ICTY Weekly Press Briefing - 5th Sep 2007

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing

Date: 05.09.2007

Time: 12:00

Registry and Chambers:

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

President of the ICTY Fausto Pocar today addressed diplomats from more than 60 countries at a diplomatic seminar held in Brussels. In his presentation, Pocar gave an overview of ICTY’s development and achievements before attending a roundtable together with the Prosecutor Del Ponte and Registrar Holthuis, who also addressed the diplomats.

The Tribunal’s Trial Chamber I sitting in the case of Rasim Delić, former commander of the Main Staff of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, is scheduled to hold an evidentiary hearing in Sarajevo beginning on Friday, 7 September. The hearing, to last for up to three days, will take place at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The hearing is the first conducted by a Tribunal Chamber away from its seat in The Hague, Netherlands. It is being held at the request of the Prosecution, with the Defence’s consent, in accordance to the ICTY’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence. The proceedings will involve testimony of Ali Ahmed Ali Hamad after the Trial Chamber granted Prosecution’s request to hold the hearing in Sarajevo due to the specific circumstances of that witness. The hearing will form an integral part of the trial in the case of Rasim Delić. Both Parties, as well as the accused, will be present.



The proceedings will be open to the public, subject to the possibility of closed sessions. The Trial Chamber is scheduled to sit on each day – Friday 7 September, Saturday 8 September and Sunday 9 September. The Tribunal acknowledges the hospitality of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in allowing the ICTY Trial Chamber to use its premises on this occasion.SCHEDULE: The courtrooms are busy again this week with the Milutinović et al, Haradinaj et al, Boškoski and Tarčulovski, and Popović et al trials all continuing. The whole trial chamber in the Rasim Delić case is, as you all know, in Bosnia and Herzegovina for a site visit to several crime scenes. The trial will resume at the Tribunal next Tuesday in courtoroom II. The Prlić et al trial will also resume next week. Next Wednesday there will be a status conference in the Mićo Stanišić case at 8.00 and a status conference in the Tolimir case next Friday. Both will be held in courtroom II.

Office of the Prosecutor:

Olga Kavran, Spokesperson for the Office of the Prosecutor, made the following statement:The Prosecutor will travel to Belgrade in the second half of September. We will announce the exact date as soon as it is decided. As you know, at the beginning of the summer, the cooperation of Belgrade with the Tribunal started again and the government and relevant services expressed and demonstrated their commitment to this cooperation. However, three months have passed since then and the Prosecutor now expects more results – concrete results. She is therefore travelling to Belgrade to meet with authorities at the political and operational level to assess what, if any, progress was made in the past three months.

Questions:

A journalist asked for more information regarding reports in the Belgrade media that a doctor from Belgrade would be examining Tolimir. In response, Hodžić stated that in accordance with the rules of detention, the accused have a right to consult doctors other than the ICTY medical staff. Tolimir has made use of this right. Hodžić added that Tolimir arrived at the ICTY Detention Unit with a serious health condition and, in line with the Tribunal’s policy of ensuring good medical care for all detainees, this request was therefore facilitated.

A journalist asked for comment Haradinaj’s political activity and the fact that he is to head the list of one of the political parties taking part in the up-coming election in Kosovo. The journalist also wondered whether similar measures would be taken as those taken in the Milošević and Šešelj cases when they tried to participate in election campaigns in Serbia in 2003 and 2004. Hodžić responded that he could not prejudice any decisions which may or may not be taken in respect to this issue. He stated that it was up to other people and institutions to determine how appropriate it was for someone accused of such serious crimes to be nominated for such high public office. He reminded journalists that Ramush Haradinaj was a detainee in the ICTY Detention Unit and subject to the same rules of detention as all other detainees.

Kavran added this was a very worrying development if Haradinaj did indeed head the list. In its July decision denying Haradinaj temporary provisional release, the Trial Chamber spoke of the atmosphere in which witnesses felt unsafe and insecure and the serious problems which arose in ensuring that witnesses came to testify before the Tribunal. Kavran added that having Haradinaj at the head of one of the electoral lists would only contribute to worsening that atmosphere. She reminded journalists that at the moment there were 14 subpoenas for witnesses to come and testify and that at least 10 witnesses had spoken of direct threats to themselves or their families in relation to their testimony before the Tribunal. Kavran reiterated that Haradinaj heading one of the electoral lists would certainly not contribute to witnesses’ feeling of safety and their willingness to come and testify.

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