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

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing
Date: 03.11.2004
Time: 12.00 p.m.

Registry and Chambers:

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

Good afternoon,

As I announced last week, the President of the ICTY, Judge Theodor Meron, will conduct an official visit to Croatia tomorrow and Friday, 4 and 5 November 2004, at the invitation of the Croatian Government. This will be the first official visit to Croatia by President Meron.

During the two-day visit, President Meron is due to meet with the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Justice, the President of the Supreme Court and the President of the Republic.

Discussions are expected to focus on general aspects of cooperation between the ICTY and Croatia, and the Tribunal’s completion strategy.

In the Milosevic case, the Trial Chamber yesterday ordered the following:

There will be a hearing to consider the application by Mr. Steven Kay QC and Ms. Gillian Higgins on 9 November 2004; and

The Accused shall file a list of witnesses he intends to call in the week of sittings from 9 November to 11 November 2004, by Friday, 5 November 2004.

On behalf of ICTY Outreach:

Last weekend, the Registrar, Hans Holthuis, and other ICTY representatives participated in the sixth and final session of the seminar entitled "Croatia and International Law". The seminar was organised at the initiative of the Croatian Ministry of Justice and supported by ICTY Outreach, in accordance with the Tribunal's mandate to assist in strengthening the capacity of local judiciaries to handle war crimes cases.

The seminar was held in six training sessions from May to October 2004. The participants were the Judges, Investigative Judges and Prosecutors of the four county courts designated to handle the most significant war crimes cases (Zagreb, Osijek, Rijeka and Split). They were divided into two groups of 30-35 each with each group attending a series of three sessions.

The aim of the seminar was to compare the Croatian legal system to the rules that apply in international law and at the ICTY, so as to better identify all the relevant issues for conducting war crimes trials in Croatia, whether those trials are brought before local courts as a result of local investigations, or on the basis of information and evidentiary materials provided by the ICTY OTP to the Croatian State Prosecutors’ Office, or as a result of the possible transfer of ICTY cases involving intermediary and lower level accused in accordance with Rule 11 bis of the Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence.

In terms of the court schedule, aside from the continuation of the Milosevic, Krajisnik, Oric and Hadzihasanovic and Kubura trials next week:

The further appearance of Ljubisa Beara will be held on 9 November at 3 p.m. in Courtroom III.

There will be a status conference in The Prosecutor v. Mitar Rasevic tomorrow, 4 November at 3 p.m in Courtroom I.

There will be a status conference in The Prosecutor v. Milan Stankovic, on 9 November at 10 a.m in Courtroom II.

There will be a status conference in The Prosecutor v. Kvocka, Prcac, Radic and Zigic, on 10 November at 10 a.m in Courtroom III.

There will be a status conference in The Prosecutor v. Kordic and Cerkez, on 11 November at 10 a.m in Courtroom II.

Office of the Prosecutor:

Florence Hartmann for the Office of the Prosecutor made the following statement:

Good afternoon,

I wish to inform you that the Prosecutor is currently in Brussels. She has addressed the North Atlantic Council. She is also meeting the Secretary General of NATO and later on she will meet Javier Solana the EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and Secretary General of the Council of the EU.

Questions:

A journalist made reference to reports from the UN Administration in Kosovo that an individual had been arrested for threatening a potential witness in the "KLA" (Limaj et al) case. The journalist stated that UNMIK had announced that the arrest had been made at the request of the ICTY Prosecutor and that the suspect in this contempt of court case would arrive in The Hague on Thursday. The journalist asked for confirmation that this was true. In response, Landale stated that he had no comment.

In response to a question by a journalist on more information regarding cases being referred to domestic courts, Landale responded that there were five cases where referrals pursuant to Rule 11 bis had been requested by the Prosecutor to different states; Ademi and Norac, Meakic et al, Todovic, Stankovic and Kovacevic.

A journalist asked for confirmation of news media reports that Carla Del Ponte had stated that the OTP was having difficulties building indictments against Kosovo Albanians because witnesses were too scared to testify. Hartmann responded that the statement was accurate and that the Prosecutor had addressed the intimidation of witnesses in her address in Luxemburg on October 11.

Documents:

The Prosecutor v Slobodan Milosevic

2 November 2004 – Scheduling Order for Hearings on 9 to 11 November 2004. (3pgs.)

The Prosecutor v Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura

2 November 2004 – Joint Defence Interlocutory Appeal of Trial Chamber Decision on Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura’a Rule 98bis Motions for Acquittal. (23pgs)

The Prosecutor v. Sefer Halilovic

27 October 2004 – Defence Notice Concerning its Pre-Trial Brief. (1pg)

27 October 2004 – Response Concerning Prosecution Amended Pre-Trial Brief. (12pgs)

The Prosecutor v. Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac

28 October 2004 – Prosecution’s Response to the Defence Interlocutory Appeal on Trial Chamber’s Decision on Ivan Cermak’s and Mladen Markac’s Second Motions for Provisional Release. (4pgs)

The Prosecutor v. Naser Oric

28 October 2004 – Prosecution’s Response to Defence Motion for the Trial Chamber to Take Judicial Notice of Adjudicated Facts in the Deronjic Case. (6pgs)

The Prosecutor v. Momir Nikolic

27 October 2004 – Appelant’s Reply to the Prosecution Respnse to Appelant’s Motion for Judicial Notice and Motion for Late-Filing of Over-Sized Same.(12pg)

The Prosecutor v. Milan Martic

26 October 2004 – Decision on Defence Motion for Extension of Time to File Pre-Trial Briefs. (2pgs)

1 November 2004- Defence’s Pre-Trial Brief Pursuant to Rule 65 ter (F) with Confidential Annex. (16pgs)

The Prosecutor v. Pasko Ljubicic

1 November 2004 – Prosecution’s Response to Second Application for Provisional Release. (10pgs)

The Prosecutor v. Milan Milutinovic et al

20 October 2004 – Letter from Romanian Embassy. (1pg)

20 October 2004 – Notification of the Government of the United Kingdom Pursuant to the Scheduling Order of 22 September 2004. (1pg)

28 October 2004 – (Partly Confidential and Ex Parte) Prosecution’s Report on Disclosure of Expert Reports in Compliance with Order Dated 28 July 2004 with Annex A and Confidential and Ex Parte Annex B. (18pgs)

28 October 2004 – Notification of the United States of America. (1pg)

29 November 2004 Letter from Royal Norwegian Embassy (1 pg)

29 November 2004 Letter from French Embassy. (1pg)

29 November 2004 Letter from Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany (1pg)

2 November 2004 – Letter from Embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina. (3 pgs)

The Prosecutor v. Vojislav Seselj

22 October 2004 – Prosecution’s Motion for Leave to Amend Indictment with Confidential and Ex Parte Supporting Materials. (65pgs)

The Prosecutor v. Savo Todovic

1 November 2004 – Motion by the Prosecutor Under Rule 11 bis (A). (2pgs)

2 November 2004 – Order Appointing a Trial Chamber for the Purpose of Determining Whether an Indictment should be Refered to Another Court Under Rule 11 bis. (2pgs)

The Prosecutor v. Radoslav Brdanin

27 October 2004 – (Concerning Allegations Against Milka Maglov) Order Reassigning a Case to a Trial Chamber. (1pg)

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See also the latest ADC-ICTY press briefing.