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1 Wednesday, 4 April 2007
2 [Status Conference]
3 [Open session]
4 [The appellant entered court]
5 [the appellant Kubura not present]
6 --- Upon commencing at 8.01 a.m.
7 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Well, good morning to all of you.
8 Mr. Registrar, will you please call the case.
9 THE REGISTRAR: Good morning, Your Honour. This is case number
10 IT-01-47-A, the Prosecutor versus Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura.
11 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: I would like to begin in the usual way by
12 ensuring that the audio equipment is working properly.
13 Mr. Hadzihasanovic, can you hear me in a language you understand?
14 THE APPELLANT HADZIHASANOVIC: [No interpretation]
15 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: What about all of the counsel?
16 MS. RESIDOVIC: [Interpretation] Good morning, Your Honour. We
17 can hear it and understand it. For the Defence of General Enver
18 Hadzihasanovic, Edina Residovic, counsel; Stephane Bourgon, co-counsel;
19 and our legal assistant. Thank you.
20 MR. IBRISIMOVIC: [Interpretation] Good morning, Your Honour. For
21 the Defence of Mr. Kubura, Rodney Dixon, Fahrudin Ibrisimovic, and
22 Nermin Mulalic. Thank you.
23 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Thank you.
24 Counsel for the Prosecution.
25 MS. ISSA: Good morning, Your Honour. It's Antoinette Issa, with
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1 me is Julia Thibord, and our case manager Sebastiaan van Hooydonk.
2 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Good.
3 I want to apologise for bringing you out so early. This is not
4 unusual in this Tribunal. You will understand the limitations imposed on
5 us all by the arrangements.
6 So I would like to call formally for the appearances. Would
7 counsel for Mr. Hadzihasanovic so signify.
8 MS. RESIDOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, for the Defence of
9 General Enver Hadzihasanovic, Edina Residovic, counsel; Stephane Bourgon,
10 co-counsel; and our legal assistant.
11 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: [Previous translation continues]... that
12 counsel for Mr. Kubura and counsel for the Prosecution are the same?
13 MS. ISSA: Yes.
14 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Well, as you are aware, Rule 65 bis of the
15 Rules of Procedure and Evidence requires that Status Conferences be held
16 for each appellant in the Tribunal's custody at intervals no less than
17 120 days. This is the third Status Conference at the appeals stage in
18 the case of Prosecution against Hadzihasanovic and Kubura. The last
19 Status Conference in this case was held on the 11th December, 2006. This
20 conference, therefore, falls within the 120-day period prescribed by
21 Rule 65 bis.
22 While Mr. Hadzihasanovic is presently in the custody -- in
23 custody at the United Nations Detention Centre, Mr. Kubura was granted
24 early release on 11th April 2006, and therefore he was not strictly
25 entitled to a Status Conference under Rule 65 bis. However, in the
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1 interests of justice and in order to facilitate the appeals process, he
2 was invited to be represented at this Status Conference along with his
3 colleague Mr. Hadzihasanovic.
4 I am pleased to see that Mr. Kubura's counsel joined us for this
5 Status Conference. Again, I bid you all a warm welcome.
6 I would like to remind the parties that Status Conferences serve
7 two purposes. First, they allow the appellants an opportunity to express
8 concerns relating to the appeal and detention conditions; and second,
9 they provide an opportunity to update the appellants with respect to the
10 status of their case.
11 I will begin with the second of these objectives; namely, an
12 update. This case involves three appeals filed by Mr. Hadzihasanovic,
13 Mr. Kubura, and the Prosecution. As you know, the pleadings are now
14 closed. The hearing will be scheduled in due course. I would merely
15 recapitulate the main steps that have occurred so far.
16 On 15 March 2006, Trial Chamber II rendered its judgement in the
17 case of Prosecutor against Hadzihasanovic and Kubura. Mr. Kubura filed
18 his notice of appeal from that judgement on 13th April 2006.
19 Mr. Hadzihasanovic filed his notice of appeal on 18th April 2006, and on
20 the same day the Prosecution filed its notice of appeal.
21 Subsequently, Mr. Hadzihasanovic and Mr. Kubura sought extensions
22 of time to file their appeal briefs, pending translations of the trial
23 judgement. The judgement had been rendered in French, a language that
24 Mr. Hadzihasanovic and counsel for Mr. Kubura do not speak.
25 On 27 June 2006, I, as Pre-Appeal Judge, granted
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1 Mr. Hadzihasanovic's motion, seeking an extension of time for the
2 submission of his appeal brief until 45 days after the transmission to
3 him of a partial B/C/S translation of the trial judgement with a full
4 translation to be completed subsequently.
5 Mr. Kubura requested an extension corresponding to the full
6 75-day period ordinarily allowed under Rule 111 for the filing of his
7 appeal brief. He was granted an extension until six days after the
8 transmission to his counsel of a certified English translation of the
9 trial judgement. The decision also found that the Prosecution was
10 entitled to file a consolidated brief and to wait until 40 days after the
11 filing of the second of the two appellants' briefs.
12 Meanwhile, as I have said, the Prosecution filed a notice of
13 appeal on 18th April 2006. It filed its appeal brief on 3 July 2006.
14 Mr. Kubura and Mr. Hadzihasanovic subsequently filed separate motions
15 seeking extensions of time to file their respondents' briefs until 40
16 days after the transmission of translations of the trial judgement to
17 Mr. Kubura's counsel and to Mr. Hadzihasanovic respectively. The motions
18 were granted on 26th July and 8th August 2006. Both decisions noted that
19 the Prosecution would be permitted to file a consolidated brief within 15
20 days of the filing of the later of the two response briefs of
21 Mr. Hadzihasanovic and Mr. Kubura.
22 The English translation of the full trial judgement was
23 transmitted to the parties on 23 November 2006, and the B/C/S translation
24 or the full trial judgement was transmitted to the parties on 1 December
25 2006.
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1 At the Status Conference held in this case on 11 December 2006, I
2 granted the parties' requests, which were agreed to by counsel for both
3 accused and the Prosecution, to modify the deadlines previously set for
4 the filing of certain pleadings. Mr. Hadzihasanovic and Mr. Kubura were
5 granted an extension for the filing of their pre-appeal briefs until
6 22 January 2007 and for the filing of the response briefs to the
7 Prosecution's appeal until 10 January 2007. The Prosecution was granted
8 an extension of time for the filing of its consolidated brief until
9 30 January 2007.
10 In accordance with the modified filing deadlines,
11 Mr. Hadzihasanovic and Mr. Kubura filed their response briefs in the
12 Prosecution's appeal on 10 January 2007. The Prosecution filed its
13 consolidated reply brief on 30 January 2007. Mr. Kubura filed his appeal
14 brief on 22 January 2007.
15 On 18 January 2007, counsel for Mr. Hadzihasanovic filed a motion
16 seeking an extension of the word limit for Mr. Hadzihasanovic's appeal
17 brief from 30.000 to 39.000 words. In my capacity as Pre-Appeal Judge in
18 this case, I dismissed the motion on 22 January 2007. A day later, the
19 Defence for Mr. Hadzihasanovic sought reconsideration of that decision
20 or, alternatively, an extension of time for filing of its pre-appeal
21 brief.
22 On 30 January 2007, I denied the motion for reconsideration but
23 granted Mr. Hadzihasanovic leave to file his appeal brief within five
24 days of that decision. The decision further confirmed that the
25 Prosecution was entitled to file its consolidated response brief within
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1 40 days of the filing of the later of the two appeal briefs of
2 Mr. Hadzihasanovic and Mr. Kubura.
3 Mr. Hadzihasanovic subsequently filed his confidential brief on
4 5 February 2007, together with annexes amounting to 3200 pages, four
5 DVDs, and two CDs.
6 On 20 February 2007, the Appeals Chamber rendered a decision
7 which declared null and void the appeal briefs filed by
8 Mr. Hadzihasanovic on the ground that they did not comply with
9 paragraph (C) of the Practice Direction on the length of briefs and
10 motions, and the decision of 30 January 2007. It directed the registry
11 to remove the appeal brief annexes from the case file. The Appeals
12 Chamber ordered Mr. Hadzihasanovic, if he so wished, to re-file the
13 annexes to his appeal brief within one week of the date of that decision.
14 Mr. Hadzihasanovic accordingly re-filed his confidential brief annexes on
15 27 February 2007.
16 On 19 March 2007, the Prosecution filed its confidential
17 consolidated response brief to the appeals of Mr. Hadzihasanovic and
18 Mr. Kubura. Mr. Kubura filed his reply brief and Mr. Hadzihasanovic
19 filed his confidential reply brief on 3rd April 2007, that is yesterday.
20 Thus, the briefing in all three appeals is now complete.
21 Now, if I have recapitulated the steps, main steps, correctly,
22 would the parties indicate whether they have any concerns remaining in
23 respect of the appeals.
24 MR. BOURGON: Good morning, Judge. May it please the Court. I
25 would just like to make a brief submission regarding one of the appeal
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1 grounds which concerns the appeal which was raised by my client,
2 Mr. Hadzihasanovic. On the third ground of appeal, which was of course
3 briefed in the initial appeal responded to, and we replied yesterday,
4 there is an issue of obtaining translations or official translation of an
5 audio-recording. We indicated yesterday in our reply brief that we were
6 in the process of obtaining this official translation of a segment, an
7 audio-recording, a segment from the judgement, and I would just like to
8 indicate to the Pre-Appeals Chamber that we are in the process of
9 obtaining this official translation from CLSS, and that we will submit it
10 to the Appeals Chamber in due course.
11 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Mr. Bourgon, when is it likely to be ready?
12 MR. BOURGON: We anticipate any time -- any day, any day, Judge.
13 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Perhaps I can hear from the Prosecution.
14 MS. ISSA: Well, Your Honour, I -- we were not actually aware of
15 this matter until Mr. Bourgon raised it. I would have to, obviously,
16 consider it and have the opportunity to understand exactly what -- what
17 issue this relates to specifically in the reply brief. As you know, it
18 was filed yesterday, and we haven't had that much time to consider our
19 position.
20 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Well, I understand you, Mr. Bourgon; you're
21 merely conveying the information to the Court and not to be making a
22 complaint?
23 MR. BOURGON: No, not a complaint at all. Simply to indicate --
24 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Yeah.
25 MR. BOURGON: -- the issue -- maybe I can clarify the issue for
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1 the Appeals Chamber. In our appeal, one of the -- one of the arguments
2 that we raised was that there was a problem with the official translation
3 of the audio-recording of what happened in the courtroom on the floor,
4 and we submitted our own translation at that time, to which the
5 Prosecution opposed in their response brief, and they say you cannot use
6 that, you have to use an official translation. So we are in the process
7 of obtaining this official translation.
8 We've indicated that in our brief, simply to say that as soon as
9 we have it, then we will be in a position to submit this official
10 translation to the Appeals Chamber. So it is by no means a complaint.
11 Thank you, Mr. President.
12 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: So your reply is not fully complete?
13 MR. BOURGON: Other than -- other than for this part of
14 translation that we are -- that we will submit as soon as we get it.
15 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: All right. Good.
16 Now, are there any other matters concerning the status of the
17 appeals? Good. Then could we hear whether Mr. Hadzihasanovic has any
18 concerns -- I'm sorry, counsel.
19 MR. IBRISIMOVIC: [Interpretation] Thank you, Mr. President. At
20 this point, the Defence of Mr. Kubura has no questions to raise before
21 you. Thank you.
22 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Mr. Hadzihasanovic, would you like to say
23 whether the conditions of your detention are satisfactory?
24 THE APPELLANT HADZIHASANOVIC: [Interpretation] Good morning, Your
25 Honour. I have nothing special to raise. The conditions, as well as my
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1 health, are quite well most of the time. Thank you, and thank you for
2 having asked me.
3 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Thank you.
4 Well, if there are no -- Mr. Bourgon.
5 MR. BOURGON: Thank you, Judge. There is one issue that we would
6 like to alert the Appeals Chamber to on behalf of Mr. Hadzihasanovic, and
7 that is that on behalf of Mr. Hadzihasanovic a request for early release.
8 An application was filed before the President, and this application was
9 filed on the 1st of March of this year.
10 According to the applicable Practice Direction, we were under the
11 understanding that a decision was to be rendered by the President seven
12 days before the date of eligibility for early release. The date of
13 eligibility according to us is 7 April, and we were hopefully expecting a
14 decision before the Status Conference this morning.
15 I have been in contact with the Office of the President, and they
16 say the decision is in the making. We believe that it was important to
17 mention this, so that it would be on the record of appeal that there is a
18 pending matter before the President concerning the early release of
19 Mr. Hadzihasanovic.
20 Thank you, Judge.
21 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Thank you, Mr. Bourgon. You have referred
22 to the Office of the President, and that means you are on home ground.
23 It remains for me to remind you that the motion to which you refer is, I
24 believe, a confidential document?
25 MR. BOURGON: Indeed, Judge.
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1 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Yes. Well, then shall we leave it this way,
2 that we expect that the matter would be treated with the celerity it
3 deserves, and that you will in due course hear from the Office of the
4 President. Yes.
5 Now, if there are no other matters, may we take the ...
6 [Trial Chamber and registrar confer]
7 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Mr. Bourgon, I'm reminded that it would be
8 appropriate, would it not, to have the transcript redacted on that point.
9 MR. BOURGON: Well, I do not believe so because the application
10 itself, although it was confidential, was actually given to the Appeals
11 Chamber, and the Appeals Chamber -- it is on the record. So the Judges
12 of the Appeals Chamber have received a copy of this application, and the
13 fact that there is an application concerning early release is not a
14 confidential matter. But there are issues inside the request itself that
15 are confidential.
16 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: All right. Nothing in the motion has come
17 out; all you have referred to is the existence of a motion?
18 MR. BOURGON: That is correct, Judge.
19 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: So we'll leave it there then.
20 Well, then maybe take the adjournment at this stage. Thank you
21 very much.
22 --- Whereupon the Status Conference
23 adjourned at 8.27 a.m.
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