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ICTY Weekly Press Briefing - 20th Nov 2002

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing : 20.11.2002

ICTY
Weekly Press Briefing

Date:
20.11.2002

Time:
14:30 p.m.




REGISTRY
AND CHAMBERS



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



Good
afternoon, I am joined today by Ljiljana Pitesa from the Office of the Prosecutor.
I would firstly like to mention that the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr.
Kofi Annan, visited the Tribunal’s Belgrade Liaison Office yesterday. He met
with the staff there and was briefed by members of the Registry as to some of
the work that is going on there.



Secondly,
I have a few documents to run through with you and then we will take your questions.



In
the Prosecutor v. Slobodan Milosevic:



On
18 November, we received the "Prosecution’s Reply to Amici Curiae’s
Observations Regarding Admission of Intercepted Communications
".



Also
on 18 November, we received the "Partly Confidential Prosecution’s Submission
of Morten Torkildsen’s Second Expert Report
". This is a lengthy document
and will only be available on request.



Also
in the Milosevic case, on 19 November, we received the "Order to the
Prosecution to Prepare a Chronology of Events
".



In
the Prosecutor v. Milomir Stakic:



On
15 November, we received the "Accused, Milomir Stakic’s Motion for Mistrial".



In
the Prosecutor v. Milorad Krnojelac:



On
15 November, we received the "Prosecution’s Response to Request by Appellant
for
Provisional Release".



In
the Prosecutor v. Milan Martic:



On
18 November, we received the "Decision on Application of Leave to Appeal".



In
the Prosecutor v. Radovan Stankovic:



On
15 November, we received the "Decision on the Defence Preliminary Motion
on the Form of the Indictment
".



In
the Prosecutor v. Blagojevic, Obrenovic, Jokic and Nikolic:



On
19 November, we received the "Decision on Dragan Obrenovic’s Application
for Provisional Release
".



Also
on 19 November, we received the "Decision on Prosecution’s Motion to
File List of Pseudonyms Assigned to Protected Witnesses
".


In
the Prosecutor v. Mladen Naletilic and Vinko Martinovic:



On
19 November, we received the "Final Trial Brief in the Defence of Vinko
Martinovic"
. This is the redacted public version. It is a lengthy document
and will only be available on request.



In
the Prosecutor v. Tihomir Blaskic:



On
15 November, we received the "Appellant Mario Cerkez’s Request for Assistance
of the Appeals Chamber in Gaining Access to Protected Information
".



In
the Prosecutor v. Anto Furundzija:



On
15 November, we received the "Prosecution response to "Defendant’s
Motion for Protective Measures and for Investigation of Contempt of Tribunal
".



In
the Prosecution v. Stanislav Galic:



On
19 November, we received the "Defence’s Submission Pursuant to Rule
94bis of Expert Report of Dr. Jelena Guskova
".



Also
in this case, on 19 November, we received "Defence’s Submission Pursuant
to Rule 94 bis of Expert Report of Prof. Dr. Aleksandar Stamatovic, Ass. Prof.
Dr. Janko Vilicic and Dr. Miroljub Vukasinovic
".



Also
on 19 November, we received "Defence’s Submission Pursuant to Rule 94
bis of Expert Report of Milan Kunjadic, dipl. ing.
".



Finally,
in this case, on 19 November we also received "Defence’s Submission
Pursuant to Rule 94 bis of Expert Report of Prof. Dr. Kosta Cavoski
".



All
of these reports are lengthy documents and will only be available on request.


In
the Prosecution v. Nikola Sainovic and Dragoljub Ojdanic:



On
15 November, we received "General Ojdanic’s Application for Orders to
NATO and States for Production of Information
".



In
the Prosecution v. Momir Talic:



On
18 November, we received the "Prosecution’s Request for Leave to Amend
Indictment
". This is a lengthy document and will only be available
on request.


In
the Prosecution v. Janko Bobetko:



On
19 November, we received the Croatian Constitutional Court Decision on the Bobetko
case in Croatian and in English. This was filed as a court document so, please
let the Press Office know if you require a copy of this document.



 


Ljiljana
Pitesa, Press Assistant for the Office of the Prosecutor, made no statement.



Questions:



Asked for an
update on the Bobetko Appeal Chamber Decision, Landale replied that there
was little that he could say at this moment, the issue was still pending before
the Appeals Chamber. When they had considered all aspects of the submissions
before them, they would hand down a Decision. He could not say exactly when
that would be, he said.


Asked for an
update on the Milosevic medical report and whether or not the Judges had received
it yet, Landale replied that the report was due today, however, he did not
know whether the Judges had received it yet. Next week would be the deadline
for the psychiatric report. Whether the reports would be made public once
they had been received was up to the Judges. If he had any news on this issue
and if the reports were to be made public he would inform the media, he concluded.


Asked to comment
on media reports that the amici curiae in the Milosevic case had filed
for him to be released to recover from the trial, Landale replied that he
believed that there was some confusion stemming from this report, which had
even quoted himself as supposedly confirming this. He believed that there
was a misunderstanding on this subject. The amici submission was confidential,
he had not seen it and was not in a position to confirm its contents. There
was some mention made of it during the trial by the accused himself, so those
details were public, but above and beyond that he could not comment.


Asked whether
Carla Del Ponte would meet with or had already met with any officials of the
Republic of Croatia during her time in the region, Pitesa replied that according
to her schedule the Prosecutor would not meet with any of them. She added
that the Prosecutor was only scheduled to meet with Kofi Annan during his
visit to the Balkans.

Asked for an
approximate schedule of when the Prosecution would conclude presenting evidence
on Croatia and begin presenting evidence on Bosnia, Pitesa replied that she
would have to check on this information. It was a complicated issue due to
all of the delays that had occurred.

Landale added
that it was in the public sphere that some of the witnesses who would be testifying
for the Prosecution would be giving testimony relating not only to Croatia
but also to Bosnia.


According to
a journalist, the newspaper Politika had reported a few days ago that Milan
Martic and his lawyer Kastratovic had ‘split’. Asked whether he was aware
of this issue and whether this meant that Martic again had no lawyer, Landale
replied that he would have to look into this issue.


Asked whether,
as far as the medical reports were concerned, Mr. Milosevic was cooperating
with the psychiatrist carrying out his examination, Landale replied that there
was still another week left before the deadline for this examination to be
completed. He had heard nothing as to whether he was or was not cooperating
with the examination.


Asked whether
there had been any positive developments in cooperation from the Yugoslav
Government over the last few weeks, Landale replied that on an overall level
there had been no apprehensions and transfers to The Hague.


Asked whether
there had been any documents sent, Landale replied that he could not comment
on this issue.

Pitesa replied that there were none that she knew of.




*****