Page 7466
1 Tuesday, 11 April 2006
2 [Open session]
3 [The accused entered court]
4 --- Upon commencing at 2.21 p.m.
5 JUDGE PARKER: Mr. Smith.
6 MR. SMITH: Good afternoon, Your Honours. Just before the witness
7 is brought into the courtroom, there is a brief matter I would like to
8 raise. And it's in relation to the statements that relate to this
9 particular witness, the prior statements that have been purported to be
10 made by him. And because Your Honours haven't got the statements, and
11 maybe it's something that I could have raised in examination-in-chief,
12 perhaps if I just briefly describe the statements that are being disclosed
13 to the Defence so that it may be easier for Your Honours to follow the
14 proceedings.
15 The Prosecution has disclosed two statements that were taken on
16 the 22nd of October, 1992, in Slavonski Brod. One statement relates to
17 the events in Vukovar; the other statement relates to events in
18 Bosanski Brod in Bosnia in 1992. So these are two statements taken on the
19 same day. And these statements are taken by Mr. Artukovic.
20 The Prosecution has also provided Defence with a statement named
21 under this witness on the 17th of November, 1992, that's the date of the
22 statement, and that was taken in Slavonski Brod as well, and we -- it's
23 unknown who the author of that statement is, other than the fact that it
24 was supplied to the Prosecution by the Croatian government in 1997. This
25 is a statement on the 17th of November, 1992.
Page 7467
1 The previous two statements that were taken on the 22nd of
2 October, 1992 were first provided to the Tribunal in 2004, seized on the
3 1st of May, 2004. That may be a mistake, Your Honour. It may be -- I
4 think it might be 1994, but I'll clarify that. And they were provided by
5 the Office of Cooperation in Croatia and forwarded to the Tribunal.
6 Another statement was provided to the Defence that is a copy of
7 the statement that was provided -- that was dated the 17th of November,
8 1992 but comes under a different header. And that was under the header of
9 the Medical Centre for Human Rights in Zagreb. But that is a copy of the
10 same statement that was made on the 17th of November, 1992.
11 The 17th of November, 1992 statement relates to the events in
12 Vukovar. And those three statements, the two on the 22nd of October,
13 1992, and the one on the 17th of November, 1992, the Prosecution does not
14 have any signed versions of those statements, and the Prosecution is
15 unaware of whether any of those statements are, in fact, signed, despite
16 the footer at the bottom that was read out in court yesterday.
17 JUDGE PARKER: Well, that's a pro forma footer.
18 MR. SMITH: That's right. We're not in a position to say whether
19 they were signed or not at this stage. We've provided the Defence with
20 everything that we have.
21 The Prosecution has provided the Defence with a statement on the
22 4th of August, 1995, taken between the 1st and the 4th of August, 1995.
23 And that was taken by a Tribunal representative in Germany.
24 We've also provided the Defence a statement dated the 11th of
25 September, 1995, a supplementary statement, and that was provided to
Page 7468
1 the -- an investigator at the Tribunal, and that was given in Germany by
2 this witness. Both the 4th of August, 1995 statement and the 11th of
3 September, 1995 statement are signed by this witness.
4 And then the Defence have been provided English transcripts and
5 audio recordings of two testimonies at the Tribunal, one on the 27th of
6 March, 1996, which was the Rule 61 hearing, and that's a full transcript
7 relating to the events in Vukovar; and then a second on the 11th of
8 February, 1998 where the witness appeared for the Dokmanovic trial, and
9 appeared in court briefly but because of the sickness described by my
10 learned friend yesterday, or by the witness, he appeared briefly in court
11 and his statement was tendered to the court, as opposed to him providing
12 full testimony.
13 Your Honours, the Prosecution -- another matter that might confuse
14 things just a little is that the Prosecution has received from the
15 Croatian government some statements in two or three different formats but
16 are, in fact, of the one statement that was given. And those different
17 formats have been provided to the Defence under different ERN numbers, and
18 also copies of statements that have been redacted and then subsequently
19 unredacted and then disclosed have been provided to the Defence.
20 In order to try and avoid some confusion where the Prosecution or
21 Defence are referring to whether or not we're referring to the same
22 statement, last Friday we -- the Prosecution prepared a batch of
23 statements that relates to one version of each of the statements of which
24 we would all attempt to use in the hearing, so there's no confusion that
25 we're looking at the same statement but under a different ERN number.
Page 7469
1 All three Defence counsel have been provided with copies of the
2 seven English -- sorry, the eight English and the six B/C/S versions of
3 those statements. The -- there's no B/C/S of the ICTY testimonies; that
4 was in the audio recording. And we also have a copy that we can give the
5 witness as well, which is exactly what the Defence counsel and the
6 Prosecution have.
7 But, as I said, it is a little confusing, but that was an attempt
8 to try and clear it up, because Your Honours don't have copies of the
9 statements.
10 That's really all I have to say in relation to the statements,
11 Your Honour.
12 JUDGE PARKER: Thank you, Mr. Smith. Well, I think we had better
13 then have the witness in, and because of the orders made, it will be
14 evidence given again in closed session.
15 [Closed session]
16 (redacted)
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9 --- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at 7.00 p.m.,
10 to be reconvened on Wednesday, the 12th day of
11 April, 2006, at 9.00 a.m.
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