ICTY REJECTS REQUEST THAT KUPRESKICS BE TEMPORARY RELEASED

THE HAGUE, Nov 11 (Hina) - Antonio Cassese, who chairs the Hague Tribunal's trial chamber conducting the trial in the case "Kupreskic and others", on Thursday turned down a request by the defence that three accused Kupreskics be granted temporary release. Cassese said the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is considering introducing such a step only in pre-trial procedures. Presenting their closing argument on Wednesday, defence attorneys for Zoran and Mirjan Kupreskic requested that their clients be released temporarily until the trial chamber decides about their innocence or guilt. Vlatko Kupreskic's defence requested the same in writing. In order to clarify the conditions under which the Tribunal considers temporary release, judge Cassese said that, according to a proposal by the UN General Assembly's expert group, about which ICTY President Gabrielle Kirk McDonald spoke last week, defendants can be temporarily released after their first appearance in court when they enter their plea of guilty or innocent. According to Cassese, a defendant can request temporary release during his first appearance in court, but this is not the case with those defendants whose trials are already underway. Those granted temporary release would be free until the beginning of their trials, when they would be detained again and remain in custody throughout the trial until the trial chamber makes a decision on their guilt or innocence and on an appropriate sentence, Cassese said. Temporary release would be introduced only following the adoption of such a decision by a plenary session of the Hague Tribunal, i.e., by all ICTY judges. (hina) mm rml