Tribunal Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

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1 Wednesday, 3 September 2003

2 [Open session]

3 [Status Conference]

4 [The appellant entered court]

5 --- Upon commencing at 10.10 a.m.

6 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Mr. Registrar, will you please call the case.

7 THE REGISTRAR: Yes, Your Honour. Good morning, Your Honour.

8 This is Case Number IT-98-32-A, the Prosecutor versus Mitar Vasiljevic.

9 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Now, Mr. Vasiljevic, you are in court and can

10 you hear me?

11 THE APPELLANT: [Interpretation] Yes, I can, Your Honour.

12 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: I take it you can hear me in a language that

13 you can understand?

14 THE APPELLANT: [Interpretation] Yes, yes.

15 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Okay. Thank you.

16 Then may I have the appearances in this case. First, the

17 appellant.

18 MR. DOMAZET: Your Honour, Vladimir Domazet, lead counsel for the

19 appellant. And on my left side is Mr. Knoops, my Dutch lawyer and my

20 legal consultant and maybe a future co-counsel in this case. He was

21 working also on the Defence appeal brief. And I respectively ask Your

22 Honour if he can assist me on this Status Conference today here.

23 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Mr. Domazet, may I ask one question: You

24 have described Mr. Knoops as counsel. Do I take it that he is a member of

25 the Dutch bar?

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1 MR. DOMAZET: Yes, of course, Your Honour.

2 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Well, then, Mr. Domazet, without setting a

3 precedent, I will for this particular case allow the motion. Therefore,

4 Mr. Knoops will be admitted as consultant to sit with you. Thank you.

5 MR. DOMAZET: Thank you, Your Honour.

6 Now, for the Prosecution.

7 MR. STAKER: May it please Your Honour, my name is Christopher

8 Staker. I appear with my colleague Stefan Wirth. Our case manager is

9 Ms. Lourdes Galicia. On a personal note, Your Honour, I would just add

10 that at the end of this week I will be leaving my position as senior

11 appeals counsel in the Office of the Prosecutor, and this is, therefore,

12 my last appearance before the Tribunal in that capacity. And it's a

13 pleasure for me that this last appearance should be before Your Honour,

14 Judge Shahabuddeen.

15 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Mr. Staker, we will move around

16 professionally. I'm sure Mr. Domazet will agree to that. I take it you

17 are leaving for greener pastures. You then only have my admiration and

18 good wishes for the future.

19 MR. STAKER: Thank you very much, Your Honour.

20 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Now, we are dealing with this case which is

21 before us pursuant to a scheduling order made by me on the 4th of August

22 this year, setting today as the day for a second Status Conference in this

23 case. The circumstances in which this date was prescribed have been set

24 out in the scheduling order. Now, the last Status Conference was on the

25 17th of March, and so we are about one week outside of the prescribed

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1 time, but the circumstances in which that was overlooked have been

2 referred to in today's scheduling order.

3 Now, the judgment in this case was rendered on 29th of November.

4 The notice of appeal was filed on the 30th of December, 2002. And there

5 was an amended notice of appeal on 12 February 2002. So the applicant in

6 this case is clearly an appellant, and therefore Rule 65 bis (B) applies,

7 as we all know that rule which has been previously read out by me in March

8 this year to the accused, the appellant, requires that a Status Conference

9 be held every 120 days. The object is to allow the parties in question to

10 raise any issues in relation to the appeal, including his mental or

11 physical condition. So now first, I turn to the appellant, and/or to his

12 counsel, and I ask whether they need to make any representations about the

13 conditions of detention or about the conditions of the appellant.

14 MR. DOMAZET: No, Your Honour, the appellant has no problem, any

15 physical or mental problem.

16 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Thank you. Thank you.

17 MR. DOMAZET: Thank you.

18 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Then, may I refer to the status of the

19 appeal. As I understand it, the pleading process has been completed.

20 We've had a brief by the appellant and response by the Prosecution.

21 Yesterday, I think two documents were filed by the appellant, one being

22 his reply to the Prosecution's response and another document supporting

23 the first document, I think.

24 So now, is there any representation that the appellant or his

25 counsel might need to make so far as the status of the appeal is

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1 concerned?

2 MR. DOMAZET: No, Your Honour.

3 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Well, the Court has before it a Rule 115

4 motion by the appellant. It is proposed to deal with that shortly, and

5 then the President will fix a time for the hearing of the appeal proper

6 and we will proceed that way.

7 Is there anything you have to say, Mr. Staker?

8 MR. STAKER: Your Honour, I would simply note that the Prosecution

9 is at the stage of completing a disclosure review. It is expected that

10 will be completed within a matter of days. Any disclosure material that

11 may arise out of that exercise, we expect will be minimal, if any. As I

12 say, in a matter of days, but that's perhaps one last fact to be taken

13 into account.

14 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Mr. Staker, this disclosure, does this

15 disclosure exercise arise out of the Rule 115 motion?

16 MR. STAKER: No, Your Honour. It is a review of material coming

17 into possession of the Office of the Prosecutor since the trial phase.

18 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: It is automatic then?

19 MR. STAKER: It is automatic. Disclosure is a continued --

20 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Then in that sense, I'm sure the appellant

21 will appreciate the work you propose to undertake or are undertaking at

22 this moment. Is that right, Mr. Domazet?

23 MR. DOMAZET: Yes, Your Honour.

24 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: You look forward to the completion of the

25 task on which the Prosecution is engaged.

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1 Well, then, are there any other matters which we might need to

2 discuss at this time?

3 MR. STAKER: Not on the side of the Prosecution, Your Honour.

4 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Mr. Domazet?

5 MR. DOMAZET: No, Your Honour. Not at this moment.

6 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: On that note, we will take the adjournment,

7 just remarking how useful it is really for the Court to be in constant and

8 regular touch with the appellant and not allow him to languish in

9 detention unnecessarily, without the possibility of seeing the court in

10 session. Thank you very much.

11 --- Whereupon the Status Conference adjourned

12 at 10.21 a.m.

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