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ICTY Weekly Press Briefing - 14th Mar 2007

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing

  ICTY WEEKLY PRESS BRIEFING Latest
Developments

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing



Date: 14.03.2007


Time: 12:00




Registry and Chambers:



Refik Hodzic, Spokesman for Registry and Chambers, made the following statement:



I would like to start by commenting on the special supplement titled "Licna karta Srebrenice" in the Monday issue of the Belgrade-based Glas Javnosti newspaper, written by Milivoje Ivanisevic. The introductory part of the supplement states that Mister Ivanisevic's "investigative review" takes side with the view which denies genocide, and that it can serve as a contribution to the possible debate on the genocide committed in Srebrenica.


Without going to details of the article, I would like to state that the piece in question represents shameful denial and relativisation of the facts that this court has established beyond reasonable doubt about the genocide committed in Srebrenica. International Court of Justice confirmed that genocide was committed in Srebrenica, but the facts about the genocide were established first in the judgements by the Tribunal's Trial and Appeals Chambers in the case against Radislav Krstc. The ICTY wishes to condemn this as well as other recent attempts to deny the genocide committed in Srebrenica, in which more than 7000 men and boys were executed. I strongly recommend that anyone wishing to debate about the events in Srebrenica starts by reading the judgements of this court, which established facts after careful weighing of evidence produced by years of investigations, thousands of exhibits, testimonies of both survivors and perpetrators, all fully tested and confirmed by a neutral international court.




SCHEDULE:




The closing arguments for the case against Mrksic et al. will begin this afternoon through Friday at 2:15 in courtroom I. As you may recall, the trial began on 11 October 2005 and 52 witnesses were called by the Prosecution and 36 for the defence.



Next week, several status conferences will be held: on Wednesday 21 March, at 14:15 in courtroom II in the Boskoski and Tarculovski case and at 10:00 in courtroom II in the Stanisic and Simatovic case; on Friday 23 March, at 14:30 in courtroom III in the Trbic case and at 10:00 in courtroom II in the Limaj et al. case.



Also next week, the Prosecution is expected to conclude its case in the Milutinovic et al. case on Friday, 23 March. The trial against the six former high-level political and military leaders of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) began on 10 July 2006.



And finally, the trials for Popovic et al., Prlic et al., Milutinovic et al. and Haradinaj et al. will continue to sit next week. Please check our website regularly for changes in the court schedule.




TODAY’S FILINGS:




The Trial Chamber granted today the defence request for certification to appeal the decision on conflict of interest of attorney Miroslav Separovic. Last week, the Trial Chamber affirmed its previous decision determining Separovic was in conflict of interest and no longer eligible to represent the accused Markac, ordering that Markac immediately engage new counsel. The defence for Markac requested the certification to appeal on 12 March 2007.




Office of the Prosecutor:




Olga Kavran, Spokesperson for the Prosecutor made the following statement:


In regards to the comment made by Refik Hodzic on the special supplement issued in the Belgrade newspaper on Monday, on behalf of the Prosecutor, I would like to say that she absolutely concurs with this statement. To this she would like to add the following:



On 26 February 2007, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued its landmark decision in Bosnia's civil suit against Serbia. This was the first time the Court has found any state liable under the Genocide Convention. Specifically, the ICJ found that Serbia violated its obligation to prevent the genocide in Srebrenica and punish its perpetrators. And, specifically, in the language of the Court, "Serbia has violated its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide by having failed to transfer Ratko Mladic, indicted for genocide and complicity in genocide, for trial by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and thus having failed fully to co-operate with that Tribunal."



And yet, the Prosecutor was very surprised to see that the response of the international community - and especially the Presidency of the European Union - to this ruling appears to be quite muted.



Following the decision, Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, issued a statement that made no mention whatsoever of the fact that Serbia was found in violation of the Genocide Convention. Instead, he applauded the fact that "there is no collective punishment" and that "the highest tribunal in the world has closed that page". The German Presidency of the EU issued a similar statement saying that it "hopes the ICJ Judgement will help close a painful chapter in the history of the region". Again, there was no mention of the violation of the Genocide Convention, no mention of the arrest of Ratko Mladic.



This is truly a potentially devastating development. Given the Tribunal's Completion Strategy and the ever increasing pressure on the ICTY to close its doors by the end of 2010, the Prosecutor is worried that we may never see Mladic and Karadzic in our custody. That would have a devastating impact on international justice and our battle against impunity.





Questions:




Asked about Seselj’s alleged liver cancer, Hodzic replied that we heard Mr. Seselj speak about this subject in the courtroom during the status conference yesterday. He said that what he could say without going into details, since it is not an ICTY practice to discuss issues related to the health of the accused, was just to clarify. He continued to say that tests done by MRI and subsequent blood tests have shown that Mr. Seselj has no cancerous tumors and or other pathological problems on the liver. The tests exclude any possibility of cancer and no abnormality has been detected in the liver function of Mr. Seselj.



Asked whether Ms. Kavran has anything new to say about the problem with witnesses in the Haradinaj case, Ms. Kavran answered that she was not aware of any new developments.


Documents:



 


Case Description



Signature Date



DocumentTitle

Blaskic (Contempt)

12-Mar-07

Order To Respond In Writing Pursuant To Rule 77bis

Deronjic (Appeal)

13-Mar-07

Motion By Mico Stanisic For Access To All Confidential Materials In The Miroslav Deronjic Case

Gotovina et Al.

13-Mar-07

Defendant Ante Gotovina's Response To Request For Certification To File Interlocutory Appeal Against The Trial Chamber's Decision On Finding Of Misconduct Of Attorney Miroslav Separovic

Gotovina et Al.

12-Mar-07

Corrigendum To Decision On Conflict Of Interest Of Attorney Miroslav Separovic And Decision On Finding Of Misconduct Of Attorney Miroslav Separovic

Gotovina et Al.

12-Mar-07

Request For Certification To File Interlocutory Appeal Against The Trial Chamber's Decision On Finding Of Misconduct Of Attorney Miroslav Separovic

Haradinaj et al

09-Mar-07

Reply To Defence Response To Prosecution 'S Rule 92bis Motion With Confidential Annex

Lukic et al

13-Mar-07

Decision On Defence Motion For Reconsideration

Lukic et al

09-Mar-07

Decision

Milosevic Dragomir

12-Mar-07

Conclusion En Reponse De La Requete Du Procureur Aux Fins D'admission Des Declarations Ecrites De Temoins (Article 92bis Du Règlement De Procédure Et De Preuve)

Milosevic Dragomir

12-Mar-07

Decision On Prosecution's Application For Rule 70 Conditions For Testimony Of Witness W-46

Milosevic Dragomir

09-Mar-07

Defense Response Following Disclosure Of Patrick J. Van Der Wijden's Expert Report (Rule 94bis Of The Rules Of Procedure And Evidence)

Milutinovic et al.

09-Mar-07

Defence Request: Seeking Exclusion Of Parts Of Exhibits P2612 And P2613 From Evidence

Milutinovic et al.

13-Mar-07

Order On Prosecution Notice Regarding Exhibits P2465 To P2468

Milutinovic et al.

13-Mar-07

Order On Prosecution Notice Regarding Exhibit P2643

Milutinovic et al.

14-Mar-07

Additional Prosecution Witness Notification For Trial Week Commencing 12 March 2007 With Confidential Annex A

Milutinovic et al.

12-Mar-07

Sreten Lukic's Notice With Respect To Translations Of Documents 6d 139 And 6d 140 Tendered Through The Witness Aleksandar Vasiljevic And The Request For Admiting Those

Milutinovic et al.

13-Mar-07

Urgent Pavkovic Motion To Set Dealine For Request To Admit Document From The Bar Table

Milutinovic et al.

09-Mar-07

Waiver From Milutinovic For Absence From Court On 09 March 2007

Milutinovic et al.

13-Mar-07

Decision On Prosecution Motion Requesting Reconsideration Of Trial Chamber "Decision On Evidence Tendered Through Witness K82" Issued 3 October 2006 And Leave To Re-Call Witness K82 And Final Decision On Evidence Tendered Through Witness K54

Milutinovic et al.

12-Mar-07

Decision On Prosecution Second Renewed Motion For Leave To Amend Its Rule 65ter List To Add Michael Phillips And Shaun Byrnes

Milutinovic et al.

09-Mar-07

Corrigendum To Prosecution Witness Notification For Trial Week Commencing 12 March 2007

Milutinovic et al.

12-Mar-07

Waiver From Milutinovic For Absence From Court On 12 March 2007

Milutinovic et al.

09-Mar-07

Joint Prosecution And Defence Submission Of Annex C (Documents Agreed By The Parties)

Milutinovic et al.

09-Mar-07

Request For Leave To Exceed Word Limit - Prosecution's Second Request For Admission Of Exhibits From The Bar Table

Popovic et al

09-Mar-07

Prosecution's Notice Of Disclosure Of Expert Witness Statements Under Rule 94bis

Popovic et al

12-Mar-07

Motion On Behalf Of Drago Nikolic Joining The Defence Request On Behalf Of Ljubisa Beara For Certification Of The Trial Chamber's Decision To Admit Two Unattested

Prlic and Others

12-Mar-07

Joint Defence Leave To Reply And Reply To Prosecution Consolidated Response To Motion To Strike Parts Of Amended Indictment Alleging Coperpetration, Indirect Co-Perpetration, Indirect Perpetrarion And Aiding And Abetting Jce

Prlic and Others

13-Mar-07

Separate Opinion Of Judge Jean-Claude Antonetti, Presiding Judge Of The Trial Chamber, Regarding The Decision Following The Appeals Chamber Decision Of 6 February 2007 Concerning Appeal Against Reducing Time For The Prosecution Case

Prlic and Others

13-Mar-07

Corrigendum To Decision On Admission Of Documentary Evidence Relating To Prozor Municipality

Prlic and Others

12-Mar-07

Slobodan Praljak's Request For Leave To Reply And Proposed Reply To Prosecution Response To Defence Objections To Certain Exhibits Tendered Through Witness Praljak

Prlic and Others

12-Mar-07

Milivoj Petkovic's Request For Leave To Reply On Prosecutor's Response Of 7 March

Prlic and Others

13-Mar-07

Joinder Of The Accused Praljak In Petkovic Defence Response To Prosecution Motion Filed 19 February 2007 To Add Exhibits To Its Exhibit List (Vares Case)

Prlic and Others

12-Mar-07

Response Of Bruno Stojic To Prosecution Request For Certification Of Appeal Concerning The Trial Chamber's Decision On Remand Dated 1 March 2007

Prlic and Others

13-Mar-07

Joint Defence Response Of Jadranko Prlic, Slobodan Praljak And Berislav Pusic To Prosecution Request For Certification Of Appeal Concerning The Trial Chamber's Decision On Remand Dated 1 March 2007

Prlic and Others

13-Mar-07

Objection De Slobodan Praljak À L'admission De La Pièce À Conviction P06937 (Témoin Josip Praljak)

Prlic and Others

13-Mar-07

Ordonnance Portant Admission D'élements De Preuve Relatifs Au Témoin Omer Dilberovic

Prlic and Others

13-Mar-07

Ordonnance Portant Admission D'élements De Preuve Relatifs Au Témoin Dzemal Barakovic

Prlic and Others

12-Mar-07

Prosecution Motion Seeking Reconsideration Of The Trial Chamber's Dates For The Summer Recess

Protic (Contempt)

09-Mar-07

Order To Vacate Warrant Of Arrest And Order In Lieu Of Indictment

Seselj

12-Mar-07

Decision On Appeal Against Registry Decision Of 19 December 2006

Seselj

12-Mar-07

Prosecution's Motion For Admission Of The Evidence Of Milan Babic Pursuant To Rule 92 Quater, With Annexes A Through D

Seselj

09-Mar-07

Registry Submission Regarding Vojislav Seselj's Appeals Against The Registrar's Decisions Of 28 December 2006 And 9 February 2007

Stanisic

13-Mar-07

Motion By Mico Stanisic For Access To All Confidential Materials In The Miroslav Deronjic Case

Stanisic & Simatovic

13-Mar-07

Order Scheduling A Status Conference

Stanisic & Simatovic

12-Mar-07

Defence Response To Third Prosecution For Pre-Trial Protective Measures For Witnesses (Stanisic)

Stanisic & Simatovic

12-Mar-07

Defence Response To Third Prosecution Motion For Pre-Trial Protective Measures For Witnesses (Simatovic)