1 Monday, 19 July 2004

2 [Status Conference]

3 [Open session]

4 --- Upon commencing at 2.46 p.m.

5 JUDGE ORIE: Registrar, would you please call the case.

6 THE REGISTRAR: Thank you, Mr. President. Case IT-04-74-PT, the

7 Prosecutor against Jadranko Prlic, Bruno Stojic, Slobodan Praljak, Milivoj

8 Petkovic, Valentin Coric, and Berislav Pusic.

9 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you, Mr. Registrar.

10 Good afternoon to everyone. May I first have the appearances.

11 The Prosecution first.

12 MR. SCOTT: Good afternoon, Your Honour. Kenneth Scott for the

13 Office of the Prosecutor. With me today are Ms. Josee D'Aoust. Our case

14 manager, Denise Gustin, Roeland Bos, Garlone Egels, Vasily Poryvaev, and

15 Miguel Longone.

16 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you, Mr. Scott.

17 Then as far as the accused are concerned, Defence, could I invite

18 you not only to tell your name, but also whether you are defending with

19 co-counsel and who you are defending. I just start at the first row at

20 the left, I would say.

21 MR. SALAHOVIC: [Interpretation] Thank you. Good afternoon,

22 Your Honour. My name is Camil Salahovic, attorney-at-law from Zagreb,

23 Republic of Croatia, appearing for the accused Mr. Jadranko Prlic. I have

24 with me Mr. Zelimir Par, as co-counsel.

25 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you, Mr. Salahovic.

1 MR. OLUJIC: Good afternoon, Your Honour. I am Zeljko Olujic,

2 lead counsel for the accused Bruno Stojic. I will be appearing alone

3 today because we still don't have a co-counsel on our team.

4 JUDGE ORIE: Yes. Next row.

5 MR. KOVACIC: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honour. My

6 name is Bozidar Kovacic. I am a lead counsel of the Defence of

7 Mr. Slobodan Praljak. I'm an attorney from Croatia, from Rijeka, and with

8 me is co-counsel Ms. Nika Pinter.

9 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you, Mr. Kovacic.

10 MR. KOVACIC: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honour.

11 MS. ALABURIC: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honour. I am

12 Vesna Alaburic, attorney-at-law from Zagreb, representing Mr. Milivoj

13 Petkovic.

14 MR. JONJIC: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honour. I'm

15 Tomislav Jonjic, appearing for Valentin Coric.

16 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you, Mr. Jonjic.

17 MR. SKOBIC: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honour. I am

18 Marinko Skobic, attorney-at-law from Mostar, appearing for Berislav Pusic.

19 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you, Mr. Skobic.

20 Then I'd like to hear from each of the accused whether he can hear

21 me in a language that he understands. And perhaps in order to have no

22 confusion at all, please repeat your name as well. Let's start at the

23 first row. I think Mr. Praljak, if we start with Mr. Praljak.

24 THE ACCUSED PRALJAK: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I'm Slobodan

25 Praljak. I can follow everything that is going on and I understand the

1 language. Thank you.

2 THE ACCUSED PUSIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I am Berislav

3 Pusic. I can follow.

4 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you, Mr. Pusic. Next row.

5 THE ACCUSED PRLIC: [Interpretation] Your Honours, I'm Jadranko

6 Prlic and I can follow the proceedings in my own language.

7 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you, Mr. Prlic.

8 THE ACCUSED CORIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I'm Valentin

9 Coric. I can understand you very well and I can follow. Thank you.

10 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you, Mr. Coric.

11 THE ACCUSED STOJIC: [Interpretation] Your Honours, I am Bruno

12 Stojic. I can understand and follow. Thank you.

13 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you, Mr. Stojic.

14 THE ACCUSED PETKOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I'm Milivoj

15 Petkovic. I am able to follow. Thank you.

16 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you, Mr. Petkovic.

17 We are here this afternoon to have a Status Conference, to start

18 with. During this Status Conference, we'll only deal with matters of

19 disclosure of material from the Prosecution to the Defence, with the

20 protection of witnesses, with your detention situation, gentlemen, and

21 your health. If there would be any issue, especially, for example,

22 concerning your health, you'd like to discuss rather in private session

23 than in a public session, then please indicate so, so that I can order

24 private session.

25 After this Status Conference, we will have a hearing on -- also a

1 public hearing, on the motions that have been filed on your behalf on

2 provisional release. For this hearing, the governments of Croatia and

3 Bosnia and Herzegovina and of the Netherlands have been invited to attend.

4 After that hearing, we'll have another hearing, which is not a

5 public hearing and which does not affect all of you, only those involved

6 will be present during this hearing.

7 So the first thing to do now is the Status Conference.

8 Before dealing with that, I'd first like to address all counsel.

9 May I remind you that Rule 126 bis requires you to ask leave to respond to

10 a response on a motion. So if there's a motion, the other party has the

11 right to respond to that, unless otherwise ordered. But the party who

12 filed the motion can only respond to that response with leave of the

13 Chamber. Now and then, it seems to be the practice that, while asking

14 leave to respond already to include in that motion all the matters the

15 party concerned would like to raise. This Chamber would like you first to

16 ask leave to respond to the motion. It may well be that an oral decision

17 will be given on that, so it's not necessary that you have to wait for a

18 couple of days before you know whether you can file such a response. Very

19 often, this decision is conveyed to you through the intermediary of the

20 senior legal council. But the Chamber would like to stick strictly to

21 these rules.

22 Then we come to the next point, disclosure. On the 17th of June,

23 this Chamber has decided that disclosure of supporting material is

24 deferred pending resolution of outstanding issues and we have heard

25 the -- or read the responses by the Defence. In the decision, the Chamber

1 has granted the Prosecution's motion and has authorised the Prosecution to

2 defer the disclosure of the supporting material until the issues of

3 potential conflict of interest are disposed of, and that will be soon from

4 now on.

5 Are there any further submissions to be made in respect of

6 disclosure? Not for the Prosecution. Any of the Defence counsel? Since

7 no one responds or stands, I take it that no Defence counsel has to make

8 any submissions in this respect.

9 Then we come to the next issue, protective measures. There is a

10 motion pending. A decision could be soon expected. Is there any

11 submission to be made in respect of protective measures?

12 MR. SCOTT: Not for the Prosecution, Your Honour. I think our

13 papers were filed and we have nothing to add to that.

14 JUDGE ORIE: Yes. Nothing to add for the Defence, or is there

15 anyone who would like to make any submission? If not, we'll move to our

16 next subject, that is, the other pending motions. There are quite a lot.

17 If I count well, there are some 14 motions pending. But mainly motions in

18 respect of the matters we'll deal with this afternoon. You'll understand

19 that we'll first hear the parties on those motions to see whether there's

20 anything to be added to what has already been put on paper and then

21 decisions will follow soon.

22 There is one confidential motion filed by the Prosecution which

23 might cause some delay in taking a decision on six motions filed by

24 Defence counsel. It's not a matter to be discussed at this moment in open

25 court. If any counsel would like to say something about that, we could do

1 that later on in the specific hearing on those motions.

2 That will be the second part of this afternoon's hearing, where

3 the Chamber, although unfortunately not complete, but two out of three

4 Judges will hear.

5 Next issue, if there's nothing to raise in respect of what we just

6 dealt with, is the health of the accused. I'd like to hear perhaps

7 directly from the accused, but whatever counsel would like to add is of

8 course welcome, and if counsel would prefer to submit whatever you'd like

9 to submit in respect of the health of the accused, of course you're free

10 to do so. But it's a matter that is suitable for direct communication

11 with the accused. If any of you would like to ask for private session,

12 that is, the public not to be aware of the matters to be discussed, please

13 ask me.

14 I'll first ask you, Mr. Praljak, whether you would like to raise

15 anything in respect of your health at this moment.

16 THE ACCUSED PRALJAK: [Interpretation] I am in good health, in view

17 of my age, apart from minor difficulties and discomforts, of course,

18 Your Honour. But I am generally in good health.

19 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you, Mr. Praljak. Mr. Pusic. I hardly have to

20 ask you, because I'm seeing that you're using crutches. But please say

21 what you'd like to say.

22 THE ACCUSED PUSIC: [Interpretation] Considering that I have come

23 from the hospital, at the summons of the Tribunal, having received

24 inadequate assistance at the Detention Unit, inadequate to my illness,

25 they can do no more. So I am left to my own devices, and I'm not feeling

1 either good or bad; something in between, rather. But I have no

2 complaints against the personnel of the Detention Unit. I would like to

3 express my appreciation, especially for the warden of the Detention Unit,

4 because he has shown understanding for my situation.

5 JUDGE ORIE: Yes. Would there be any specific thing? You see, I

6 do not get the after care that I would need. Is there any specific issue

7 to say, well, for example, that you say, I need physiotherapy, or

8 medication should be reviewed, or is there any specific issue you'd like

9 to bring to my attention?

10 THE ACCUSED PUSIC: [Interpretation] The Detention Unit cannot

11 provide me with either physiotherapy or any further treatment. With the

12 facilities that are available to them, they have given me the maximum.

13 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you, Mr. Pusic. I'll ask specific attention,

14 since you raised the issue of physiotherapy. I'm not aware -- I'm not a

15 medical doctor. I do not know what is needed and what is available and to

16 what extent something is available, but I'll certainly ask specific

17 attention for what you just told me.

18 Then Mr. Prlic.

19 THE ACCUSED PRLIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I have no health

20 problems.

21 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you, Mr. Prlic.

22 Mr. Coric.

23 THE ACCUSED CORIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I'm feeling fine.

24 Thank you.

25 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you.

1 Mr. Stojic.

2 THE ACCUSED STOJIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I have no health

3 complaints. Everything is fine.

4 JUDGE ORIE: Mr. Petkovic.

5 THE ACCUSED PETKOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, for the time

6 being, I have no problems, and if any minor problems occur, my cooperation

7 with the personnel of the Detention Unit is very good. Thank you.

8 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you very much for these answers. Then we'll

9 move to our next subject, and that is whether there are any problems in

10 relation to the detention circumstances. There has been a 65 ter meeting

11 this morning with counsel, and the Senior Legal Officer has not heard any

12 complaints. Nevertheless, I'd like to directly address you and ask

13 whether you agree with that or whether there would be something you would

14 like to raise.

15 THE INTERPRETER: No microphone.

16 JUDGE ORIE: Could you please put your microphone on. Otherwise I

17 do not receive any translation of your words. Yes, Mr. Praljak.

18 THE ACCUSED PRALJAK: [Interpretation] Your Honour, the Detention

19 Unit is a highly civilised institution, and in view of that, I have

20 absolutely no complaints against the operation of the entire organisation.

21 Thank you for asking.

22 JUDGE ORIE: Mr. Pusic.

23 THE ACCUSED PUSIC: [Interpretation] As I have already said, I have

24 no complaints against the Detention Unit in Scheveningen.

25 JUDGE ORIE: In view of what has been said this morning, may I ask

1 the others, that is, Mr. Prlic, Mr. Coric, Mr. Stojic, Mr. Petkovic, to

2 stand if they would like to add something, and if not, I just establish at

3 this moment that there are no complaints about your detention situation. I

4 see that you all agree with that.

5 This, then, concludes the Status Conference. We'll have a short

6 break and then we'll continue the session by hearing any additional

7 submissions in relation to the six motions requesting your provisional

8 release.

9 --- Whereupon the Status Conference adjourned at

10 3.05 p.m.

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