ICTY Weekly Press Briefing - 27th Oct 1999

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

ICTY Weekly Press
Briefing

Date: 27 October 1999

Time: 11:30 a.m. 

REGISTRY AND CHAMBERS

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

Firstly, just
a reminder that Damir Dosen’s initial appearance will be held this coming
Monday, 1 November 1999 at 4 p.m. in Courtroom II. You are of course all welcome
to attend. We should have copies of the indictment for all of you after this.

Secondly, we have
received copies of the cross-appeal in the Jelisic case that was filed by his
defence yesterday.

Thirdly, the Bureau
has issued its decision on the motion to disqualify judges pursuant to Rule
15 in the Celebici case.

On 21 October,
a Trial Chamber comprising Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, Judge Vohrah and Judge
Robinson, ordered that the sentencing judgement on the additional counts in
the Tadic case be delivered on Thursday 11 November 1999 at 9 o’clock,
instead of at 10 o’clock, as previously ordered.

We have also received
the Respondent’s Brief of the Prosecution in reply to Aleksovski’s
Appeal brief on conviction and sentencing and the Appellant’s brief in
reply to the Prosecutor’s Appeal Brief on acquittal and sentencing in the
Aleksovski appeal. Again, we have copies of those documents for you after this
briefing.

Finally, as some
of you will be aware, the Tribunal will be holding a two-day Media Symposium
starting tomorrow, for 15 journalists from the former Yugoslavia.

Over the two days,
there will be a series of panel discussions at which various senior staff from
the Tribunal will give presentations on the different aspects of the Tribunal’s
work, and the journalists will be able to put their questions to the panels.
The Symposium is part of the Tribunal’s Outreach Program, of which you
will all be aware. If you want more information on this, I can put you in touch
with the Outreach Coordinator, Liam McDowall, who’ll be happy to talk to
you. The Symposium has been sponsored by the Coalition for International Justice.

To mark the end
of the Symposium there will be a drinks reception at 6 p.m. this Friday at the
‘GoudeHooft’ in the centre of town, to which you are all invited.
I will give you the address afterwards. Copies of the schedule for the Symposium
will be available tomorrow.

Finally, the Annual
Report is now public and will be available on the Internet in the near future.
Copies can be made for those who want it today. And, biographies of the artist
whose work is on display in the lobby are available to those who are interested.

QUESTIONS:

Asked whether
there was any update in the Naletilic case, Landale replied that the situation
remained the same as the end of last week. He reconfirmed that arrangements
had been put in place for a medical team to travel to Zagreb at short notice
if required. The catalyst for action by the Registry would come from the Office
of the Prosecutor (OTP) and their discussions with the authorities in Croatia,
he concluded.

Asked whether
the Symposium would be closed to anyone other than the participants, Landale
replied that it would.

Asked whether
the appeals in Jelisic were ‘real appeals’ or whether the Prosecution
would have to wait for the written judgement to be filed, Landale replied
that the Prosecution had filed a Notice of Appeal, which they were required
to do so within two weeks of the oral judgement. He added that the next step
was to wait until the written judgement was released, following which, the
parties would have 90 days in which to file their arguments. The Defence had
submitted their intention to argue the appeal, he concluded.

Asked when
the written Judgements would be ready, Landale replied that there was no firm
date set. He added that it would take some time, but that as soon as it was
released it would be distributed.

Asked whether
the delay was a problem of translation, Landale replied that there was no
problem. He added that the thinking behind coming out quickly with an oral
decision was that the Trial Chamber had decided on acquittal on the genocide
charge and that the Defendant had a right to know this in good time. He finished
by saying that the Judges were now in the process of putting down the arguments
ready for release and added that this was similar to the procedure used in
the Aleksovski case.

*****