PRESS BRIEFING BY PROSECUTOR OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY PROSECUTOR OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

The jurisdiction of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia was not determined by the President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Tribunal's Prosecutor Louise Arbour said at a Headquarters briefing this afternoon.

Commenting on news reports that President Milosevic had refused to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Tribunal, but would allow freedom of access and a doubling of the Tribunal's operations there, she said the jurisdiction of the Prosecutor was not subject to negotiation between Mr. Milosevic or anyone else. That jurisdiction had been set out unambiguously by the Security Council in the statute of the Tribunal. The scope of the jurisdiction was to be interpreted by the judges. Only the Council could modify the scope of the Tribunal's jurisdiction.

The Council gave the Tribunal jurisdiction over crimes committed during an internal armed conflict in Kosovo since 1991 on a continuing basis, she went on. The Prosecutor's office was entitled to conduct on-site investigations and was entitled to the cooperation of all States, as well as their compliance with court orders. Currently the Prosecutor had a small permanent office in Belgrade. There were no plans to double or expand its size. There were, however, plans to resume investigative missions into the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and into Kosovo in particular. She expected to be granted access for a mission of whatever size she deemed appropriate. Those plans would be finalized before the end of the week, following her return to the Hague tomorrow.

Ms. Arbour was asked if the concessions made by President Milosevic were any stronger than those he had made in the past. She called attention to the fact that requests for visas for previous investigative missions, which had been held up, had been granted in the last few days.

Replying to a number of questions regarding sending investigators to Belgrade, she said she would request a speedy answer from authorities in Belgrade regarding a new investigative mission. She could not say when the Tribunal would actually activate a mission, but she expected the visas to be honoured.

Asked if she had ever discussed the possible indictment of Mr. Milosevic with any of the political authorities, she said she did not discuss any possible indictments outside of her office. Inside her office, they discussed little else, she added. She had discussed with her staff the feasibility and desirability of indicting all those, particularly those in the most senior positions of responsibility, that fell within their jurisdiction.

Arbour Briefing - 2 - 14 October 1998

In response to other queries concerning a perceived expansion of the Tribunal's mandate, she said there were two Council resolutions calling on the Prosecutor to investigate events in Kosovo. She did not read that as an expansion of the Tribunal's mandate. The jurisdiction of the Prosecutor had been crystal clear and pre-existing. The Council was merely calling on the Prosecutor to undertake the Kosovo investigation as an additional activity and sending signals that appropriate resources should be made available. While it was unusual for the office of the Prosecutor to announce that an investigation was taking place, the mission to Kosovo had been announced to signal to both parties the need to be respectful of international humanitarian law, and that there was in place a mechanism to make them accountable.

A correspondent recalled that the President of the Criminal Tribunals, Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, had asked the Council to put teeth into the resolutions relevant to the work of the Tribunal. In view of the agreements of the last two days, was that enforcement still necessary? she asked. Ms. Arbour said the Council must give all the force of its office to back up its subsidiary judicial organs. If the Council set up a body such as the Tribunal, it would be well advised to support that institution, through whatever means it deemed appropriate.

She went on to say that the President had been referring to an unambiguous case of non-compliance -- the non-execution of search warrants that had been issued to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1995. The targets of those warrants were in the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and there was no case -- factual, legal or otherwise -- to justify non-compliance. She would hope that appropriate measures would be taken to ensure compliance.

How optimistic was she that any kind of international criminal law would be applicable or enforceable? She replied that, based on the progress so far, she was very optimistic. Two years ago there had been seven people in detention. The Tribunal had been told by all that there was no prospect of getting anyone else. They now had a full house in both tribunals, with over half of the publicly indicted accused in detention. There was every prospect to see many more come into detention. The Tribunal had been given resources by the General Assembly that had allowed it to make progress so far. She noted that the early expectations of failure had been replaced by the more realistic expectation that the work of the Tribunal was unstoppable.

Asked if the Kosovo Liberation Army had placed obstacles in front of the work of the investigators, Ms. Arbour said she could not give specific operational details, but the Prosecutor's jurisdiction applied to possible war crimes committed by either side of the conflict.

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