In absence of both

In absence of both - text of the "Trial Chamber" decision and transcript of December 18 hearings - here is their semi-official "Overview of Proceedings", quoting basically the words of Richard May in "last three minutes".

What follows is PR of "Carla style" staged in order to hide the deadly verdict. Note that UN SC also has a role. Carla insists that "export of the Presidents" should go on. Carla admits that they don't have a case against President Milosevic. Carla is angry that her followers in Belgrade have not produced some "evidence". And Carla wants to help them by attacking them. How controversial!

MILOSEVIC Case ("Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina")
Trial Chamber III – Judges May (Presiding), Robinson and Kwon

12th week of the Prosecution case (only on Wednesday 18 December).
On 18 December 2002, the following witness was examined by the Prosecution and subsequently cross-examined by the Accused and one of the amici curiae:
· Witness Petar Poljanic

The Trial Chamber gave its conclusions as to the future conduct of the proceedings:

1. The trial will proceed according to timetable, due allowance being made for illness and such rest days as appropriate. There will be no other extension of time for the Prosecution case.
2. Defense counsel will not be imposed upon the accused against his wishes in the present circumstances. It is not normally appropriate in adversarial proceedings such as these. The Trial Chamber will keep the position under review.
3. The Accused will not be provisionally released, as he has asked, during the course of these proceedings.

Press Release . Communiqué de presse
(Exclusively for the use of the media. Not an official document)

ICTY PROSECUTOR, CARLA DEL PONTE ADDRESSES ONCE AGAIN
"THE UNSATISFACTORY CO-OPERATION" OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA WITH THE OFFICE OF THE PROSECUTOR

Please find below the statement delivered by the ICTY Prosecutor, Ms. Carla del Ponte, at a press conference held at the Tribunal on Friday 20 December 2002:

I regret that I have to address once again the issue of unsatisfactory co-operation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia with my Office.

Just two days ago, the President of the UN Security Council on behalf of the Council issued a statement reminding all relevant States, and Yugoslavia first of all, to co-operate fully with the ICTY. It was a result of the Report of the President of the ICTY, Judge Claude Jorda, to the Security Council regarding non-compliance of Yugoslavia with its international obligations.

The Presidential statement of the Security Council stresses the obligation of Yugoslavia to comply with the requests of the Tribunal for arrest and transfer of indictees, to make witnesses available and to assist in ongoing investigations. I would like to underline the paragraph of the statement which "insists that dialogue or lack of dialogue between the Tribunal and the Governments must not be used by the States as an excuse for failure to discharge their obligations to co-operate fully with the Tribunal as required by the UN Security Council Resolutions".

My statement today is triggered by the fact that the Yugoslav Foreign Minister and President of the National Council for Co-operation, Mr. G. Svilanovic refused to speak to me yesterday exactly on the issues of co-operation. So much for a dialogue. Instead, as reported by the media and if it is reported correctly, Minister Svilanovic stated that the Tribunal is "a stone on the neck of Yugoslavia", that "co-operation with Prosecution was never at the lower level", also that the "Prosecution betrayed the confidence of the authorities in Belgrade" and finally that "all co-operation might stop" due to the wrong assessment of the situation in Yugoslavia by the Prosecution. It is obviously not my duty to assess the situation in Yugoslavia.

I am truly disappointed by such inappropriate political statement of the person who is in charge of co-operation with the ICTY. It is also not true that my Office was asking for general access to all archives in Yugoslavia. My Prosecution teams have to meet demands of the Trial Chambers and have to duty to comply with particular schedules. We are given limited time to present the prosecution case in each trial. The Requests for assistance and information send to the authorities in Belgrade are concrete about the documents sought, as it is for instance clear from the recent Prosecution’s application under Rule 54 bis in the Milosevic case. It is clear from this application that there are number of outstanding Requests, some of which are 20 months old. The best results and fair results in the criminal trials of such importance as here in The Hague are only possible to achieve if best possible documents are made available in timely manner.

The difficulties faced by the Prosecution in Milosevic case with access to the documents and witnesses came to the point when it was not possible to wait any longer, while the Trial Chamber had to be informed about the problems faced by us. I want to repeat, in the limited time given by the Trial Chamber in particular case the Prosecution team must bring the most important witnesses and most important documents before the court.

Finally, I would like to inform you that I sent yesterday a letter to the Yugoslav authorities in regard to the accused M. Milutinovic to ensure his surrender to the custody of the ICTY and his transfer to The Hague immediately upon the expiry of his term of office.