added that the OTP did not announce or indicate the targets of the OTP investigations until they were prepared to make an indictment, thus perhaps what Mr. Thaci said was correct. However his word should not be relied upon on this issue, only the words of the Prosecutor.

The Prosecutor had made it very clear that she had an investigation underway into alleged crimes where there were Serbian victims. The mandate and the authority of this Tribunal and this Prosecutor were for the investigation of the senior most persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law, he concluded.

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