ICTY Weekly Press Briefing - 10th May 2006

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

Date:
10.05.2006

Time: 12:00

Registry
and Chambers:

Christian Chartier, Senior Information
Officer, made the following statement:

Good Afternoon,

Let me first tell you that the Tribunal
was disappointed to learn of the apparent
release of Dragan Zelenovic from a Russian
prison through the media.

Upon learning of this development,
the Registry sought clarifications from
the Russian authorities.

Following a meeting, on Monday night,
with a representative of the Russian
Embassy, the Registry is now waiting
for a full report.

Last Friday and Saturday, Judge
Wolfgang Schomburg and Chief Prosecutor
Carla Del Ponte participated in an international
conference in Sarajevo titled "Establishing
the Truth in the Aftermath of Conflict:
Current Initiatives and Perspectives
in the west Balkans".

The event was jointly organised
by three non-governmental organisations
from the region: the Sarajevo-based Research
and Documentation Center, the Humanitarian
Law Center from Belgrade, and Documenta
from Zagreb.

TURNING TO COURT PROCEEDINGS

The courtrooms will again be busy
in the coming days, with 10 accused standing
trial.

Indeed, the proceedings against Jadranko
Prlic, Bruno Stojic, Slobodan Praljak,
Milivoj Petkovic, Valentin Coric and
Berislav Pusic, former high-ranking political
and military officials of the then Herceg-Bosna,
will continue this week on Thursday in
courtroom III at 9:00. There will no
hearing on Friday. Next Monday the trial
will sit in the afternoon at 14:15 on
Monday and revert back to the morning
session on Tuesday and Wednesday, starting
at 9:00.

The
Vukovar trial against former Yugoslav
Army high-ranking officers Mile Mrksic,
Miroslav Radic and Veselin Sljivancanin,
will sit tomorrow from 9:30 to 12:30.
On Friday it will sit only in the morning,
starting at 9:00, again in courtroom
I. The trial will sit next Monday
in the same courtroom from 12:00 to
17:00 and on Tuesday and Wednesday
all day starting at 9:30 and ending
at 16:30 with a one hour break for
lunch at 12:30.

Momcilo Krajisnik will continue on the
witness stand for the rest of this week
in the afternoons in courtroom II. Next
week the proceedings will continue in
the same courtroom but in the morning.]

As you
already know the trial of Milan Martic,
former President of the war-time Croatian
Serb entity, has been provisionally
adjourned due to the ill-health
of the accused.

WITH REGARD TO COURT FILINGS,

From the list made available to you,
including parties’s filing, I would
like to single out a Decision of 3 May,
by Trial Chamber II, denying the Motion
for Provisional release filed by Lahi
Brahimaj: The Trial Chamber finds that
the accused did not prove "that, if released,
he would not pose any danger to victims,
witnesses or other persons."

Office of the Prosecutor:

Anton Nikiforov, Advisor to the
Prosecutor and acting Spokesperson of
the Office of the Prosecutor, made no
statement.

Questions:

Asked why the Office of the Prosecutor
(OTP) filed a Rule 11bis motion
for the Trbic case while it has always
been the position of the OTP to have
joint trials for judicial economy. The
journalist added severing the Trbic trial
would mean that a separate trial will
have to take place in Sarajevo and having
the witnesses testify twice while this
is very stressful for them.

The same journalist continued his
question and asked why the OTP has decided
to join Mladic with the Srebrenica joint
trial. Since Mladic is also charged for
crimes in relation to Sarajevo to which
the other Srebrenica accused have nothing
to do with and when could we expect the
trial to start if Mladic was arrested
tomorrow? Would it then be realistic
to have the trial start in August or
September as the OTP has suggested?

Nikiforov replied that both questions
were related and were not simple; because
there were issues in the question which
are not in our hands like the arrest
of Ratko Mladic and his arrival. Obviously
it has always been the idea of the OTP
to have a joined trial for Srebrenica.
In regard to the Trbic case there are
reasons in the motion which are open
for interpretation but there are also
other reasons to transfer his case to
Bosnia and Herzegovina which at this
moment couldn’t be commented on.
Nikiforov promised to check what can
be said on this issue and come back to
the journalist. He added that the concern
about the burden on witnesses is well
understood however, the prosecution had
good reasons to refer this case to Sarajevo.

In regard to Mladic, Nikiforov continued
that again his arrest is not in our hands
it is correct that the OTP wants to join
Mladic with the Srebrenica joint trial
but he said that if the arrest will come
very late it will then be impossible
to join him and he will have to be tried
separately.

Chartier said that with regards
to the witness issue there might be some
overlap of witnesses called in The hague
and Sarajevo but that one should not
assume that all witnesses will necessarily
be the same. It might that the
OTP calls other witnesses for the Trbic
case pertaining to a number of counts
which will not be called for the other
accused in this case. He added that of
course he was not familiar with the witnesses
to be called in this case but wanted
to make sure that the question is not
based on mere assumptions.

Asked if Mladic will be tried for
judicial economy reasons with the Srebrenica
trial does this mean that he will not
be tried for Sarajevo and if that was
not the case would the OTP then consider
to hold two trials which will also not
add to the judicial economy? Nikiforov
said that the OTP is very pressed for
time and that there was not much time
left for the remaining cases. As you
know the Security Council has already
received an indication that an extension
of time may be necessary, and trials
may go into 2009. But, he continued at
this moment for the planning purposes
we will have to stick with the current
dates 2008 (for trials) and 2010 (for
Appeals) since officially nobody has
allowed us to go beyond these dates so
we will have to plan accordingly. The
idea is that if Mladic comes to The Hague
now he can right away be tried in the
Srebrenica Trial and the rest of indictment
will have to be put aside. Then the possibility
will be to try him for the rest of the
charges separately. Chartier added that
nothing in the rules prevents for an
indictment to be tried in two trials.

Asked about the current situation
around Zelenovic, what does the Tribunal
know, is he on bail, has he been released.
Chartier answered that as long as we
have not received a full report we do
not know anything only that he has apparently
been released from the prison were he
was held. As to his current conditions,
we just do not know, we have asked for
clarification and we waiting for them.

A journalist asked if the OTP is
still in contact with the government
of Belgrade after the 31 April, any comments
on the search operations which are conducted
in Serbia. Nikiforov replied that in
a way the OTP is always in contact with
Belgrade when they inform us about the
ongoing developments. He added that the
OTP did not comment on operative business.
For the OTP, efforts undertaken will
only be seen as credible only if they
lead to the arrest of Mladic. He answered
that there was no personal contact between
the office of Kostunica and the Prosecutor
but overall communications had been the
same on operative issues, there was no
deterioration.

In the past the Prosecutor has always
said that she had reliable information
that Mladic was in Serbia asked if the
OTP has any up-to-date information on
the current whereabouts of Mladic. Nikiforov
answered that currently he had no information,
not this hour and not for the last hour
of for today but he added that for the
last five years the OTP had reliable
information on his whereabouts and the
way he moved from Military facilities
and then different apartments. We have
no doubt that his is in Serbia.

Asked about the status of the two
inquiries into the death of two accused
Chartier replied that the inquiry work
is still ongoing and that he has no indication
as to when it will be completed but we
will let you know.

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