På en pressekonferanse den 12. juli gikk ICTY-talsmenn til harde angrep mot
en artikkel i nederlandske NRC Handelsblad.
Denne "appalling piece of journalism" høres veldig interessant ut. ICTY
fant det nødvendig å angripe den, men unngikk å gå inn på diskusjon av
innholdet siden det bare ville være "å gi den mer publisitet". Har heller
ikke registrert omtaler av artikkelen noen andre steder. Er det noen her
som kjenner til hva dette handler om?
Nysgjerrig hilsen Asgeir Bjørkedal
Fra pressekonferansen:
http://www.un.org/icty/briefing/PB120700.htm
Paul Risley, Spokesman for the Office of the Prosecutor made the following
statement:
The Prosecutor is on leave.
Briefly, I should like to comment on an article about the Tribunal that
appeared in the Saturday Supplement Magazine of the
NRC Handelsblad a week ago. For the most part, this is an article not worth
commenting on. While many from the tribunal
may wish to debate the accuracy and the relevance of the article’s
assertions and quotes, to do so would simply provide
more publicity to what I view as an appalling piece of journalism.
But one passage of this article, a quote attributed to me, does require a
response.
I would like to apologise for the comment I made last month in the company
of several journalists, including one of the writers
of this article, working in the Lobby Press Room, observing the televised
testimony of a Dutch witness in the Krstic trial.
Regrettably, my comment, a failed attempt at humour, was published in this
article, and I apologize sincerely for any harm or
offense taken by the witness testifying or by readers of that comment. I
assure you that my comment was not intended to
offend, nor should it be taken as a serious representation of my opinions
or beliefs. The Deputy Prosecutor has spoken to me
about this comment. I recognise the error I have made, and I hope my
apology today can help to ease matters. As a
Spokesman I should recognize the power and the danger of the pen.
Graham Blewitt, the Deputy Prosecutor, made the following statement:
I would also like to say that it is regrettable and disappointing that a
newspaper with such a good reputation would publish
such an article in the first place.
It is obvious that the two journalists who wrote the comments, and who were
given access to the Tribunal staff for the purpose
of writing a serious article about the work of the Tribunal, took advantage
of a situation which gave them behind the scenes
access to the Prosecutor’s Office and her staff. The end product was not a
serious piece of journalism, but instead relied on
gossip, rumours and outrageous quotes. It is interesting to note that the
journalists who were given access to a number of the
senior officials in the Tribunal did not take advantage of that rare
privilege. They had the opportunity to write a much more
serious article, but they chose to write a throwaway piece that focuses on
the insignificant and in some cases, the simply
untrue.
In fact, the Prosecutor was so distressed by the tone of the article and
especially the printed comment that Mr. Risley has
just discussed, that she sent a letter to the publisher, saying in part :
"In every respect the co-operation and assistance my Office has
experienced in the Netherlands over the past
six and a half years has been of the highest order, and that fact
should be recognised publicly. Dutch officials
deal regularly with my Office in many spheres of activity. Their
professionalism and competence has always
been exemplary. Most recently those qualities have been
demonstrated in the contribution made by Dutch
military officers and by Dutch expert witnesses in the trial of
General Krstic (Srebrenica)".
This has been a disappointing and distressing incident for all concerned.
You have just heard what Mr. Risley said and in
conclusion, I would like to reiterate that the comments in the article in
no way represent either the truth or even any official or
unofficial position of the Prosecutor and her staff.
Nettugaven av Handelsbladet:
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