US embassy cable - 04THEHAGUE149

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 THE HAGUE 000149 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR S/WCI - PROSPER/RICHARD, EUR/SCE - 
GREGORIAN/MITCHELL, L - TAFT, L/EUR - LAHNE, INR/WCAD - 
SEIDENSTRICKER/MORIN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 1.6 FIVE YEARS AFTER CLOSURE OF ICTY 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, BK, HR, SR, NL, ICTY 
SUBJECT: ICTY: DEPUTY PROSECUTOR BLEWITT RESIGNING 
 
REF: 03 THE HAGUE 236 
 
Classified By: Legal Counselor Clifton M. Johnson per reasons 1.5(b)-(d 
) 
 
1. (C) Summary: International Criminal Tribunal for the 
former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Deputy Prosecutor Graham Blewitt has 
announced to colleagues in the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) 
that he will not remain in his position beyond June of this 
year.  Blewitt's resignation, after ten years at the 
Tribunal, makes him the second senior OTP official to 
announce such plans, with Chief of Prosecutions Michael 
Johnson leaving the Tribunal in April.  The resulting vacuum 
creates an opportunity for Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte 
to consolidate her authority within the office, much as she 
has planned since at least the fall of 2002 (reftel).  End 
summary. 
 
2. (C) In an internal personal message on January 21, 
obtained by Embassy legal officers, ICTY Deputy Prosecutor 
Blewitt sought "to explain to all my colleagues the reason 
why I have decided not to seek a renewal of my contract."  He 
focused upon "personal and family reasons," particularly his 
ten-year absence from his home in Australia and an aging 
mother.  He expressed his realization that "it is indeed time 
for me to move on," and offered only one parting reference to 
his sour relationship with the Chief Prosecutor, saying, "The 
fact that I have not enjoyed the same relationship with the 
current Prosecutor as I did with Messrs Goldstone and Arbour 
has been a factor, but by no means the determining one." 
Originally he had planned to announce his resignation in 
April so as to "maintain maximum effectiveness" and avoid 
becoming "irrelevant to some extent."  Since his return from 
Australia this week, however, "I feel that I am being 
deceptive to more and more colleagues and this is making me 
feel very uncomfortable."  More to the point, he said, "I 
also realise that as plans are being made for the future work 
of the OTP, that these should not be made in the expectation 
that I will still be here."  Committed to a "100% effort 
towards the work of the Tribunal during the remaining 
months," Blewitt noted that "there is still a lot of hard 
work to be done in the coming years but I believe that the 
Tribunal is now well established and I do not think any 
ongoing personal contribution on my part will make much 
difference." 
 
3. (C) The resignation marks the second among OTP's senior 
management in recent weeks.  It comes on the heels of the 
forced resignation of Michael Johnson, the American chief of 
prosecutions who has butted heads with Del Ponte repeatedly 
over matters of style, process and substance and who has been 
accused by her of disloyalty.  Johnson, by contrast to 
Blewitt, did not come to the decision out of a desire to 
return home, as his family resides with him in The Hague. 
Rather, Del Ponte has made clear to him that his position 
would be in name only, as she stripped him of any substantial 
responsibility just before the new year.  He is scheduled to 
depart the Tribunal on April 15. 
 
4.  (C)  With two imminent vacancies in OTP senior 
management, Del Ponte will seize the opportunity to 
consolidate her control and authority in the OTP. 
Previously, both Blewitt (who has the personal loyalty of the 
significant majority of the staff) and Johnson provided a 
significant counterweight to Del Ponte and management 
oversight of the substantive aspects of the prosecutions 
while Del Ponte focused on relations with governments, 
fugitive apprehensions, and other more political issues. Del 
Ponte is said to be considering a restructuring of the senior 
management of the OTP to eliminate the Chief of Prosecutions 
position.  Under this scenario she would merge the functions 
of the Chief of Prosecution with those of the Chief of 
Investigation, creating a position that would be a near equal 
in authority to that of the Deputy.  Del Ponte is reported to 
be recruiting a senior Swiss prosecutor to join her senior 
staff.  She is also considering elevating the French Chief of 
Investigations to one of the management slots, perhaps in an 
acting capacity.  We would also not be surprised to see her 
give serious consideration to an American candidate in an 
effort to assuage any USG concerns about the resignations. 
(NB: While the deputy position is not a statutory one, it 
derives from Article 38 of the Rules of Evidence and 
Procedure, which provides the Chief Prosecutor with the 
authority to recommend to the United Nations Secretary 
General a deputy prosecutor.) 
5. (C) Comment. Graham Blewitt is the longest-serving senior 
staff member at the ICTY, perhaps the one person who can 
catalog, by memory, the early lows to the recent highs of the 
Tribunal's development.  While he has been a mediocre 
manager, he has been a consistent and principled 
interlocutor, unafraid to cooperate on sensitive matters and 
committed to building and maintaining a high-level 
partnership to meet the ICTY's objectives.  His departure, 
particularly when combined with that of Michael Johnson, is 
an significant loss for the USG and demoralizing to OTP 
staff.  An appropriately seasoned prosecutor, preferably 
someone with the USG's confidence and with managerial 
experience, would be an ideal candidate to handle the OTP's 
busy docket and keep the OTP on a steady course as it heads 
toward completion strategy landmarks.  Embassy recommends 
that Department consider possible candidates early in this 
process so as to maximize any influence we might have in the 
selection process.  End comment. 
RUSSEL