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Briefing Notes, 18 February 2003
UNMIK Spokesperson Gyorgy Kakuk
KFOR Spokesperson Wg Cdr Tony Adams
UNMIK Police Spokesperson Derek Chappell
OSCE Spokesperson
EU Spokeswoman Monique De Groot
UNMIK Spokesperson Gyorgy Kakuk
Good day everybody. Let me introduce myself. This is the first time for me to sit here. My name is Gyorgy Kakuk, originally I am the spokesperson of the UNMIK in Mitrovica, and I know some of you. For a couple of weeks I will be the acting spokesperson of the UNMIK here in Pristina.
Police have arrested a suspect who committed the assault against judge Ceta, President of the District Court in Prizren who was injured with a metal rod on the head. The International Investigating Judge ordered this suspect to be detained in pre-trial detention. The new head of Department of Justice, Mr. Paul Coffey said “This assault constitutes an attack on the justice system itself. Consequently I have assigned the highest priority to prosecuting the perpetrator to the full extent of the law. Any assault on judges, prosecutors or police will not be tolerated to any degree.” Said Mr. Coffey.
A few words about the Llap trial’s press coverage. Due to the limited space in the courtroom, the court can secure only six seats for the press. Naturally much more journalists wanted to cover the trial inside the courtroom. The lottery what was organized front of the courthouse was the part of a standard press pool procedure. I would like to underline a fact that in the courtroom the presiding judge has the right to decide on anything. That is not true that the wants to prevent you to inform the public on the trial. But you must understand that during the trial the judge decides whether he gives access to the public or not.
UNMIK Police Spokesperson Derek Chappell
No murders occurred in Kosovo during the past week.
Murder Cases Solved
Many murders are solved immediately, especially in cases where the incident involved a dispute and the suspect can be quickly found. Police in Kosovo are now solving more than 80% of murders committed here. However, some murders are more difficult and require time to solve. There are two examples of this in the past week and they demonstrate the fact that we do not close murder cases until they are solved.
On 17/02/03, police arrested a suspect for a double murder committed during July of 2002 in Pristina Region. The suspect was taken into custody at the Cafa Morina Border Crossing Point while entering Kosovo.
On 14/02/03 in Prizren Region, police arrested a male suspect for a murder committed in 1996. The suspect was taken into custody without incident at the home of a relative.
Please contact the appropriate Regional Police Press Office for details of theses cases.
Prison Escapee Arrested
On 13/02/03, the Albanian Police turned Burim BASHA over to UNMIK Police at the Vrbnica Border Crossing Point. The suspect escaped from Dubrava Prison in 2002.
EU Spokeswoman Monique De Groot
EFC
The 9th meeting of the Economic and Fiscal Council (EFC) will be held
today at 14:00. One of the topics on agenda will be the formal finalisation
of the transfer of the CFA to the MFE.
· As usual there will be a photo opportunity at the start of the
meeting.
· Directly after the meeting there will be another photo opportunity
of the signing of the formal transfer.
· Press release of the outcome of the meeting will be issued later
today.
KTA
The next board meeting of the Kosovo Trust Agency is scheduled for Tuesday 25 February. At this meeting it is expected that the operational Policies will be approved.
Macro economics Seminar
Friday 21 February the regular bi-weekly macro economic seminar will be held in the Statistical office of Kosovo. The seminar starts at 10:00 and will present a macro economic overview for 2002. For more information including the topic please contact Selvije Kadriu from the macro economic unit. 044 – 307 195 / 038 540 564 ext. 251.
Energy
The daily energy update report can be found on the UNMIK web page:
http://www. unmikonline.org.
We continue to urge the citizens of Kosovo to save energy as much as possible and not to leave electric appliances switched on when not in use.
Questions:
Q: Two questions for KFOR. Question number one: Toni is the action form yesterday over?
KFOR: I can’t comment on what might or might not be an ongoing operation, please.
Q: But, You don’t know whether it is over?
KFOR: My answers to you today will be phrased very carefully.
Q: Why? The second question is you said they will be transferred to Hague. When?
KFOR: I am not at liberty to tell you that. I am not authorized to release that information.
Q: But they will eventually end up in The Hague?
KFOR: Absolutely.
Q: Question for the Police or Monique – I don’t know. About the customs officers that were arrested on Friday - do you have any details about that?
UNMIK Police: Yes, we do have details – I will hand over to Monique to speak if she speaks for Customs.
EU: To follow up on the questions from yesterday. We, Pillar IV Customs service, can now confirm that two officers have been arrested. These customs officers were not acting as customs officers since their suspension a couple of months ago. The suspension was issued after they were alleged for being involved in fraud affairs. Only thing I can add is that they were already under investigation and investigative judge felt that they had to be arrested for further questioning and further investigation and at this stage it would not be appropriate for me to provide further comments since it is now under the court and further investigation. What I would like to add and stress is that senior management in the Customs service welcomed any investigation if there is a suspicion of corruption in the service because it is not good for service neither for Kosovo to have corruption in such an important revenue collecting agency. Thank you.
Q: Toni, did yesterday’s operation achieve its full objective?
KFOR: In that we detained three individuals that we were looking for, yes it did.
Q: But did you detain all the individuals named on the indictment? All the individuals that you were looking for?
KFOR: I am here to discuss the success in the three that we did detain and not to react to any speculations that may have been in the press.
Q: But did you get all the people that you were looking for?
KFOR: I’ve answered the question, Nebi.
Q: KFOR and ICTY yesterday were looking for four people. The fourth person is, as we all know, as you know is Fatmir Limaj. Does KFOR know where he is?
KFOR: As I’ve just said I am here to discuss and to announce the success of getting three people who were indicted for war crimes, and I am not to going to speculate or discuss any other points other than that.
Q: If getting your three suspects yesterday was a success, was not getting a fourth a success or failure?
KFOR: You can put your question in as many different ways as you like, Christian.
UNMIK: Done? Thank you very much.