PROGRAMME OF HEARINGS SET AT ICJ FOR LEGALITY OF USE OF FORCE CASES OF YUGOSLAVIA VERSUS 10 STATES

7 May 1999

Press Release
ICJ/571

PROGRAMME OF HEARINGS SET AT ICJ FOR LEGALITY OF USE OF FORCE CASES OF YUGOSLAVIA VERSUS 10 STATES

19990507 Hearings Will Take Place from 10 a.m. To 1 p.m. and from 3 to 6 p.m. Each Day

THE HAGUE, 7 May (ICJ) -- The hearings scheduled to open on Monday, 10 May, at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the cases of Yugoslavia versus the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Portugal and Spain, will take place from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. and from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. each day.

They will begin with a preliminary common statement by Judge Christopher Weeramantry, Vice-President of the Court, exercising the functions of the presidency in the 10 cases.

Judges ad hoc will subsequently take the oath (Article 31 of the Court's Statute provides that parties which do not have any judge of their nationality on the Bench may appoint a judge ad hoc).

The Court will then hear the Parties. Yugoslavia, as the applicant State, will speak first for two hours in a common statement addressed to all 10 cases. It will be followed by the respondent States in English alphabetical order. Each State will have approximately one hour to submit its arguments.

The delegations of the Parties will be led by the following persons:

-- Yugoslavia: Rodoljub Etinski, Chief Legal Adviser in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Agent;

-- Belgium: Raymonde Foucart, Director-General Legal Matters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Agent;

-- Canada: Philippe Kirsch, Legal Adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Agent;

-- France: Ronny Abraham, Director of Legal Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Agent;

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-- Germany: Eberhard U.B.J. von Puttkamer, Ambassador to the Netherlands, and Gerhard Westdickenberg, Legal Adviser of the Federal Foreign Office, Agents;

-- Italy: Umberto Leanza, Head of the Diplomatic Legal Service at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Agent;

-- Netherlands: J.G. Lammers, Acting Legal Adviser of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Agent;

-- Portugal: Jose Maria Teixeira Leite Martins, Head of the Legal Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Agent;

-- Spain: Aurelio Perez Giralda, Director of the International Legal Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Agent;

-- United Kingdom: Sir Franklin D. Berman, Legal Adviser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Agent;

-- United States: David R. Andrews, Legal Adviser, Department of State, Agent.

A press briefing will be organized on Monday, 10 May, at 8:15 a.m. in the Press Room (Room 5) of the Peace Palace at The Hague, seat of the Court. Media representatives are cordially invited to attend. However, no filming will be allowed during the briefing.

The verbatim records of the hearings will be published daily on the Court's website (http://www.icj-cij.org).

For further information, contact Arthur Witteveen, Secretary of the Court (tel: + 31 70 302 2336); or Laurence Blairon, Information Officer (tel: + 31 70 302 2337). The e-mail address of the Court's Information Office is: information@icj-cij.org.

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