THE PROSECUTOR OF THE TRIBUNAL

MR. ERIC OSTBERG and MISS TERESA McHENRY appeared on behalf of the Prosecution

MISS EDINA RESIDOVIC appeared on behalf of the Defence

THE REGISTRAR: Case No. IT-96-21-T, the Prosecutor of the Tribunal against Zejnil Delalic.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Let me first verify that the equipment is working. Can everyone who is using an earphone in the courtroom here me in the language they understand? Everyone can here me? Fine.

This is an initial appearance of the accused pursuant to Rule 62 of the Tribunal's Rules of Procedure and Evidence. Under our procedures a video is made of these proceedings and this is broadcast to the media. Is there an objection to our proceeding on that basis, first from the Prosecutor?

MR. OSTBERG: None.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: For the Defence?

MISS RESIDOVIC: None.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: May I have the appearances for the Prosecutor, please?

MR. OSTBERG: Yes, Eric Ostberg and I appear today with Mrs. Teresa McHenry.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Thank you. May I have the appearances for the Defence, please?

MISS RESIDOVIC: Mrs. Edina Residovic, lawyer from Sarajevo appointed attorney counsel for Mr. Delalic.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Fine. Thank you. Are there any additional appearances? No. Is the Prosecutor ready to proceed, Mr. Ostberg?

MR. OSTBERG: Yes.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Is the Defence ready to proceed -- is it Miss Residovic?

MISS RESIDOVIC: Yes.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Are you ready to proceed on behalf of the accused?

MISS RESIDOVIC: Yes, I am.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Now what language will you be using, Miss Residovic? Will be you be speaking Serbo Croatian? Under the rules you would be permitted to speak in the language of the accused. Would you tell me what language you will be using in the courtroom?

MISS RESIDOVIC: I will speak the Bosnian language of the accused, your Honour.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Fine, thank you. Now Miss Residovic, has Mr. Delalic received a copy of the indictment?

MISS RESIDOVIC: Yes, your Honour, Mr. Delalic has received the indictment.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Has Mr. Delalic read the indictment or has he had it read to him in a language he understands?

MISS RESIDOVIC: Yes, your Honour. Mr. Delalic has received it, read it and understood it.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: And you have discussed the indictment with Mr. Delalic?

MISS RESIDOVIC: Yes, your Honour, we spoke yesterday.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: In your opinion, does Mr. Delalic understand the nature of the charges against him that are contained in the indictment?

MISS RESIDOVIC: I believe Mr. Delalic understands the nature of the indictment, but I should rather that this question be asked of Mr. Delalic directly.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Delalic, would you please stand? For the record, would you state your full name, please?

THE ACCUSED: My name is Zejnil Delalic.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Delalic, counsel, Edina Residovic, has indicated you have a received a copy of the indictment. Have you? Have you received the indictment?

THE ACCUSED: Yes, I have your Honour.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Have you discussed the indictment with Miss Residovic?

THE ACCUSED: Yes, your Honour.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Do you understand the nature of the charges that are contained in the indictment against you?

THE ACCUSED: I think I do.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Are you ready to proceed with the reading of the indictment for the entry of a plea to the indictment, Mr. Delalic?

THE ACCUSED: There is no need to. I have read the indictment. I am familiar with the indictment.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Are you ready to enter a plea to the indictment? Are you ready to either plead guilty or not guilty to the indictment, the charges that are contained in the indictment against you?

THE ACCUSED: I do not agree with any of the counts of the indictment and I plead not guilty.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Ostberg, will you identify the counts in the indictment to which you want Mr. Delalic to enter a plea and then I will ask Mr. Delalic to respond formally, please.

MR. OSTBERG: It will be counts 13 and 14; counts 33 to 35; counts 38 and 39, and counts 44 to 48.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Miss Residovic, need the indictment be read to Mr. Delalic at this time or is he willing to forego the formal reading of the entire indictment?

MISS RESIDOVIC: Mr. Delalic has read the indictment and there is no need to read it. He can immediately proceed further.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Delalic, how do you plead to the counts in the indictment that the Prosecutor has identified, guilty or not guilty?

THE ACCUSED: Not guilty.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Thank you. You may be seated, Mr. Delalic. You may sit down. Now, are there any preliminary matters that the Trial Chamber needs to consider at this time?

MISS RESIDOVIC: At this time I should merely like to ask your Honour to allow, to grant the Defence its right to present its motions and its objection to the indictment within the 60-day period. I should also like to advise your Honour that the representative of the Prosecution has submitted to me part of the documentation that accompanied the indictment, and I should be able to make our objections only after I study this documentation.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: We have scheduled a status conference for Mr. Mucic who is also named as a defendant in this indictment. We have scheduled a status conference for Tuesday, May 14th at 10 a.m. I would like for you to appear at that time, Miss Residovic, and of course Mr. Delalic if necessary. At that status conference we will find out from the Prosecutor whether you have received all of the material that accompanied the indictment as well as discuss preliminary motions that the Defence may wish to file in this case. As you know, you have 60 days under the Rules to file preliminary motions. So, is that acceptable with you to appear on Tuesday, May 14th and at that time we will discuss your receipt of all of the material that accompanied the indictment as well as any other preliminary motions that you may wish to file? You need not file them by then, but we will discuss how we will proceed as well as set a date for trial.

MISS RESIDOVIC: Your Honour, I have just learned about the session of the 14th and I should, therefore, like to move that my defendant does not appear before the court at that time, because we should like to move for a separate trial for my defendant. Naturally, we shall file this motion in writing. Since the time limit is very short, I should like to ask you to set another deadline for my defendant so that we could indeed study all of the documentation, all the material, and then file and submit all the necessary motions.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: We will set a status conference in this matter for May 28th at 10 a.m. Mr. Ostberg, Miss Residovic, is that date convenient?

MR. OSTBERG: Yes, it is.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: For the two of you?

MISS RESIDOVIC: Yes.

MR. OSTBERG: On the 28th. There will be something on the 30th. The 28th is fine with us.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: OK. That will be May 28th at 10 a.m. when there will be a status conference in this matter. At that time, counsel, if you wish Mr. Delalic to appear at that time he may. If not, we could have it in chambers, in camera, as you wish. Let me enquire of the Prosecutor. Have you provided Miss Residovic with all of the material that accompanied the indictment?

MR. OSTBERG: Yes, we have already. Some other material will be delivered by the end of next week. We have taken statements from Mr. Delalic when he was detained and that will be translated and given to the Defence also by the end of next week.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: By the end of next week.

MISS RESIDOVIC: Could we get this translation at some earlier date, because since March 18th I think the Prosecutor will have enough time to take it down, to translate it, to make transcripts of it, copy them and submit them to us.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Ostberg, you have provided the material that accompanied the indictment, you have provided that in Bosnian? Is that in English?

MR. OSTBERG: That is in English and French. Some is in French and some is in English.

MISS RESIDOVIC: If it is available in French, your Honour, then I could wait until next week. I would have a problem with English. I do not think I would be able to grasp the substance of what it is if I receive only an English copy of it.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Ostberg, will you be able to provide all of the material that accompanied the indictment to Miss Residovic by the end of next week in French?

MR. OSTBERG: Well, I have to discuss this with my colleague.

MISS McHENRY: Your Honour, my understanding is that the material is currently being translated by request of the Registry into Serbo-Croatian. I do not believe that there has of yet been a request to translate them into French. Given the demands on the translation section now, especially with the ongoing trial, I doubt that they would be able to translate everything into French. Some of it is already in French and anything that is in French Miss Residovic already has in French.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: How much of the material, I of course know nothing about the volume of the material that accompanied the indictment, how much material is there and what proportion of it has been translated into French?

MISS McHENRY: There are 24 witness statements, your Honour, and off the top of my head I would anticipate that approximately a third of it is in French already.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Can it be translated into Serbo-Croatian? What I was going to suggest, is this, Miss Residovic. I understand that one third of the material has been translated into French, that you are able to read and understand French?

MISS RESIDOVIC: Yes.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: So, if you have that, well then, we will leave that as it is, but the remaining material should be translated into Serbo-Croat. Is that acceptable with you?

MISS RESIDOVIC: Yes, it is acceptable, your Honour, but if these are statements of witnesses who do not come from the territory of Yugoslavia, they have presumably already made statements in their own respective mother tongues and I do not see here why I could not get their statements.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: The next step is to see when you can get them, assuming that you will accept the proposition that one third of the material, and as I understand it that has already been translated, will be in French and then the remaining will be translated into Serbo-Croat.

Mr. Ostberg, have you submitted any of the material to the Registry in Serbo-Croat? Mr. Marro is telling me that he does not have a gauge on what has been submitted for translation.

MR. OSTBERG: I think Mrs. McHenry can tell us how much has been delivered to the Registry.

MISS McHENRY: I am sorry, your Honour, I am not sure if I understood your question. I believe that all the material that was submitted to the Registry was in either English or French, that none of the material was taken originally in Serbo-Croatian.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Miss Residovic, the problem that I have is that I am trying to set a date for a status conference and I want you to have the material well in advance of the status conference. I would imagine you need at least a week to 10 days, is that not so, just before you would come and meet with the Chamber? I do not know when that material will be ready because I have no idea of the volume of the material, nor do I play a role in the translation. So, I will set the status conference for May 28th at 10 a.m. At that time I do not think it is necessary for Mr. Delalic to be present. So we will plan to have it in camera. If you have not received all of the material that accompanied the indictment in either French or Serbo-Croat 10 days prior to the status conference, then would you notify the Trial Chamber if you need additional time?

So I am asking you to notify us, well, 10 days, that would be Monday, May 20th, will you notify us if you are not ready to proceed with the status conference on May 28th at 10 a.m. At the present time we will set it for that day and we will then meet to discuss any preliminary matters, including confirming that you have received everything.

MISS RESIDOVIC: Yes, I agree with it, your Honour. If the Prosecution keeps its word and if all this material is made available to us by the end of this week, then I should be ready to appear on the date set by you.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: I would think so. The status conference will be set for May 28th at 10 a.m. After we meet and confer I will set a date for trial. If you have any problems receiving the material, Miss Residovic, contact the Trial Chamber, otherwise we will see you on May 28th at 10 a.m.

Mr. Ostberg, is that acceptable with you?

MR. OSTBERG: That is acceptable. Thank you, your Honour.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Would you endeavour to have the material translated as quickly as possible?

MR. OSTBERG: Yes.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: And transmit it to counsel.

MR. OSTBERG: The translation section is not in our hands either, but we hope that that will be possible. We will do our best of course. Then I think before we finish this first appearance I would just like to inform the Trial Chamber that the indictment encompasses four indicted. Mucic is already here and today we have Mr. Delalic here. The two remaining indictees, Mr. Delic and Mr. Landzo, are both in custody in Sarajevo and are supposed to be delivered to the Tribunal in a couple of weeks. So that pertains to the question of setting a date for trial, because from the side of the Prosecution we would move to have a joint trial for these four persons in the indictment.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: I have heard Miss Residovic say she intends on filing a motion for separate trials.

MR. OSTBERG: So did I. That is why I mention this without making any motion at this stage.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Very good. You understand under the Rules you have 60 days to file preliminary motions that are listed in our Rules, but the status conference is set for May 28th at 10 a.m. Are there any other matters that need to be discussed at this time, Mr. Ostberg?

MR. OSTBERG: Not from our side.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Miss Residovic, additional matters that immediate to be discussed at this time?

MISS RESIDOVIC: No, your Honour.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE: The court is adjourned.

(The hearing adjourned)