Page 49
1 Thursday, 29 June 2006
2 [Status Conference]
3 [Open session]
4 [The appellant entered court]
5 --- Upon commencing at 3.31 p.m.
6 JUDGE MERON: Madam Registrar, would you please call the case.
7 THE REGISTRAR: Good afternoon, Your Honour. This is the Case
8 Number IT-98-29-A, the Prosecutor versus Stanislav Galic.
9 JUDGE MERON: Could I please have the appearances of the parties.
10 The Prosecution, please.
11 MS. BRADY: Good afternoon, Your Honour. Helen Brady appearing
12 for the Prosecution, together with Michelle Jarvis and our case manager,
13 Kim Fischer. Thank you.
14 JUDGE MERON: Thank you, Ms. Brady.
15 Defence.
16 MS. PILIPOVIC: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honour. On
17 behalf of the Defence -- good afternoon, Your Honour. For the Defence of
18 General Stanislav Galic, Mara Pilipovic, attorney-at-law, and my
19 colleague, Mr. Stephane Piletta-Zanin. Thank you.
20 JUDGE MERON: Thank you, Ms. Pilipovic.
21 Mr. Galic, can you hear the proceedings in a language you
22 understand?
23 THE APPELLANT: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honour.
24 Thank you, I am following the proceedings in a language I understand and I
25 am doing it quite well. Thank you.
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1 JUDGE MERON: Thank you. I am glad to hear that. You may be
2 seated.
3 This is a Status Conference called in accordance with Rule 65 bis
4 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. Rule 65 bis (B) requires a Status
5 Conference to be convened within 120 days of the last Status Conference to
6 allow any person in custody pending appeal the opportunity to raise issues
7 in relation thereto, including the mental and physical condition of that
8 person. The last Status Conference in this case was held on 2 March 2006.
9 Mr. Galic, again, could you please rise? I would like to ask you
10 whether you have any issues that you would like to raise at this time, and
11 in particular regarding your mental or physical well being.
12 THE APPELLANT: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honour. I would
13 like to say a few words, by your leave. First of all, I would like to
14 thank you -- I would like to thank you personally, since you have been in
15 charge of the proceedings at this stage, that you have been inquiring of
16 my health. On the 2nd of March we had our last Status Conference, and I
17 saw then that already by the 6th of March I was supposed to sign a
18 document for handing over my medical documentation here to the Tribunal.
19 I indeed signed it. So by your leave I'm talking about what happened in
20 between since the last Status Conference.
21 On the 9th of March, I immediately underwent some treatment --
22 actually, a punction at a special hospital. This is a physiotherapy that
23 is going on and this is the fourth time I have undergone this therapy.
24 Last time it was so painful that I really would not want to have it
25 repeated again, but I'm told that it won't be that painful any longer
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1 because this -- or rather, the pain is caused by touching the spinal
2 nerve. So you will appreciate how painful that is. Since then I have
3 been a bit better, so I guess that the treatment has a certain favourable
4 effect. I don't know what you've been told about the condition of my
5 health, but once again I would like to underline that during my arrest I
6 was terrorised in an awful way. I hope that my lawyers will manage to get
7 some documents about that and that they will present them, namely that the
8 persons who committed this terror actually admit to it. For six months I
9 couldn't walk; as you know, I had to use crutches. And my teeth were
10 punched out. I had an operation of my left arm and my left shoulder has
11 been hurt and you can still see it. For seven years now I've been
12 undergoing therapy for my spine. And, believe me, all of that is not
13 easy. Thank you.
14 JUDGE MERON: Thank you very much. I do hope that you will get
15 better and you will not have to have those painful treatments again.
16 Does the Prosecutor have any comments on what Mr. Galic said?
17 MS. BRADY: No, Your Honour.
18 JUDGE MERON: Thank you.
19 You may be seated. The parties' submissions on the respective
20 appeal of the trial judgement are now complete. As the parties are aware
21 oral argument on the appeals will be held on Tuesday, 29 August 2006 in
22 Courtroom I. The Appeals Chamber plans later this summer to file an order
23 letting the parties know the timetable for this hearing.
24 This morning the Prosecution filed a status report concerning the
25 archive of military documents recently compiled by the Ministry of
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1 Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the Prosecution's status report, it
2 stated that the parties may be able to advise the Chamber today of their
3 respective positions in relation to this archive. So I want to ask the
4 parties whether they anticipate filing any motions as a result of the fact
5 that materials in this archive are available. Obviously, if a party would
6 want to introduce material from this archive, it would need to file a Rule
7 115 motion.
8 Ms. Brady, do you think that the Prosecution will be filing any
9 motions as a result of the fact that materials in this archive are
10 available?
11 MS. BRADY: Your Honour, at this stage I can say that we don't
12 anticipate making any filings, but as I indicated in the status report,
13 this information has only recently come to our attention. We've made
14 efforts to firstly inform the Defence of the material and its
15 accessibility to the Defence. We've also made some preliminary steps in
16 ascertaining the parameters of the material and what's in the collection.
17 At this stage I can anticipate that we will not, but there is a caveat on
18 it in terms of not having properly researched the material.
19 I also, Your Honour, would bear in mind that our position also is
20 affected by what -- Mr. Galic, what his Defence team does, if anything,
21 with the material because in terms of 115 we would have to consider our
22 position in terms of rebuttal.
23 JUDGE MERON: Thank you, Ms. Brady.
24 Ms. Pilipovic.
25 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honour. Allow
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1 me to answer instead of Madam Pilipovic. Indeed we had talks with the
2 opposite party and we were able to speak with General Galic about this new
3 situation, new to him. At this stage of the proceedings, I believe it is
4 better and proper to do the following as early as next week, Tuesday and
5 Wednesday, provided everything is put in one single place. It could be
6 Banja Luka. Mara Pilipovic is planning to go to Banja Luka to get in
7 touch with the appropriate people, will endeavour to look at all the
8 documents in as far as it is possible to see; once that is done, it can be
9 done in terms of proceedings. At this stage we still do not know whether
10 we are going to have production of new evidence under Rule 115, but we're
11 going to rush to Banja Luka in order to speed up the proceedings as much
12 as we can, and I think that by two weeks -- yes, is that right? What do
13 you think? Yes, within two or three weeks we should be able to give you
14 an idea to the Prosecution, to you, and to your Appeals Chamber, of
15 course. Thank you.
16 JUDGE MERON: Thank you.
17 Let me just emphasise that if either party would want to move any
18 motions, I would certainly encourage that party to avoid any delays, any
19 unwarranted delays about our scheduling of the hearing, and I am quite
20 sure that Mr. Galic is quite anxious to have his case tried.
21 Before concluding the Status Conference, I want to ask counsel for
22 the Prosecution and Defence whether they have any other issues that they
23 would like to raise at this time.
24 Ms. Brady.
25 MS. BRADY: Your Honour, you mentioned that shortly Your Honour
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1 would issue a further scheduling order in relation to the hearing. On the
2 last occasion Your Honour mentioned the list of issues or questions that
3 the Appeals Chamber may be particularly interested in, and I would like to
4 ask Your Honour if in that further scheduling order such a list of issues
5 will be contained; and if it is, then of course both parties would very
6 much appreciate having it as soon as we could in order to facilitate our
7 preparations.
8 JUDGE MERON: Thank you. Of course this will be for the entire
9 Bench to decide. I appreciate your interest in having such a list of
10 issues as soon as possible, and my own assumption is that we will have
11 that in the scheduling order.
12 Defence.
13 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honour. To
14 echo what the Prosecution just said, and sometimes we are able to agree
15 with the Prosecution, then -- I'm not sure -- this -- remembering now that
16 we were talking about a deadline of six weeks ante deum in order to get
17 ready. I'm not speaking on my own behalf, but some may plan holidays with
18 their families and it would be useful -- I can see the Prosecution
19 nodding. It would be easier for everybody to organise themselves and
20 their work on either side of the well. Thank you.
21 JUDGE MERON: Thank you, I appreciate your comments.
22 If there are no other issues, I thank the parties for their
23 attendance and call these proceedings to a halt.
24 --- Whereupon the Status Conference
25 adjourned at 3.45 p.m.