ICTY: DEPUTY PROSECUTOR BLEWITT RESIGNING

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 THE HAGUE 000149

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR S/WCI - PROSPER/RICHARD, EUR/SCE -
GREGORIAN/MITCHELL, L - TAFT, L/EUR - LAHNE, INR/WCAD -
SEIDENSTRICKER/MORIN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 1.6 FIVE YEARS AFTER CLOSURE OF ICTY
TAGS: PREL PHUM BK HR SR NL ICTY
SUBJECT: ICTY: DEPUTY PROSECUTOR BLEWITT RESIGNING

REF: 03 THE HAGUE 236

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


1. (C) Summary: International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Deputy Prosecutor Graham Blewitt has
announced to colleagues in the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP)
that he will not remain in his position beyond June of this
year. Blewitt's resignation, after ten years at the
Tribunal, makes him the second senior OTP official to
announce such plans, with Chief of Prosecutions Michael
Johnson leaving the Tribunal in April. The resulting vacuum
creates an opportunity for Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte
to consolidate her authority within the office, much as she
has planned since at least the fall of 2002 (reftel). End
summary.


2. (C) In an internal personal message on January 21,
obtained by Embassy legal officers, ICTY Deputy Prosecutor
Blewitt sought "to explain to all my colleagues the reason
why I have decided not to seek a renewal of my contract." He
focused upon "personal and family reasons," particularly his
ten-year absence from his home in Australia and an aging
mother. He expressed his realization that "it is indeed time
for me to move on," and offered only one parting reference to
his sour relationship with the Chief Prosecutor, saying, "The
fact that I have not enjoyed the same relationship with the
current Prosecutor as I did with Messrs Goldstone and Arbour
has been a factor, but by no means the determining one."
Originally he had planned to announce his resignation in
April so as to "maintain maximum effectiveness" and avoid
becoming "irrelevant to some extent." Since his return from
Australia this week, however, "I feel that I am being
deceptive to more and more colleagues and this is making me
feel very uncomfortable." More to the point, he said, "I
also realise that as plans are being made for the future work
of the OTP, that these should not be made in the expectation
that I will still be here." Committed to a "100% effort
towards the work of the Tribunal during the remaining
months," Blewitt noted that "there is still a lot of hard
work to be done in the coming years but I believe that the
Tribunal is now well established and I do not think any
ongoing personal contribution on my part will make much
difference."


3. (C) The resignation marks the second among OTP's senior
management in recent weeks. It comes on the heels of the
forced resignation of Michael Johnson, the American chief of
prosecutions who has butted heads with Del Ponte repeatedly
over matters of style, process and substance and who has been
accused by her of disloyalty. Johnson, by contrast to
Blewitt, did not come to the decision out of a desire to
return home, as his family resides with him in The Hague.
Rather, Del Ponte has made clear to him that his position
would be in name only, as she stripped him of any substantial
responsibility just before the new year. He is scheduled to
depart the Tribunal on April 15.


4. (C) With two imminent vacancies in OTP senior
management, Del Ponte will seize the opportunity to
consolidate her control and authority in the OTP.
Previously, both Blewitt (who has the personal loyalty of the
significant majority of the staff) and Johnson provided a
significant counterweight to Del Ponte and management
oversight of the substantive aspects of the prosecutions
while Del Ponte focused on relations with governments,
fugitive apprehensions, and other more political issues. Del
Ponte is said to be considering a restructuring of the senior
management of the OTP to eliminate the Chief of Prosecutions
position. Under this scenario she would merge the functions
of the Chief of Prosecution with those of the Chief of
Investigation, creating a position that would be a near equal
in authority to that of the Deputy. Del Ponte is reported to
be recruiting a senior Swiss prosecutor to join her senior
staff. She is also considering elevating the French Chief of
Investigations to one of the management slots, perhaps in an
acting capacity. We would also not be surprised to see her
give serious consideration to an American candidate in an
effort to assuage any USG concerns about the resignations.
(NB: While the deputy position is not a statutory one, it
derives from Article 38 of the Rules of Evidence and
Procedure, which provides the Chief Prosecutor with the
authority to recommend to the United Nations Secretary
General a deputy prosecutor.)

5. (C) Comment. Graham Blewitt is the longest-serving senior
staff member at the ICTY, perhaps the one person who can
catalog, by memory, the early lows to the recent highs of the
Tribunal's development. While he has been a mediocre
manager, he has been a consistent and principled
interlocutor, unafraid to cooperate on sensitive matters and
committed to building and maintaining a high-level
partnership to meet the ICTY's objectives. His departure,
particularly when combined with that of Michael Johnson, is
an significant loss for the USG and demoralizing to OTP
staff. An appropriately seasoned prosecutor, preferably
someone with the USG's confidence and with managerial
experience, would be an ideal candidate to handle the OTP's
busy docket and keep the OTP on a steady course as it heads
toward completion strategy landmarks. Embassy recommends
that Department consider possible candidates early in this
process so as to maximize any influence we might have in the
selection process. End comment.
RUSSEL