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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: 09 May 2001
Time: 11:30 a.m.
REGISTRY
AND CHAMBERS
Christian Chartier, Head of the Public Information Services, made the following
statement:
The
President of the Tribunal, Judge Claude Jorda, is due to travel to Sarajevo
in order to attend a conference on the proposed setting up of a Truth and Reconciliation
Commission for Bosnia and Herzegovina. President Jorda will address the conference
on Saturday 12 May. The President’s travel crowns a series of exchanges on this
issue, including two meetings that took place in December 2000 and March 2001.
The President will convey the message that the Tribunal is not opposed to the
establishment of such a Commission. In fact the Tribunal could even encourage
such a mechanism, provided that its work be complementary to the Tribunal’s
mandate and does not weaken its mission.
Regarding
the conference "In search of truth and responsibility - towards a democratic
future" scheduled to take place from 18 to 20 May in Belgrade, the President
and the Prosecutor have mandated the Registrar, Mr. Hans Holthuis, to attend.
Mr. Holthuis will explain the Tribunal’s mission, mandate and role.
As
you may remember, the Judges held an extraordinary Plenary Session on 12 April
at which they adopted a number of amendments to the Rules of Procedure and Evidence.
The full text of these amendments is now available and I will be pleased to
provide you with a copy after this briefing. Meanwhile, I would like to remind
you that these important amendments:
are aimed
at streamlining and enhancing pre-trial and trial procedures
are also
aimed at including in the Rules such regulations made necessary by the imminent
arrival of ad-litem Judges.
In
this regard I am pleased to advise you that the elections of the ad-litem
Judges have been scheduled to take place in the week beginning 11 June 2001.
Turning
to court cases, the following:
In
the Krstic case:
Trial
Chamber I yesterday issued an Order re-scheduling the remainder of the trial
as follows:
5-6 June:
the parties will be invited to present all their arguments in the matters
raised by the Prosecution Motion of 24 April to re-open the case in order
to introduce fresh evidence
13 June:
decision by the Chamber on the Prosecution’s motion
21 June:
filing of final briefs
26-29 June:
closing arguments
Another
development in this case should be noted: on 4 May, Trial Chamber I issued a
redacted version of a confidential decision rendered on 25 April following a
Defence motion to exclude exhibits tendered in rebuttal by the Prosecutor. This
Decision concerns among other exhibits the so-called "Kill them all"
tape. Trial Chamber decided that this intercept was not admissible at
this stage of the trial on the grounds that such an exhibit, touching upon a
fundamental part of the Prosecution case, should have been tendered during the
case-in-chief. Accordingly, the Trial Chamber also excluded other exhibits related
to this tape. However, it admitted some specific Prosecution exhibits. Copy
of this important Decision will be available after the briefing.
In
the Kupreskic and others Appeal case:
On
8 May, the Appeals Chamber presided over by Judge Wald dismissed Motions introduced
by Zoran Kupreskic, Vlatko Kupreskic and Drago Josipovic to have additional
evidence admitted.
The
Appeals Chamber felt "compelled to communicate a strong word of caution
to the parties". In short, the Appeals Chamber points out that to date
it has decided on 20 separate motions for admission of alleged additional evidence
and that it is time to move ahead: "only the gravest of circumstances
will justify further Motions to admit additional evidence".
In
terms of legal filings:
Over
the past days, pre-trial Briefs of the defendants in the Simic and others
case have been received and will be made available to you.
Also
available are copies of Defence Motion for leave to appeal the Decision of the
Trial Chamber rejecting Biljana Plavsic’s request for a separate trial.
The
Counsel for Radislav Brjdanin filed a Motion to dismiss the indictment to which
the Prosecutor responded.
And
finally:
You
should have received yesterday’s press releases expressing the Tribunal senior
officials’ reaction to the death of Judge Laity Kama.
And
last but not least, as some media outlets have noted, Monday 7 May marked the
fifth anniversary of the first trial to take place here at the ICTY, in the
Tadic case, and the first international war crimes trial since Nuremberg.
Since the beginning of his trial, 21 other individuals have been put on trial
by this Tribunal and 10 more are currently being tried. The number of defendants
at the pre-trial stage is reduced to15.
QUESTIONS:
Asked
whether the arguments to be presented on 5 and 6 June in the Krstic case would
be held in open session, Christian Chartier replied that it was not decided
yet whether there would be a hearing. The Order stated that the parties had
to present all their arguments. This could take place in the form of a hearing
(this would have to be checked). This hearing could be partly open and partly
closed.
Asked when
the closing arguments had been rescheduled for, Christian Chartier replied
that the closing arguments would now take place on 26 to 29 June 2001. On
29 June the Presiding Judge would declare the case closed.
Asked whether
he had been in contact with the Prosecutor in the United States and whether
he had any information concerning her visit, Christian Chartier replied that
he had not been in touch with the Prosecutor, so there was nothing more he
could say.
Asked to
confirm that the parties in the Krstic case had to sum up all their arguments
on 5 and 6 June, Christian Chartier replied that, indeed, the parties had
been ordered by the Chamber to present by 6 June at the latest, all their
arguments in connection with the Prosecutions’ Motion that the case should
be reopened.
Asked whether
he had any information as to whether any Motions had been filed in the Nikolic
case, Christian Chartier replied that unless something had been filed confidentially,
he was not aware of any filing.
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