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

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

In the "Aleksovski case" case: As it was announced last Friday that Trial Chamber I-bis had rendered its written Judgement in the Aleksovski case and that copies would become available at a latter stage. Those copies are now available along with a press release (PR 413-e) outlining the main legal findings in the Judgement and the attached opinions.

Chartier also reminded the media organizations attending that following the Judgement issued at the hearing of 7 May, both the Defence and the Prosecution filed Notices of appeal against both the Judgement and the Sentence on 17 May and 19 May respectively.

On 11 June, the following Judges were assigned to the Appeals Chamber to consider the merits of those appeals: Judges Sahabuddeen, Wang, May, Mumba and Hunt.

As of today, the Judges are holding their 20^th Plenary meeting which will go on until Friday afternoon. No hearing, unless an emergency occurs, will be held until the end of the week.

Earlier this week another important meeting took place, namely a meeting of the Advisory Panel on all matters related to assignments of Defence Counsels. This Panel consists of 7 members nominated by the Dutch Bar Association, by the International Bar Association, by Union Internationale des Avocats and by the President.

Finally, and further to press release 412 of last Friday, a fifth country has entered an agreement with the United Nations in order to make experts available to the OTP for the investigations being conducted in Kosovo. This country is Denmark who agreed to provide three experts. More agreements are being discussed and we expect a couple of them to be signed in the course of this week.

OFFICE OF THE PROSECUTOR

Paul Risley, Spokesman for the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP), relayed details of his recent two weeks stay in Pristina. He mentioned that the Office of the Prosecutor has been able to assess the extent of crimes committed in Kosovo. The Office of the Prosecutor is now in a position to gather not only very valuable forensic evidence but also documentation evidence. They are currently securing documentation that might support the Office of the Prosecutor in proving the already existing indictment against Milosevic and others but also provide evidence to further indictments related to Kosovo. He said that various teams are working on different sites in Kosovo namely: The Canadian, the British, the American, the French and the Dutch team and that he believed that the German and Danish teams would start soon. Risley welcomed not only the personnel support the Office of the Prosecutor has received from various countries but also welcomed the financial and equipment donations (specific exhumation equipment) they have received from police organizations all over the world.

• Asked about the Agenda of the Judges Plenary session. Chartier replied that several matters were on the Agenda. The Judges would meet with the victims and witness Unit regarding the current working of this Office. Other matters would be the possible boosting of the legal support for the Chambers, possible amendments to the Rules of Procedure and Evidence and the Judges would discuss the draft Rules and Procedures of Evidence for the International Criminal Court (ICC). Chartier added that President Kirk McDonald would attend the next ICC preparatory committee to be held early July. He also said that both Tribunals (ICTY and ICTR) formally do not take part in the construction of the ICC. Asked whether the Prosecutor and Deputy Prosecutor would meet with the Judges he replied that as usual they would meet with the Judges.

• Asked to give an overview on the situation in Kosovo during his two weeks stay in Pristina, Risley replied that outside Pristina there were signs of a lot of physical destruction. Devastated houses which have been burned down which could indicate an arson campaign and that there were also signs of shell and mortar fires. He continued to say that new war crimes sites were discovered on a daily basis, varying from small sites (houses) to bigger sites. He mentioned that it was not likely that the Tribunal would investigate all sites. The Tribunal would focus on sites that are related to the existing indictment related to Kosovo and on sites important to further investigations.

• Asked about evidence existing of systematic destruction committed over the last period, Risley replied that preliminary investigations indicate that during a short period of time last week of March and April many crimes were committed in different places across Kosovo. Currently the Tribunal is securing documentary evidence that may contain information about the chain of command.

• Asked if a lot of evidence has been destroyed and what kind of information, Risley replied that indeed investigators had found evidence of stacks of papers burned at police and administrative stations. He believed that the investigators are confident, despite all attempts to burn papers, that still a lot of papers and files exist which might be useful as evidence. He continued to say that it appears attempts were made to remove bodies from individual gravesites as has been reported in media reports.

• Asked about the Tribunal’s mandate in Kosovo with regards to continuing armed conflict, Risley replied that the public indictments of Milosevic and his four associates indicated that Kosovo was in a state of armed conflict during the first five months of 1999 (the period of the indictment). Future indictments will give more information regarding the end of armed conflict in Kosovo. Asked if there was a time scale for the upcoming indictments he said no and that as Justice Arbour stated that you should expect other indictments.

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