Page 1
1 Thursday, 3 February 2005
2 [Status Conference]
3 [Open session]
4 [The appellant entered court]
5 --- Upon commencing at 3.01 p.m.
6 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Madam Registrar, will you call the case,
7 please.
8 THE REGISTRAR: Yes, Your Honour. Good afternoon, Your Honour.
9 This is the case number IT-99-36-A, the Prosecutor versus Radoslav
10 Brdjanin.
11 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: May I, first of all, test the equipment.
12 Mr. Brdjanin, can you hear me and understand me?
13 THE APPELLANT: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honour. Yes,
14 I can hear you and understand you.
15 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: May I ask for the appearances. I will go
16 first to the appellant.
17 MR. ACKERMAN: Good afternoon, Your Honour. I'm John Ackerman,
18 and I'm here with my case manager, Aleksandar Vujic.
19 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: I turn now to the Prosecutor.
20 MR. McKEON: Good afternoon, Your Honour. Mark McKeon for the
21 Prosecution, and I'm here with Steffen Wirth, and our case manager,
22 Lourdes Galicia. Thank you.
23 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: This Status Conference has been called
24 pursuant to a scheduling order made on the 18th of January this year. I
25 think it is generally known that the 120 days' time within which a new
Page 2
1 Status Conference has to be held expired on the 1st of February, and now
2 we are at the 3rd of February. While this was due to a scheduling problem
3 of, I think, Defence counsel, that was solved, and ultimately it was
4 agreed that we should hold this Status Conference today. Is that all
5 right? That's accepted?
6 MR. ACKERMAN: Your Honour, that's accepted. I just want to say
7 that I appreciate your indulgence in helping me with my schedule. Thank
8 you.
9 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Yes. Mr. Ackerman, those of us who have
10 practiced at the bar well know the predicament in which counsel is often
11 placed.
12 Now, the applicable Rule is Rule 65 bis (B). That is well known
13 to counsel, but perhaps I could read it out. It says:
14 "The Appeals Chamber or an Appeals Chamber Judge shall convene a
15 Status Conference, within 120 days of the filing of a notice of appeal and
16 thereafter within 120 days after the last Status Conference, to allow any
17 person in custody pending appeal the opportunity to raise issues in
18 relation thereto, including the mental and physical condition of that
19 person."
20 Now, there are two things to be done; one, for me to bring the
21 parties up to date on the status of the pending appeals. Appeals, yes?
22 The Prosecution has an appeal also?
23 MR. McKEON: Yes, Your Honour.
24 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Yes. And to allow the convicted appellant to
25 raise any concerns that he has about his state of affairs.
Page 3
1 Now let me turn, first of all, to the status of the appeal. The
2 conviction, as you know, was made some time ago, and then the Prosecution
3 filed its notice of appeal on the 30th of September, 2004. Mr. Brdjanin
4 filed his notice of appeal on 1st of October, 2004. The Prosecution filed
5 its brief on appeal on 20th January, 2005. It happened this way: That
6 the parties applied for an extension of time, and the Court ordered the
7 Prosecution to file its appeal brief no later than 20th of January, which
8 has been done. And in the case of Mr. Brdjanin, the Court ordered him to
9 file his brief not later than 50 days after the filing of a B/C/S
10 translation of the judgement. There was also a question of a corrigendum
11 which I think was challenged. The corrigendum was issued by Judge Agius
12 on the 10th of December, and on the 31st of January this year, the Appeals
13 Chamber issued its decision on that, and the Chamber postponed the
14 consideration of the appellant's motion until the hearing of the appeal,
15 when that motion, or the contents of that motion, might be considered
16 insofar as the matters therein raised are applicable to the issues raised
17 on the appeal. So it looks as if we are on stream with the appeal.
18 Now, let me turn to Mr. Brdjanin and ask him whether he has any
19 questions to raise. He may do so either by himself or, preferably, I
20 think, through his counsel.
21 MR. ACKERMAN: Your Honour, I just met with him over the last few
22 minutes, and I think he has no matters that he wants to bring to the
23 attention of the Chamber. Is that correct, Mr. Brdjanin? Yes, that's
24 correct, Your Honour.
25 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Very good.
Page 4
1 Then may I turn to the Prosecution and ask the Prosecution whether
2 it has any particular concerns.
3 MR. McKEON: No, Your Honour, we have no concerns, and nothing to
4 raise at this Status Conference.
5 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: I made an error, for which I hope to be
6 forgiven. I spoke of the appellant and I should really have been speaking
7 of the appellants. The Prosecution is also an appellant.
8 Well, this is a good system. It allows the Court to be in touch
9 with the parties. Therefore, if this meeting is as brief as it has been,
10 that is no indication of its value. We like to see the parties.
11 Therefore, if there are no other matters, we will now take the
12 adjournment.
13 --- Whereupon the Status Conference adjourned
14 at 3.13 p.m.
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25