SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE WILLIAMSON WARNS

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 000834

SIPDIS

STATE FOR, S/WCI, L/EUR - JOYCE, L/UNA - SCHILDGE/JOHNSON,
INR - MARGULIES/MORIN, EUR/SCE - STINCHCOMB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/03/2018
TAGS: BK HR PGOV SR
SUBJECT: SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE WILLIAMSON WARNS
ICTY THAT RUSSIA MAY MAKE TRIBUNAL ISSUES MORE DIFFICULT

Classified By: DENISE G. MANNING, LEGAL COUNSELOR, REASON(S) 1.4(B) AND
(D)

--- SUMMARY: AMB. WILLIAMSON HAS SUCCESSFUL VISIT WITH ICTY
OFFICIALS ---


1. (SBU) On September 16, 2008, Ambassador-at-large for War
Crimes Issues Clint Williamson met separately with the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
(ICTY) President Fausto Pocar, Prosecutor Serge Brammertz,
and Registrar Hans Holthuis. The meetings were successful,
with Williamson delivering a clear message that hard times
might lay ahead for the ICTY as a result of worsening
relations with Russia. Williamson also received updates on
ICTY activities, including case scheduling, the ICTY,s $30
million supplementary budget request, and the latest
developments in the Karadzic trial.

--- COPING WITH THE NEW RUSSIAN REALITY ---


2. (SBU) USG Warning of Tough Road Ahead. Ambassador
Williamson delivered a clear message in all his ICTY
meetings: that the U.S.,s and the West,s deteriorating
relations with Russia could spill into ICTY issues.
Williamson explained that the USG is concerned that Russia
will be more difficult on a wide range of issues, including
the ICTY supplementary budget request and proposals to
continue certain ICTY activities after the ICTY,s closure
("Residual Issues"). Williamson stated that France and the
United Kingdom shared these concerns. Williamson also noted
that the Chinese appear to be sending signals that they too
will be more difficult. While assuring ICTY officials of
continuing USG support, Williamson warned ICTY officials that
they would need to be mindful of the new political realities
in their thinking and planning (including with respect to
their supplementary budget request and any Residual Issues
proposals). He also indicated that the ICTY needs to
prepare for worst-case scenarios.


3. (C) Tribunal Responses to Warning. ICTY officials took
these warnings on board, and had a range of reactions. Pocar
responded by differentiating among the ICTY proposals
requiring Security Council action, noting first that he did
not think Russia would block his proposal to extend judicial
terms, because Russia "can,t stop ongoing trials." With
respect to Residual Issues, he speculated that when the
Belgian chairmanship of the U.N.,s Working Group on
Tribunals ended in December, the Russians might seek to move
back to a monthly rotating chairmanship, resulting in a slow
down of the Residual Issues work. In response to concerns
about a Russian reaction, Brammertz asked Williamson if he
had gone to Moscow to discuss Tribunal issues; Brammertz said
his own trip to Moscow earlier this summer had gone well.
(Brammertz met with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who asked
about the Completion Strategy, and in particular whether it
was possible to send remaining cases to the region for trial.
Lavrov also noted the Haradinaj acquittal and allegations
about KLA organ trafficking stemming from Carla del Ponte,s
book. Brammertz described Lavrov as very proper but said he
took a firm line regarding Russian expectations on the ICTY
completing its work.) The discussion with Holthuis centered
around the early October visit of the Security Council,s
Working Group on Tribunal Issues, and in particular, whether
the Russians would be on that visit. (Comment: The Russian
Qthe Russians would be on that visit. (Comment: The Russian
representative did come.) Holthuis also indicated that he
hoped that the Registry would be providing the Working Group
within a couple of weeks with financial scenarios on the
Residual Issues, and it was suggested that the Working Group
should receive such information before its visit to the ICTY.
(Comment: At a subsequent meeting with Registry Officials,
Embassy officers were told that OLA had a bootleg copy of a
preliminary financial scenarios paper, but that the paper
does not cost out the various needs that it projects, but
instead provides personnel numbers. Registry staff did not
comment on possible Russian reactions to the supplementary
budget, but noted that Russia is fully paid up on its
assessed contributions.)

--- TRIAL SCHEDULING REMAINS ELUSIVE ---


4. (SBU) Trial Completion and Scheduling. Holthuis indicated
that four trials are likely to extend into 2010: Prlic,
Tolimir, Djordjevic and Zupljanin. (Comment: Karadzic will
clearly extend into 2010 as well, as should Perisic, which is
predicted to take 24 months.) Pocar did raise concerns about
the schedule, including expressing frustration at UNSC delay

in extending the ad litem judges. Pocar explained that due
to this delay, he did not have a bench for the Perisic trial,
scheduled to begin on October 1. Pocar also noted his
October 14th UNGA speech would need to address trial status,
and consequently, he may need to report trial delay because
the mandate for ad litem judges had not been extended.
(Comment: The start of the Perisic trial was in fact delayed
by one day, until the ICTY had received official confirmation
that the UNSC had adopted a resolution extending judicial
tenures. Note, however, that the tenures of the permanent
and ad litem trial judges were extended until December 2009.
Since some trials, including Perisic, will most likely extend
beyond that date, further UNSC action will eventually be
required.)


5. (C) ICTR Delays Create Looming Appeals Crisis? Pocar also
expressed concern about a possible Appeals Chamber crisis in
2009 and 2010. Pocar claimed that the ICTR is "misbehaving"
in that it has not issued any judgments recently. ICTR
handed down its last judgment in December 2007, he said, and
17 judgments are still pending. Pocar expressed concern that
this will cause an appeals log-jam next year. He indicated
that it is not clear how this issue should be dealt with,
speculating that the Appeals Chamber may need to be expanded
or a second Appeals Chamber created -- a move, he noted, that
might risk destroying the cohesion of the case-law.

--- ICTY MAKES $30 MILLION SUPPLEMENTARY BUDGET REQUEST ---


6. (C) The Supplementary Budget. According to the
Prosecutor and Brammertz, the ICTY recently sent a
supplementary budget request, for $30 million, to New York.
Apparently, the supplementary budget would postpone the
scheduled 2009 downsizing to 2010, retaining all personnel
who were tentatively slated for cuts. Holthuis stressed that
the supplementary budget was necessary because they are still
running at full steam with the arrival of four new fugitives,
including Karadzic, Zuplajanin, Tolimir and Djordjevic,
noting that they continue to run the same number of trials
and will do so for some time into the future. After some
pressure from Ambassador Williamson, however, both Brammertz
and Holthuis admitted that the ICTY had a Plan B if their
supplemental budget request was not accepted. (Comment:
Pocar did not mention a "Plan B", and Brammertz and Holthuis
did not provide details on the "Plan B". However, in a
separate conversation, Pocar,s Chef de Cabinet advised
Embassy Officer that Pocar,s Plan B was to transfer
additional cases to the region.)

--- DEVELOPMENTS IN THE KARADZIC TRIAL: TIMING, THE BENCH,
AND PRO SE ASSISTANCE ---


6. (C) Conversations with ICTY officials revealed
information on the timing for the Karadzic trial, on-going
speculation about the future trial bench, the efforts to
amend the indictment, and the establishment of a new pro se
office within the Registry. With respect to timing, ICTY
officials seemed in general agreement that the Karadzic
trial would start by the middle of next year, perhaps before
Brammertz indicated he thought the trial wouldtake about 18
months. (Comment: According to a draft trial calendar seen
at a subsequent registry meeting, however, the Karadzic trial
was marked as potentially starting next fall, after the
conclusion of the Gotovina case.) As to the trial bench,
Qconclusion of the Gotovina case.) As to the trial bench,
currently only the Pre-Trial Chamber has been appointed.
Pocar explained that he wants three permanent judges on the
Trial Chamber, in part to avoid the need for extensions of ad
litem judges. (Comment: Although the ICTY President
appoints the Trial Chamber, Pocar may not be making that
decision if he steps down as expected in November.)
Brammertz appears to believe that Judge Bonomy will be on the
bench, but an Embassy source indicated that this has not been
decided. Regarding the Karadzic indictment, the OTP stated
that they have been working "day and night" to file a motion
proposing revisions to the 11-count indictment, which they
expect to complete by September 22 at the latest. They
indicated that the revisions were intended to create a
stronger and leaner indictment, which would include cutting
the number of municipalities and reducing the timeframe on
the shelling of Sarajevo. Additionally, in revising the
indictment, the Prosecution would also be taking into account
adjudicated facts. (Comment: The motion to amend the
indictment, which was filed September 22 and is on the ICTY
website, did cut the number of affected municipalities by
approximately 1/3, from 41 to 27. It also proposes two new
counts: it split the existing single counts of genocide into

two (to cover different localities and times) and also added
a count of unlawful attacks on civilians.) Brammertz
indicated that the OTP had separately begun reviewing the
indictments of the two remaining fugitives, Mladic and
Hadzic, so they would not be caught in the same predicament
again. With respect to the pro se office, Holthuis also
advised that the Registry has set up an office dedicated to
pro se issues, from which he expected Karadzic and the other
pro se defendants to benefit. According to Holthuis, a
similar office had been used during the Milosevic trial.

--- COMMENTS: VISIT PROVIDED EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY TO CHANGE
TONE OF DISCUSSION AND EXPECTATIONS ---


7. (C) Ambassador Williamson,s visit provided an excellent
opportunity to change the tone of discussions regarding
Residual Issues and address ICTY,s expectations in this
respect. Having earlier received a copy of a comprehensive
Belgian draft security council resolution regarding Residual
Issues, ICTY sources, both with the Registry and Chamber, had
high expectations with respect to Residual Issues. The
Embassy believes Ambassador Williamson,s visit assisted in
tempering ICTY expectations.
Culbertson