Tribunal Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

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 1                           Wednesday, 23 May 2012

 2                           [Status Conference]

 3                           [Open session]

 4                           [The appellants entered court]

 5                           --- Upon commencing at 3.00 p.m.

 6             JUDGE MERON:  Please be seated.

 7             Registrar, would you please call the case.

 8             THE REGISTRAR:  Good afternoon, Your Honour.  This is case number

 9     IT-06-90-A, the Prosecutor versus Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac.  Thank

10     you.

11             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you.  Let me begin by ensuring that our audio

12     equipment is working properly.

13             Mr. Gotovina, can you hear the proceedings in a language you

14     understand?

15             THE APPELLANT GOTOVINA: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I can.

16     Thank you for asking.

17             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you, Mr. Gotovina.

18             Mr. Markac, can you hear the proceedings in a language you

19     understand?

20             THE APPELLANT MARKAC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour.

21             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you, Mr. Markac.

22             I would now call for appearances by the parties.  For the

23     Prosecution.

24             MS. ELLIOTT:  Good afternoon, Your Honour.  Ingrid Elliott for

25     the Prosecution.  I'm joined today by senior appeals counsel Helen Brady


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 1     and our case manager, Colin Nawrot.

 2             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you, Ms. Elliott.

 3             Counsel for Mr. Gotovina.

 4             MR. KEHOE:  Good afternoon, Your Honour.  Gregory Kehoe,

 5     Luka Misetic, and Guenael Mettraux on behalf of General Ante Gotovina.

 6             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you, Mr. Kehoe.

 7             Counsel for Mr. Markac.

 8             MR. MIKULICIC:  Good afternoon, Your Honour.  Goran Mikulicic,

 9     Mr. John Jones, and case manager Mr. Vlado Rendulic on behalf of

10     Mr. Markac.

11             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you, Mr. Mikulicic.

12             As you are aware, Rule 65 bis (B) of the Rules of Procedure and

13     Evidence requires a Status Conference to be convened within 120 days

14     after the filing of a notice of appeal, and thereafter, within 120 days

15     after the last Status Conference for each appellant in the Tribunal's

16     custody.

17             A Status Conference serves two primary purposes.  First, it

18     allows the appellants an opportunity to express concerns relating to

19     their appeal or detention conditions.  Second, it provides an opportunity

20     to update the appellants with respect to the status of their case.  The

21     Status Conference is also an opportunity for the Tribunal to inquire

22     about the mental and physical condition of the detained persons.

23             In the present case, the last Status Conference was held on

24     26 January 2012.  Today's Status Conference was scheduled by an order

25     issued on 20 April 2012.


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 1             I would like to begin the Status Conference by inquiring into the

 2     health of Mr. Gotovina and Mr. Markac.  And, Mr. Gotovina or Mr. Markac,

 3     if you would prefer this discussion to take place in private, please

 4     indicate.

 5             Mr. Gotovina.

 6             THE APPELLANT GOTOVINA: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I'm fine.

 7     Thank you very much for asking.

 8             JUDGE MERON:  Mr. Markac.

 9             THE APPELLANT MARKAC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I would like

10     to ask for private session, please.

11             JUDGE MERON:  We will go into private session.

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 1                           [Open session]

 2             THE REGISTRAR:  We are in open session, Your Honour.  Thank you.

 3             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you.  We are now in open session.

 4             Let me turn to an update of the case.  Currently there are a

 5     number of pending motions and applications.  I recall that there are four

 6     pending motions filed by counsel for Mr. Gotovina and Mr. Markac to admit

 7     additional evidence on appeal pursuant to Rule 115 of the Rules.  These

 8     motions and any related confidential motions still pending will be

 9     decided in due course.

10             In addition, in an oral decision issued by the Appeals Chamber

11     during the appeal hearing in this case on 14 May 2012, the

12     Appeals Chamber ordered supplemental briefing concerning Gotovina's

13     contention that the Prosecution had advanced new arguments during the

14     appeal hearing.

15             Counsel for Mr. Gotovina and the Prosecution filed these

16     supplemental submissions on 17 May 2012 and 21 May 2012 respectively.

17     These submissions will also be considered in due course.

18             At this point of time, let me ask the parties whether there are

19     any additional issues which they would like to raise.

20             MS. ELLIOTT:  Thank you, Your Honour.

21             JUDGE MERON:  The Prosecution.  Ms. Elliott.

22             MS. ELLIOTT:  Thank you, Your Honour.  There is one small matter

23     with which we seek your assistance.  As you've noted, there's a number of

24     confidential filings before the Chamber.  The Prosecution is in the

25     process of preparing public redacted versions of these filings, but in


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 1     order to be able to file them, the Defence need to also file public

 2     redacted versions of the underlying motions.  We wonder whether this is

 3     something that a timetable might help with in order to get some progress

 4     on this matter.  I note that this has happened in, for example, Popovic.

 5             JUDGE MERON:  In other words, you are asking for an additional

 6     time allowance to prepare the redacted versions, or what?

 7             MS. ELLIOTT:  Just -- just the imposition of a timetable,

 8     Your Honour, so that the filing can happen in order so the Defence will

 9     file public redacted versions of their additional evidence motions, and

10     then that would allow the Prosecution then to file their public redacted

11     versions of their responses and so forth.

12             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you for drawing my attention to that.  We'll

13     look at that.  And if necessary we'll issue such an order.

14             MS. ELLIOTT:  Thank you.

15             JUDGE MERON:  Defence, any issues that you would like to raise?

16             MR. KEHOE:  No, Your Honour.  None from General Gotovina.

17             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you very much.

18             MR. MIKULICIC:  Not for Mr. Markac as well, Your Honour.

19             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you.

20             If there are no other matters to be raised by the parties, I

21     would simply thank the parties for their attendance, and call the

22     proceedings to a close.  We will, of course, issue our decisions on the

23     various 115 motions as soon as we can.

24                           --- Whereupon the Status Conference adjourned

25                           at 3.13 p.m.