THE HAGUE, 25 April (Hina) - The President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia's (ICTY) tribunal of first instance, Claude Jorda, will announce at 5 pm today his decision on a request by Tihomir Blaskic to be
set free while awaiting trial.
THE HAGUE, 25 April (Hina) - The President of the International
Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia's (ICTY) tribunal of first
instance, Claude Jorda, will announce at 5 pm today his decision on
a request by Tihomir Blaskic to be set free while awaiting trial.
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On the basis of Paragraph 64 of the ICTY Statute, Blaskic's
defenders asked that their client be released, either
unconditionally or on bail.
The request was based on the fact that the prosecutor, Grant
Niemann, failed to provide Blaskic's defenders with the complete
indictment material on time.
The defense explained their request with the fact that their
client had voluntarily appeared before the Tribunal as well as with
the fact that the Parliament of the Republic of Croatia last week
adopted a law on cooperation with the Tribunal, which was an
additional guarantee that Blaskic would return to the tribunal
whenever required.
The Dutch representative was to give his opinion on Blaskic's
request at today's hearing, since Dutch police are securing Blaskic
in line with ICTY President Antonio Cassese's decision. Since the
Dutch representative failed to appear before the Tribunal and
prosecutor Niemann did not oppose the request of the defense, judge
Jorda broke up the session and said that he would announce his
decision at 5 pm.
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