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1 Friday, 23 January 2004
2 [Status Conference]
3 [Open session]
4 [The accused entered court]
5 --- Upon commencing at 2.32 p.m.
6 JUDGE EL MAHDI: [Interpretation] I should like to bid good
7 afternoon to everyone in the courtroom.
8 Could the Registrar please call the case.
9 THE REGISTRAR: Good afternoon, Your Honour. Case number
10 IT-01-41-PT, the Prosecutor versus Pasko Ljubicic.
11 JUDGE EL MAHDI: [Interpretation] Thank you, Madam Registrar.
12 Could the parties introduce themselves for the record, please.
13 Prosecution.
14 MR. HARMON: Yes. Good afternoon, Judge El Mahdi. My name is
15 Mark Harmon. I represent the Office of the Prosecutor, along with my
16 colleague, Mr. Fergal Gaynor, who is my co-counsel. To my left is
17 Ms. Donnica Henry Frijlink, the case manager. Thank you.
18 JUDGE EL MAHDI: [Interpretation] Thank you very much, Mr. Harmon.
19 Yes. Defence, please.
20 MR. JONJIC: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honour. My name
21 is Tomislav Jonjic, representing the accused in this case.
22 JUDGE EL MAHDI: [Interpretation] Thank you, Mr. Jonjic.
23 Mr. Ljubicic, can you hear me in a language that you understand?
24 THE INTERPRETER: Microphone for the accused, please.
25 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Your Honour, yes, I can hear you
Page 164
1 very well.
2 JUDGE EL MAHDI: [Interpretation] Thank you very much. Please sit
3 down.
4 Let me remind the parties that the last Status Conference was held
5 in September, on the 25th of September, and despite the fact that we have
6 had a conference in November as well, I wanted to be in strict compliance
7 of the provisions of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence and respect the
8 time limits provided for in the Rules.
9 Having said that, I should like to move into private session. [In
10 English] Madam Registrar, could we go into closed session, please.
11 THE REGISTRAR: We are in private session, Your Honour.
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16 [Open session]
17 THE REGISTRAR: We are in open session, Your Honour.
18 JUDGE EL MAHDI: [Interpretation] Thank you, Madam Registrar.
19 Mr. Ljubicic, as regards your health, how do you feel? Do you
20 have any complaints? Is there anything you would like to say to the
21 Chamber?
22 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Your Honour, my health condition is
23 currently good. I don't have any complaints about my life in the
24 Detention Unit. I don't have any complaints about the personnel or
25 anything that has to do with my stay in the Detention Unit.
Page 171
1 JUDGE EL MAHDI: [Interpretation] Thank you very much. You may be
2 seated. I am very happy to hear what you have just said.
3 Would the parties like to raise any issue, or would they like to
4 inform the Chamber about any issue?
5 Mr. Harmon.
6 MR. HARMON: No, Your Honour. Thank you for the invitation.
7 JUDGE EL MAHDI: Thank you.
8 Mr. Jonjic.
9 MR. JONJIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, the Defence doesn't know
10 whether financing should be raised at this point. Is that something that
11 has been envisaged as something to be discussed during this Status
12 Conference or not? Can we already start discussing that?
13 JUDGE EL MAHDI: [Interpretation] What do you mean by "financing"?
14 What do you mean by "finances"?
15 MR. JONJIC: [Interpretation] On the agenda that I have received
16 from Mr. Harhoff, one of the items on the agenda of today's Status
17 Conference is the financing of the Defence, and Mr. Harhoff has informed
18 us that the trial is not going to start before the upcoming autumn. So
19 Mr. Harhoff and I have exchanged several e-mails and discussed our
20 financing, because that is something that is of concern, and a late start
21 of the trial will have a bearing on that. However, if that hasn't been
22 envisaged as an item on the agenda of today's Status Conference, maybe the
23 Defence shouldn't raise this issue at this point.
24 JUDGE EL MAHDI: [Interpretation] Very well, then. I think that
25 this issue should be regulated with our Senior Legal Officer. However, I
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1 would like to tell you that I personally would like to be able to start
2 this trial as soon as possible. However, as you may well be aware of,
3 this does not depend on the Tribunal; it depends on part -- partly on some
4 issues which are beyond our power. Since we are in open session, I
5 will -- I'm sure you will certainly understand that I -- what I'm trying
6 to say to you. So it depends very much on others, not so much on us. It
7 depends, rather, on some external circumstances.
8 I hope that you will be able to regulate this issue and that
9 everything will be in the interest of justice. Like every time so far, I
10 am inviting you to regulate this issue with Mr. Harhoff, who is more than
11 capable of dealing with this issue in this stage of pre-trial.
12 Having said that, if there's nothing else to raise, I think I can
13 declare this session adjourned. Thank you very much.
14 --- Whereupon the Status Conference adjourned at
15 2.57 p.m.
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