Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04THEHAGUE1163
2004-05-11 16:02:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy The Hague
Cable title:  

ICTY: SAM MINISTER OF JUSTICE SEES PRESIDENT

Tags:  BK HR KAWC NL PHUM PREL SR ICTY 
pdf how-to read a cable
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 THE HAGUE 001163 

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR S/WCI - PROSPER/RICHARD, EUR/SCE -
STEPHENS/GREGORIAN/MITCHELL, L/EUR - LAHNE, L/AF - GTAFT.
INR/WCAD - SEIDENSTRICKER/MORIN; USUN FOR ROSTOW/WILLSON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 1.6 FIVE YEARS AFTER CLOSURE ICTY
TAGS: BK HR KAWC NL PHUM PREL SR ICTY
SUBJECT: ICTY: SAM MINISTER OF JUSTICE SEES PRESIDENT
MERON, CANCELS ON DEL PONTE

REF: A. (A) MAY 4 LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE

SECURITY
COUNCIL(WWW.UN.ORG/ICTY/LATEST/INDEX.HTM)

B. (B) STRASBOURG 92

Classified By: Legal Counselor Clifton M. Johnson per 1.5(d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 THE HAGUE 001163

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR S/WCI - PROSPER/RICHARD, EUR/SCE -
STEPHENS/GREGORIAN/MITCHELL, L/EUR - LAHNE, L/AF - GTAFT.
INR/WCAD - SEIDENSTRICKER/MORIN; USUN FOR ROSTOW/WILLSON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 1.6 FIVE YEARS AFTER CLOSURE ICTY
TAGS: BK HR KAWC NL PHUM PREL SR ICTY
SUBJECT: ICTY: SAM MINISTER OF JUSTICE SEES PRESIDENT
MERON, CANCELS ON DEL PONTE

REF: A. (A) MAY 4 LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE

SECURITY
COUNCIL(WWW.UN.ORG/ICTY/LATEST/INDEX.HTM)

B. (B) STRASBOURG 92

Classified By: Legal Counselor Clifton M. Johnson per 1.5(d).


1. (SBU) Summary: Serbian Minister of Justice, Zoran
Stojkovic, visited the President of the International
Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY),Judge
Theodor Meron, following his appearance at the provisional
release hearing for indictees Frenki Simatovic and Jovica
Stanisic. Earlier in the day, Stojkovic canceled a scheduled
meeting with Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, deepening the
rift between SAM and the Office of the Prosecutor. End
summary.


2. (SBU) ICTY President Meron met on Monday, May 10, with
Serbian Justice Minister Stojkovic, Health Minister Tomica
Milosavljevic, Kostunica legal adviser Aleksandar Simic, and
SaM Ambassador to the Netherlands Maja Mitrovic, at their
request. According to an ICTY press release, "Meron stressed
the urgent need for Serbia and Montenegro's full cooperation
in conformity with their international obligations." Meron's
chief of staff elaborated to embassy legal officer that the
conversation focused on the frozen state of cooperation
between Belgrade and the ICTY Office of the Prosecutor (OTP).
Meron emphasized the seriousness of his report to the
Security Council that the SaM is in noncompliance with its
ICTY obligations (ref A). In that report, which forwarded a
report of the Chief Prosecutor, Meron told the Security
Council that he considers the Chief Prosecutor's report as
"indicating extremely serious failures" and "the Prosecutor
has satisfied me that Serbia and Montenegro is failing to
comply with its obligations" under the ICTY Statute. He
added, "I also share the concern of the Prosecutor that such
failures are detrimental to the expectations placed upon the

Tribunal by its completion strategy and could seriously
impinge the Tribunal's ability to meet those expectations."


3. (C) Stojkovic, who oddly thanked Meron for the report, and
Simic argued that Belgrade would cooperate in accordance with
its law on cooperation once the head of the Council on
Cooperation was chosen (according to Stojkovic, SaM Foreign
Minister Draskovic does not want the job). Meron pressed by
asking whether the government would arrest Mladic if they
found him at a cafe in Belgrade, or if the government would
have to go through the Council for such authority. The Serbs
said that Mladic could be arrested because an arrest warrant
was already outstanding. By contrast, they said, last
October's indictments of four senior Serbian military and
police officials had not been submitted to the Council, so
those four could not be arrested.


4. (C) Meron urged Belgrade to cooperate with the ICTY on an
urgent basis and not to wait for the Council on Cooperation.
He particularly urged cooperation in terms of waivers of
immunity for witnesses and access to archival sources.
According to Meron, "the ball is in your court," and a first
step should be meeting with OTP representatives to resolve
these issues. "Time is of the essence," he said, since the
ICTY would be making written and oral reports to the Security
Council by May 31 and June 15, respectively, and unless
cooperation is reinstituted, both the President and Chief
Prosecutor will give Belgrade failing marks.


5. (C) At the end of last week, Stojkovic had arranged to
meet Chief Prosecutor Del Ponte on May 10 as indicated in ref

B. However, according to Del Ponte senior advisers, the SaM
Embassy called early on May 10 to cancel the meeting without
an explanation. Del Ponte was, according to one of the
advisers, "outraged" at such treatment. The same adviser
also noted that the fact that Stojkovic was still seeing
Meron fueled Del Ponte's sense that the SAM was deliberately
trying to send her a negative signal and foster a division
between the OTP and Chambers.


6. (C) The team from Belgrade was in The Hague specifically
to express to a trial chamber the SaM's guarantee that,
should Frenki Simatovic and Jovica Stanisic be granted
provisional release, they would be returned to The Hague as
required by the trial chamber. It is believed that the
Health Minister attended specifically because of the
ill-health of Stanisic, though what further information he
could add to that provided by local physicians was unclear.
The hearing began on Monday, May 10, and is likely to
continue on through Thursday, though much of the hearing has
been conducted in closed session. Stanisic's defense lawyer
told Embassy legal officers that the OTP is actively opposing
the application for provisional release and introduced
testimony from two investigators attesting to Stanisic's lack
of cooperation.


7. (C) Comment: The visit of senior Serb officials to the
office of President Meron in conjunction with the
cancellation of a meeting with the Chief Prosecutor is being
perceived by the OTP, likely with reason, as a signal that
Belgrade would prefer to deal with the ICTY President than
Del Ponte. While Meron is a much more measured and
consistent interlocutor than Del Ponte and has been careful
to maintain cordial relations with Belgrade and other
governments in the region, SAM would be miscalculating if it
believed either that it could avoid engaging the OTP at
senior levels on cooperation issues or that Meron would
provide a more sympathetic audience on matters on
non-cooperation. Coming from Meron, the tough message --
that the ICTY as a whole rejects Belgrade's noncompliance --
should be taken seriously by SAM. Whether it results in any
real movement, however, remains to be seen. End comment.
SOBEL