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Please
note that this is not a verbatim transcript of the Press Briefing. It is merely
a summary
ICTY
Weekly Press Briefing
Date:
20 June 2001
Time: 11:30 a.m.
REGISTRY
AND CHAMBERS
Jim
Landale, Spokesman for Registry and Chambers, made the following statement:
On 15 June in
the Celebici case, Esad Landzo filed his brief on adjustment of sentence. You
will recall that the Appeals Chamber remitted the issue of sentencing to a Trial
Chamber. In his brief Landzo made the following submissions:
-that it would
be wrong in principle to impose any sentence which is overall more severe than
that imposed by the first Trial Chamber;
-that it would
be appropriate to reduce the overall sentence imposed on Landzo to reflect the
decision of the Appeals Chamber to dismiss the convictions of the Article 3
offences;
-that the Trial
Chamber should follow the first Trial Chamber in ordering that the sentences
passed for the individual offences be served concurrently; and
-that, although
no further evidence is necessary, sound sentencing practice suggests that the
Trial Chamber should not overlook entirely the progress made by Esad Landzo
while in detention.
The deadline for
the other briefs on sentencing in this case is Friday 22 June. The oral hearing
will take place on 27 July.
On 18 June, the
Office of the Prosecutor filed its submission on issues as to sentence remitted
to the Trial Chamber by the Appeals Chamber in the Celebici Appeals Judgement
of 20 February 2001. In the submission, the OTP requested that the Trial Chamber
should order:
a. a slight
downward adjustment, within the discretion of this Trial Chamber, to Delic’s
total sentence of 20 years imprisonment, to take into account the quashing
of his conviction on Counts 1 and 2;
b. no
adjustment to the sentences of Mucic, Delic, and Landzo, the latter’s total
sentence being one of 15 years imprisonment, as a consequence of the dismissal
of the cumulative convictions;
c. no
downward adjustment of the total sentence to be imposed on Mucic, in respect
of the original Trial Chamber’s error in referring adversely to his failure
to give oral evidence at his trial; and
d. the
imposition of a revised total sentence of at least 10 years on Mucic, in respect
of the offences for which he was convicted.
In the Sikirica
and others case, we received on 18 June, Dragan Kolundzija’s Motion for Judgement
of Acquittal. In the Motion, the defence for Kolundzija submits that there is
no case to answer on any of the counts charged against him, namely counts 3,
4, 5, 6 and 7. Similar motions have been filed confidentially by Sikirica and
Dosen, responses to which were filed by the OTP on 15 June.
As some of you
already are aware, there will be a hearing on these motions tomorrow, Thursday,
starting at 9.30 a.m. in Courtroom I, which will continue on Friday, if necessary.
On 18 June, we
received a request from Dusko Tadic for review of his complete case, including
a review of the Trial Chamber and Appeals Chamber proceedings before the Tribunal,
pursuant to Rule 119 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence.
On 18 June, the
Appeals Chamber comprised of Judges Wald, presiding, Vohrah, Nieto-Navia, Pocar
and Liu, handed down its decision on motions by Zoran Kupreskic, Mirjan Kupreskic
and Vladimir Santic for Leave to Appeal the Decision of the Appeals Chamber
dated 29 May 2001.
Considering that
"there is no provision of the Statute of the International Tribunal
or the Rules of Procedure and Evidence that allows for appeals from decisions
of the Appeals Chamber pursuant to Rule 115 of the Rules", the Appeals
Chamber dismissed the motions.
In addition, the
Appeals Chamber stated that it considered that "the Motions for Leave
to Appeal are manifestly ill-founded, an abuse of the court process and frivolous"
and requested the Registrar "to consider withholding payment of any
fees or costs involved in the preparation of these motions".
There will be
a number of status conferences in the coming days:
- in The Prosecutor
v. Kordic and Cerkez case on Friday 22 June at 10.00a.m. in Courtroom II.
- in The Prosecutor
v. Obrenovic case on Friday 22 June in at 10.30a.m in Courtroom II.
- in The Prosecutor
v. Jelisic case also on Friday 22 June at 3.00p.m in Courtroom II.
Copies of all
the documents that I have mentioned will be available after this briefing.
PROSECUTION
Florence
Hartmann, Spokeswoman for the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) made the following
statement:
The
Prosecutor is going on a visit to Germany tomorrow, where she will meet in Berlin,
the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Joschka Fischer, the Justice Minister,
Ms. Herta Daubler Gmelin and with the Political Advisor to the Chancellor, Mr.
Michael Steiner.
You
would also be aware that the Prosecutor’s visit to Belgrade on Friday 22 June
has been postponed and I will inform you later of the new date of the visit.
This was not a cancellation, it was just postponed. When the visit was scheduled
the Prosecutor thought that the situation at the end of June would be clarified
and this was not the case. There was nothing new to say about the situation
and journalists would be informed once a new date was set, she said.
QUESTIONS:
Asked whether
there has been any contact between President Kostunica and the Prosecutor
to set up a new date for the visit, Hartmann replied that there was no timeframe
for the visit and that dialogue between the Tribunal and the Justice Minister
of Yugoslavia was being maintained. She added that the Tribunal has not been
involved with internal discussions about cooperation with the Tribunal and
when the process was finished the Tribunal would be informed, along with everyone
else and it would be at this moment that a new visit would be organised.
Asked if it
was true, as reported in Croatian press, that indictments for Croatians are
imminent, Hartmann replied that when an indictment was ready she would inform
the press. There are currently ongoing investigations but at the moment there
was no information to give.
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