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ICTY Weekly Press Briefing - 11th Mar 2005

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing - 30 July 2003

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


ICTY Weekly
Press Briefing

Date: 27.08.2003

Time: 12:20


REGISTRY AND
CHAMBERS

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


Good afternoon.

Next week on 2 September, there will be a status conference in the Milosevic
trial to begin the preparation of the Defence case.


In terms of other scheduling information, we received, in The Prosecutor
v. Brdjanin
, a Scheduling Order which ordered, among other things, that
a Pre-Defence Conference take place on 9 October and that the Defence case open
on 14 October 2003.



In The Prosecutor v.
Naletilic and Martinovic
, we received a Scheduling Order setting a status
conference for this Friday, 29 August at 12 p.m. in Courtroom II.



In The Prosecutor
v. Mitar Vasiljevic
, we received a Scheduling Order setting a Status Conference
for Wednesday 3 September 2003 at 10 a.m.



In The Prosecutor
v. Darko Mrdja
, we have received a Scheduling Order setting the Sentencing
hearing for Monday 22 September 2003 at 9 a.m. in Courtroom II and ordering
the Prosecutor and the Defense to file their sentencing brief and statements
of witnesses by 8 September 2003.



On 19 August, in The
Prosecutor v. Pavle Strugar and Miodrag Jokic,
we received a "Decision
on Prosecution’s Motion for Extension of Time", in which the Duty Judge
withdrew the Scheduling Order of 25 July 2003; and ordered:


"The Prosecution
to submit the amended indictment and its final Pre-Trial Brief, including
the list of witnesses to be called by the Proseuction and the list of exhibits
to be tendered at trial on Wednesday, 27 September 2003;

The Defence to submit
its final Pre-Trial Briefs on 17 September 2003;

The Pre-Trial Conference
to be held on 8 October 2003 at a time and in a courtroom to be notified through
the Registry; and

The Trial to commence
on 9 October 2003 at a time and in a courtroom to be notified through the
Registry."




We have received quite a
number of court documents since the last briefing. I will run through those
I think will be of most interest to you. We will also provide you with a list
of the other filings after the briefing and you can let my office know which
of those you would like copies of.



On 7 August, we received
an "Order of the President in Response to Miroslav Kvocka’s Request
for Pardon
", in which President Meron dismissed the Request and noted
that "to be properly considered, a petition for provisional release
should be filed before the Appeals Chamber
".



On 20 August, in The
Prosecutor v. Veselin Sljivancanin
, we received the "Decision on
Assignment of Defence Counsel
", in which President Meron quashed the
Registrar’s decision of 9 July 2003 and "remanded it to him for reconsideration
in light of this decision
".



In the Appeals Chamber:



On 30 July, in The Prosecutor
v. Mile Mrksic
, we received from the Appeals Chamber the "Decision
on Defence Interlocutory Appeal on Communication with Potential Witnesses of
the Opposite Party
", in which the Appeals Chamber dismissed the appeal.


On 6 August, in The Prosecutor
v. Dragan Nikolic
, we received from the Appeals Chamber the "Decision
on Motion Requesting Clarification
", in which the Appeals Chamber rejected
the Request and declared it "frivolous".


In the Trial Chambers:


The text of the Erdemovic
plea agreement has now been made public by Trial Chamber III. You can pick up
a copy of that after the briefing.



On 1 August, in The Prosecutor
v. Mile Mrksic, Miroslav Radic and Veselin Sljivancanin
, we received the
"Decision to Postpone the Deadline Established in the Scheduling Order
for Filings
".



On 1 August, in The Prosecutor
v. Enver Hadzihasanovic, and Amir Kubura
, we received from Trial Chamber
II the "Decision on Request for Leave to File an Amicus Curiae Brief",
in which the Trial Chamber dismissed the Request as "inadmissible".



In terms of other court
documents
:


On 30 July, in The Prosecutor
v. Dragan Obrenovic
, we received the "Prosecutor’s Brief on the
Sentencing of Dragan Obrenovic
".



On 1 August, in The Prosecutor
v. Slobodan Milosevic,
we received the "Prosecution’s Submission
of an Expert Report of Dr. Robert J. Donia Pursuant to Rule 94bis
".



On 6 August, in The Prosecutor
v. Fatmir Limaj, Haradin Bala and Isak Musliu,
we received the "Application
of Isak Musliu for Provisional Release
".



On 13 August, in The
Prosecutor v. Slobodan Milosevic,
we received the "Prosecution’s
Submission of Expert Report Pursuant to Rule 94 Bis
", which contains
the "full statement" of Dr. Berko Zecevic.



On 22 August, in The
Prosecutor v. Dragoljub Ojdanic
, we received the "Response of the
Registry to General Ojdanic’s Appeal of Decision on Motion for Additional Funds
"



On 22 August, in The
Prosecutor v. Radoslav Brdanin,
we received the "Motion for Judgement
of Acquittal – Rule 98 Bis
".



Copies of all the documents
I have mentioned are available to you on request.



Florence Harmann, Spokeswoman
for the Office of the Prosecutor made no statement.


Questions:




A journalist referred to
information from Belgrade that the Deputy Chief of the VJ General Staff was
being replaced due to an investigation conducted by the ICTY and asked Hartmann
for a comment on the statement made by the Defense Minister regarding this information.
Hartmann stated she was not entitled to make any comment.



A journalist made reference
to the recent letter written by Milosevic published by a Serbian newspaper and
asked whether the rules had been adjusted by the ICTY in order for the letter
to be written. Landale answered that they had not. He said that it was an unfortunate
incident and was done without permission. He also stated that the incident was
being looked into at the present.



A journalist asked if a
new defense counsel for Krajisnik has been announced. Landale confirmed the
appointment of Nicholas Stewart from Great Britain. When asked about the date
of the commencement of the trial, Landale stated that an announcement would
be made once a Scheduling Order had been filed.



A journalist asked if Admiral
Jokic was back at the detention unit. Landale replied that he was.



Asked if there was any comment
on the SFOR operations in Pale yesterday, Hartmann stated she had no comment
on the matter and that journalists should address questions to SFOR