Page 103
1 Tuesday, 17 January 2017
2 [Status Conference]
3 [Open session]
4 [The appellant Pusic not present]
5 --- Upon commencing at 9.29 a.m.
6 JUDGE AGIUS: Good morning, everybody, and thank you for coming
7 to this Status Conference.
8 Madam Registrar, could you call the case, please.
9 THE REGISTRAR: Good morning, Your Honour. This is case number
10 IT-04-74-A, The Prosecutor versus Prlic et al.
11 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay, thank you.
12 Before we begin, I want to make sure that the appellants can
13 follow the proceedings in a language that they understand. I start with
14 you, Mr. Prlic, as usual.
15 THE APPELLANT PRLIC: Good morning, Mr. President. Yes, I'm able
16 to follow.
17 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you, Mr. Prlic.
18 Mr. Stojic.
19 THE APPELLANT STOJIC: [Interpretation] Good morning, Your Honour.
20 Everything is all right.
21 JUDGE AGIUS: Mr. Praljak.
22 THE APPELLANT PRALJAK: [Interpretation] I can follow the
23 proceedings. Thank you.
24 JUDGE AGIUS: Mr. Coric, sorry.
25 Mr. Coric, yeah.
Page 104
1 Mr. Petkovic.
2 THE APPELLANT PETKOVIC: [Interpretation] Good morning,
3 Your Honour. I'm able to follow.
4 JUDGE AGIUS: And Mr. Coric.
5 THE APPELLANT CORIC: [Interpretation] Good morning. Everything
6 is fine.
7 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you. Can I now have the appearances for the
8 parties, starting with the Prosecution, please.
9 MR. STRINGER: Yes, good morning, Mr. President. For the
10 Prosecution, Douglas Stringer, Barbara Goy, Case Manager Janet Stewart,
11 and legal intern, Ashrutha Rai.
12 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay, I thank you.
13 Before calling appearances for the Defence, I need to give some
14 information. First I note that on the 20th of December --
15 MR. KARNAVAS: [Via videolink] Excuse me, Mr. President. Excuse
16 me, Mr. President.
17 JUDGE AGIUS: Yes, Mr. Karnavas, is there a problem?
18 MR. KARNAVAS: [Via videolink] Sorry to interrupt to you, but I'm
19 hearing you in B/C/S. My B/C/S is rusty so if I could hear you in
20 English, it would be more wonderful.
21 JUDGE AGIUS: All right. So I have, as you see, made a big
22 headway in speaking in B/C/S, but I can't fix it myself. I need
23 technical assistance.
24 THE INTERPRETER: Interpreter's note: There must be a headset
25 turned on to B/C/S somewhere near the microphone.
Page 105
1 JUDGE AGIUS: Can I have some assistance. Because here I have
2 four headsets.
3 [Trial Chamber and Registrar confer]
4 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay, Mr. Karnavas, I am informed that this is
5 simply technical. And, of course, he is receiving me in B/C/S.
6 MR. KARNAVAS: [Via videolink] So you're having a technical
7 problem on your end or my end?
8 [Trial Chamber and Registrar confer]
9 JUDGE AGIUS: Yes, yes, yes, yes, as long as necessary. This has
10 to be fixed.
11 [Trial Chamber and Registrar confer]
12 JUDGE AGIUS: All right. So I can say it myself. One or more of
13 the B/C/S interpreters, could you speak, please speak out so that we test
14 exactly what is happening.
15 [Trial Chamber and Registrar confer]
16 JUDGE AGIUS: Yeah, okay, Mr. Karnavas, I'll speak in English now
17 again. Are you receiving me in English?
18 MR. KARNAVAS: [Via videolink] Yes, I am, Mr. President.
19 JUDGE AGIUS: All right. That's good.
20 MR. KARNAVAS: [Via videolink] Loud and clear.
21 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay, so we can proceed.
22 I take this opportunity to thank the B/C/S booth for having come
23 forward to assist and also the technical people who have solved the
24 problem.
25 So let me go back to where I was before.
Page 106
1 I have called for the representations for the Prosecution. It's
2 my turn now to turn to call appearances for the Defence. But before I do
3 that, I need to point out that on the 20th of December, 2016, counsel for
4 Mr. Pusic requested to attend this Status Conference by videolink from
5 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Mr. Pusic has provided his consent
6 for the Status Conference to be held in his absence and not has not
7 provided any objections to his counsel's participation in this way. For
8 the record, I can see his counsel on the videolink.
9 On the 11th of January, 2017, counsel for Mr. Prlic also
10 requested to participate in today's Status Conference via conference from
11 Phnom Penh in Cambodia. Mr. Prlic has indicated that he has no objection
12 to this. And under Rule 65 bis (C) of the Rules of Procedure and
13 Evidence, I am hereby granting both requests. Moreover, I note that on
14 the 12th of January, 2017 counsel for Mr. Praljak, who is present here
15 today, indicated that they are not in a position to attend today's
16 Status Conference, and on the next day, Mr. Praljak himself filed a
17 waiver to that extent, accepting that the proceedings continue without
18 the presence and intervention of his lawyers. That is also granted.
19 I also take this opportunity to thank the Tribunal's staff as
20 well as the staff of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
21 for making a video-conference link from two different locations possible
22 for this Status Conference.
23 Now could I have the appearances for Mr. Prlic.
24 MR. KARNAVAS: [Via videolink] Michael Karnavas, Your Honour.
25 JUDGE AGIUS: Are you assisted by anyone, Mr. Karnavas?
Page 107
1 MR. KARNAVAS: [Via videolink] No, I'm by myself. I'm a solo --
2 I'm flying solo today.
3 JUDGE AGIUS: All right, Okay, thank you. Land safely.
4 Mr. Stojic.
5 THE INTERPRETER: Microphone, please.
6 JUDGE AGIUS: Microphone.
7 MS. NOZICA: [Interpretation] Good morning, Your Honour. For
8 Mr. Stojic, represented by Senka Nozica.
9 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay, thank you.
10 Mr. Praljak, as we said, waived his right to be assisted by
11 counsel today.
12 Mr. Petkovic.
13 MS. ALABURIC: [Interpretation] Good morning, Your Honour.
14 General Petkovic is represented by Vesna Alaburic.
15 JUDGE AGIUS: Mr. Coric.
16 MR. PLAVEC: [Interpretation] Good morning, Your Honour.
17 Drazen Plavec appearing for Mr. Coric.
18 JUDGE AGIUS: And for Mr. Pusic.
19 Please raise your voice because I can barely hear you.
20 MR. IBRISIMOVIC: [Interpretation][Via videolink] Good morning,
21 Your Honour. Fahrudin Ibrisimovic appearing for Mr. Pusic.
22 JUDGE AGIUS: All right. Thank you.
23 Now, this Status Conference is called in accordance with
24 Rule 65 bis (B) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. This
25 rule requires a Status Conference to be convened within 120 days after
Page 108
1 the last Status Conference has been held for each appellant in the
2 Tribunal's custody.
3 A Status Conference serves two purposes: First, it allows the
4 appellants an opportunity to express concerns relating to their appeal or
5 detention conditions and for the Tribunal to inquire about the mental and
6 physical conditions of each one of them; and, secondly, it provides an
7 opportunity to update the appellants with respect to the status of their
8 case as well as to inform the general public of what is going on.
9 I note that the last Status Conference was held on 19th
10 September 2016, and today's Status Conference was scheduled by an order
11 signed by me and issued on the 17th of November, 2016.
12 I'll come to one of the major purposes of this Status Conference.
13 I'm going to inquire into the status of the detention conditions and
14 health situation of the appellants. If any one of you, Mr. Prlic and
15 each one of you, wish this discussion to take place in closed session,
16 please let me know now. Would anyone like me to close the session and
17 discuss the questions of your health and detention conditions in private
18 or can I proceed?
19 Are you all hearing me and understanding what I'm asking? All
20 right, I see all the appellants nodding. So I take it that there is no
21 need to go into closed session, and I will continue accordingly in an
22 open session.
23 Mr. Prlic, do you wish to raise any matters?
24 THE APPELLANT PRLIC: No, Mr. President. I have no complaint to
25 make.
Page 109
1 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay, thank you very much, Mr. Prlic.
2 Mr. Stojic.
3 THE APPELLANT STOJIC: [Interpretation] I have no issues.
4 Thank you.
5 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you.
6 Mr. Praljak.
7 THE APPELLANT PRALJAK: [Interpretation] I have nothing to raise.
8 Thank you.
9 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you.
10 Mr. Petkovic.
11 THE APPELLANT PETKOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I have
12 nothing to raise.
13 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you.
14 Mr. Coric.
15 THE APPELLANT CORIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I have no
16 issues.
17 JUDGE AGIUS: All right.
18 And counsel for Mr. Pusic.
19 MR. IBRISIMOVIC: [Interpretation][Via videolink] Your Honour, we
20 have no issues to raise.
21 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay. Thank you very much.
22 I will now go into the next item which is informing everyone,
23 including the public, about recent procedural history.
24 All of the appellants' briefs in this case were filed on the 12th
25 of January of two years ago, of 2015. The Defence and Prosecution's
Page 110
1 respondent's brief were filed on 7th May 2015 and the respective reply
2 briefs were filed on the 29th of May, 2015.
3 I note that the Appeals Chamber has issued an order on
4 15th December 2016 ordering that the appeal hearing will take place on
5 20 to 24 and then from 27 to 28 of March, 2017.
6 There have been three other public filings by the Appeals Chamber
7 since the previous Status Conference. The first goes back to the 26th of
8 October, 2016, when the Appeals Chamber issued an order concerning
9 non-receipt of funds addressing the non-receipt of funds due to the
10 Tribunal from Mr. Praljak.
11 Second was on the 1st of December, 2016 the Appeals Chamber
12 lifted the confidentiality of the decision on Valentin Coric's request
13 for provisional release, and the public redacted version of the decision
14 was filed.
15 And, finally, third, as I have already mentioned, the Scheduling
16 Order for this Status Conference was filed on 17th of November of last
17 year.
18 I also note that there are no public motions pending before the
19 Appeals Chamber at this time.
20 Having said that, I come to the last part of the Status
21 Conference, which -- where I would like to ask the parties whether they
22 have any other issues that they would like to raise.
23 I start, as usual, with the Prosecution. Mr. Stringer.
24 MR. STRINGER: Thank you, Mr. President.
25 Yes, just one very brief matter. We're grateful to the Chamber
Page 111
1 for issuing the Scheduling Order on the 15th of December giving all of
2 the parties ample evidence of the dates of the upcoming hearing. It is
3 very helpful for us.
4 In that order, the Chamber has referred to coming orders
5 regarding the modalities and the questions, and in respect of the
6 modalities, that is, the scheduling of the hearings themselves, during
7 the course of that week, we just wanted to respectfully direct the
8 Chamber to the Scheduling Orders that have been used in the past and used
9 in a couple of the other big -- numerous appellate cases, Popovic and
10 also the MOS case, Sainovic and others. Those differ slightly in the
11 respect of times allocated among the parties but in general provide what
12 we think is a useful template or example that the Prosecution would
13 suggest the Chamber consider in organising the hearings in this case.
14 In addition, just again, and I know you're expecting this, the
15 questions are going to be very key in all of this, particularly as
16 Your Honour may know, it's a very busy time for us. On the 15th of
17 March, just five days before this hearing starts, the Prosecution is
18 filing its response brief in another very large appeal. And in this era
19 of down sizing, virtually all of our staff are working on both cases.
20 And so the greater amount of time in advance that we have to be sure to
21 address the Chamber's questions, I think would be beneficial not only to
22 the Prosecution but to the Chamber as well.
23 Thank you, Mr. President.
24 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you, Mr. Stringer. I can assure you your
25 words haven't fallen on deaf ears. We are actively engaged in preparing
Page 112
1 all this and will come back to you and the appellants, of course, in the
2 near future and as early as possible.
3 I go through the Defence lawyers. Or the appellants themselves.
4 I start with Mr. Prlic. Do you have anything to -- any issue that you
5 would like to raise?
6 THE APPELLANT PRLIC: The same as Prosecutor, but I received the
7 answer.
8 JUDGE AGIUS: Yeah, yeah, all right. And when I mention the
9 accused, I'm also asking counsel, please. So if you wish to add
10 anything, just make me a sign.
11 MR. KARNAVAS: [Via videolink] I confer with Dr. Prlic,
12 Mr. President. And I appreciate Mr. Stringer raising the issue because
13 we certainly would have raised it.
14 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you, Mr. Karnavas. I have no doubt and I
15 appreciate.
16 So Mr. Stojic.
17 MS. NOZICA: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honour.
18 The Defence of Mr. Stojic was also concerned about having enough
19 time to prepare, but since we have received answers to these questions,
20 we have nothing further to raise.
21 JUDGE AGIUS: You've had a long time to prepare. The only
22 difference now is that you know when the hearing is going to take place,
23 and very soon you will know how much time allocated you have, and if
24 there are any questions, in particular, that you -- the Trial Chamber --
25 the Appeals Chamber would be interested in having you address.
Page 113
1 Yes, Mr. Praljak, your counsel are not here, of course. Would
2 you like to raise any issue yourself.
3 THE APPELLANT PRALJAK: [Interpretation] I do not want to raise
4 any issue, but I wish to correct you on one point. You've said - maybe
5 you've misspoke - that the submission says that the Tribunal owes me some
6 dues. It is quite the contrary.
7 JUDGE AGIUS: That may have been a mistake in interpretation. I
8 certainly didn't say that. I said exactly the opposite.
9 Okay, thank you for pointing it out. And I would like someone
10 then to check this with the transcript or the translation of the
11 transcript because, as Mr. Praljak pointed out, it's not the Tribunal
12 that owes him money but it's he that owes a huge amount of money to the
13 Tribunal.
14 Mr. Petkovic or his counsel.
15 MS. ALABURIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, we have nothing
16 further. What Mr. Stringer raised is something that is a concern to all
17 of us because we all have other commitments, and it's important for us to
18 prepare for this hearing.
19 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you.
20 Mr. Coric.
21 MR. PLAVEC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I have nothing to add.
22 Thank you.
23 JUDGE AGIUS: All right.
24 And counsel for Mr. Pusic.
25 MR. IBRISIMOVIC: [Interpretation][Via videolink] Your Honour, at
Page 114
1 this point, the Defence of Mr. Pusic has nothing to raise.
2 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay. Thank you very much. I have got nothing
3 else to raise myself either.
4 So since there are no other matters to be raised or discussed, I
5 bring this Status Conference to an end, and I thank you all for your
6 attendance. And I adjourn these proceedings. Thank you.
7 --- Whereupon the Status Conference adjourned
8 at 9.54 a.m.
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