Tribunal Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Page 8645

 1                           Wednesday, 14 April 2010

 2                           [Open session]

 3                           [The accused entered court]

 4                           --- Upon commencing at 2.32 p.m.

 5             THE REGISTRAR:  Good afternoon, Your Honours.  Good afternoon

 6     everyone in and around the courtroom.  This is case number IT-08-91-T.

 7     The Prosecutor versus Mico Stanisic and Stojan Zupljanin.

 8             JUDGE HALL:  Thank you, Madam Registrar.  May we have the

 9     appearances, please.

10             MS. KORNER:  Good afternoon, Your Honours.  Joanna Korner

11     assisted by Crispian Smith Case Manager for the Prosecution.

12             MR. ZECEVIC:  Good afternoon, Your Honours.  Slobodan Zecevic,

13     Slobodan Cvijetic, and Eugene O'Sullivan appearing for Stanisic Defence

14     this afternoon.  Thank you.

15             MR. PANTELIC:  Good afternoon, Your Honours.  For Zupljanin

16     Defence this afternoon, Igor Pantelic, Dragan Krgovic, Jason Antley, and

17     Miroslav Cuskic.  Thank you.

18             JUDGE HALL:  Thank you.

19             Before we resume there are three brief matters which the Chamber

20     wishes to address.  On the 9 of April, 2010, the Prosecution filed a

21     supplemental motion seeking to add one document to the exhibit list in

22     relation to ST-125.  Given that this witness will begin testifying today,

23     could the Defence indicate now what its position is, or if they are

24     unable to do so, we would request a response by the end of the earliest

25     break today.

Page 8646

 1             Second matter:  The Trial Chamber is seised of the Prosecution

 2     motion of the 1st of April, seeking additional time for the examination

 3     in chief of twelve Rule 92 ter witness.  The motion is oversized; the

 4     Prosecution seeks an extension of the word limit to 4.618 words.  The

 5     practice direction and the length of leaves and motions requires parties

 6     to seek leave in advance, stating the exceptional circumstances that

 7     necessitate the oversized filing.  It is every party's duty to plan its

 8     motion practice according to applicable rules and procedures including

 9     this practice direction.  The Chamber is not persuaded the Prosecution

10     has established the existence of exceptional circumstances that would

11     warrant granting the extension.  The motion is therefore dismissed

12     without prejudice to the Prosecution filing a new motion in accordance

13     with the practice direction.  Finally, on the 9th of April, the

14     Prosecution filed a motion requesting that ST-176 be heard via video

15     conference link.  The Chamber orders the Defence to provide an oral

16     response on the 15th of April.  Thank you.

17             MS. KORNER:  Your Honour, can I just say something about this.

18     So far numbers and, indeed, virtually every motion we filed so far

19     recently has been rejected.  And one of the major grounds for rejection

20     has been we haven't supplied enough information.  So we, in an effort to

21     explain chapter and verse of why we are making the application for

22     further time, we gave as much information as it was humanly possible.

23     Now, it does seem to be, Your Honours, we can't win.  If we stick to the

24     word limit, then we can't give the information.  We were told to file in

25     advance the reasons why we were asking for more than 20 minutes.

Page 8647

 1             Are Your Honours saying it was simply that it was exceeded too

 2     much and that you are prepared to entertain a lesser, if there's such a

 3     word, exceeding of the word limit?  Because I just don't know what we can

 4     do.  Either we give the information that you want, or we are bound by the

 5     word limit.

 6             JUDGE HALL:  Well, Ms. Korner, of course, we can't anticipate

 7     what ruling we would give on your re-filed motion.  What we are saying is

 8     that there is a practice direction.  The -- what we have doesn't

 9     adequately justify the exceeding the word limit, and we are inviting you

10     to refile.

11             MS. KORNER:  I understand that.  Do I understand that

12     Your Honours want a separate motion first, asking that we can exceed the

13     word limit and explaining the reasons for that, and then when you grant

14     it, then file the actual motion?  Is that what you are suggesting?

15             JUDGE HALL:  That appears to be the sequence that the practice

16     direction anticipates.

17             MS. KORNER:  Because equally, I mean, the same really applies to

18     leave to respond to a reply to a motion that, technically, under the

19     rules, we should first of all apply for leave to respond to the motion

20     and then give the response.  But, in fact, the practice has grown up that

21     the two are combined as one, and it's simply of ease of reference.

22             JUDGE HARHOFF:  Ms. Korner, the practice that you have referred

23     to is perfectly legitimate and is well made in the interests of

24     expediency.  What we are requiring in this case is that we think that you

25     could have easily submitted your motion and all the arguments in support

Page 8648

 1     of the extension of time for these 65 -- 92 ter witnesses, within the

 2     word limit, and we ask you to do so.

 3             MS. KORNER:  Certainly, Your Honours, I've heard the ruling, and

 4     we will we'll certainly do that.  All I can say is that I hope that the

 5     response won't come that we haven't given enough information.

 6             JUDGE HARHOFF:  We'll see.

 7             JUDGE HALL:  So could we revert to closed session and have the

 8     witness escorted back to the stand.

 9                           [Closed session]

10   (redacted)

11   (redacted)

12   (redacted)

13   (redacted)

14   (redacted)

15   (redacted)

16   (redacted)

17   (redacted)

18   (redacted)

19   (redacted)

20   (redacted)

21   (redacted)

22   (redacted)

23   (redacted)

24   (redacted)

25   (redacted)

Page 8649

 1

 2

 3

 4

 5

 6

 7

 8

 9

10

11 Pages 8649-8709 redacted. Closed session.

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

Page 8710

 1   (redacted)

 2   (redacted)

 3   (redacted)

 4   (redacted)

 5   (redacted)

 6                           --- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at 6.59 p.m.

 7                           to be reconvened on Thursday, the 15th day of

 8                           April, 2010, at 2.15 p.m.

 9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25