ICTY REVERSES DECISION ON NON-PAYMENT OF DEFENCE COSTS FOR CERKEZ AND KUPRESKIC

ZAGREB, Sept 6 (Hina) - The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) revoked a decision on non-payment of defence costs for seven Bosnian Croats, The Hague defence attorneys Niko Pintar and Goran Milukicic said in Zagreb on Monday. Trial Chambers of The Hague tribunal, in charge of the cases of Kupreskic and Cerkez, on Friday reversed the decisions of Registrar of August 6, 1999 to deny payments to the court appointed defence. The Court Registrar based its decision on newspaper headlines which read that DM4.3 million were raised at auctions for Vladimir Santic, Marijo Cerkez, Zoran Kupreskic, Mirjan Kupreskic, Drago Josipovic, Vlatko Kupreskic, and Dragan Papkic, adding they have enough money for their own defence. The information was confirmed by the ICTY on Monday. The Trial Chambers decided that it was up to the Registrar to prove whether the defendants were capable of paying expenses for their own defence and that newspaper reports were not sufficient. "Media reports may only serve as a first step to launch an investigation into the veracity of the reported facts", reads the statement. "That newspapers and other kind of media are often a highly unreliable source of information is common knowledge. Their reports, unsubstantiated by other material, cannot by themselves be sufficient evidence for a court of law", reads the courts decision. (hina) it jn