1 Wednesday, 13 April 2005

2 [Further Initial Appearance]

3 [The accused entered court]

4 --- Upon commencing at 8.00 a.m.

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

6 THE REGISTRAR: Good morning, Your Honour. This is case number

7 IT-02-58-I, the Prosecutor versus Ljubisa Beara.

8 JUDGE BONOMY: Well, good morning, everyone. We're here on

9 account of the amendment of the indictment to include new charges, thus

10 giving rise to the need for a further initial appearance in terms of Rule

11 50 of the Rules of Procedure.

12 First of all, would the parties' representatives identify

13 themselves, please. For the Prosecution.

14 MS. ISSA: Yes. Good morning Your Honour, may it please the

15 court, it's Antoinette Issa on behalf of the Prosecution and with me is

16 Ms. Stewart.

17 JUDGE BONOMY: And for the Defence.

18 MR. OSTOJIC: Good morning, Your Honour. John Ostojic on behalf

19 of the accused.

20 JUDGE BONOMY: Thank you, Mr. Ostojic.

21 Now, Mr. Ostojic, the accused would be entitled to insist on a

22 reading, a fresh reading of the indictment in this case if he wished.

23 Does he wish to do that?

24 MR. OSTOJIC: After consulting with him, Your Honour, he does

25 not.

1 JUDGE BONOMY: Thank you very much.

2 Mr. Beara, could you stand, please. As I said a moment ago, we

3 are here because of the amendment of the indictment giving rise to the

4 need for a further appearance so that you can tender pleas in respect of

5 what I consider to be new charges arising out of the amendment to the

6 indictment.

7 You will recollect that previously you were charged under counts

8 1(A) and (B) in the alternative with genocide or alternative complicity

9 in genocide. The second of these, complicity in genocide, has been

10 removed from the indictment and in its place there is a new Count 2

11 charging you with conspiracy to commit genocide. So that is the first

12 significant amendment, and that gives rise to the need to tender a plea

13 in respect of Count 2 afresh.

14 The other changes to the indictment that give rise to this

15 situation are that you are now implicated, allegedly, in forceable

16 transfers as part of your involvement in a joint criminal enterprise. In

17 other words, you're charged with the commission of forcible transfers as

18 the result of your involvement in a joint criminal enterprise, and that

19 enterprise is now described as including forcible transfer. That again,

20 in my view, gave rise to new charges, and that means that you will be

21 required to tender pleas afresh in respect of counts 6 and 7.

22 Now, what will now happen is that the Registrar will read to you

23 in brief form the specific terms of Count 2, and she will then ask you

24 whether you plead guilty or not guilty, and you will answer that

25 question. She will then do the same exercise in respect of Counts 6 and

1 7.

2 As far as Count 2 is concerned, if I can just give you that

3 example, she will simply say to you that you are charged under Count 2

4 with conspiracy to commit genocide punishable under Articles 4(3)(b) and

5 7(1) of the statute of the Tribunal. How do you plead to that charge,

6 guilty or not guilty, and you will then answer the question.

7 Now, do you understand that?

8 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Yes.

9 JUDGE BONOMY: Madam Registrar, could you now take the pleas.

10 THE REGISTRAR: Yes, Your Honour.

11 Mr. Beara, you are charged conspiracy to commit genocide

12 punishable under Articles 4(3)(b) and 7(1) of the Statute of the

13 Tribunal. How do you plead, guilty or not guilty?

14 THE INTERPRETER: Microphone for the accused, please.

15 THE REGISTRAR: You are charged with Count 6, persecution --

16 THE INTERPRETER: Pause please.

17 JUDGE BONOMY: Just hold on a second. There was no translation

18 of that plea because of the microphone.

19 Could you --

20 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I said not guilty.

21 JUDGE BONOMY: Now, just for the avoidance of doubt, the

22 transcript shows you're charged with Count 6. In fact, this is Count 2

23 that we are dealing with. I don't think the word 6 was actually used.

24 There was no reference to the count number at all so I think for the

25 avoidance of any doubt we'll go through that exercise again.

1 In fact it might be better if I deal with this. If you just sit

2 down for the moment it might be easier if I deal with this.

3 Mr. Beara, you're charged under Count 2 with conspiracy to commit

4 genocide, punishable under Articles 4(3)(b) and 7(1) of the Statute of

5 the Tribunal. How do you plead to that charge, guilty or not guilty?

6 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Not guilty.

7 JUDGE BONOMY: Thank you. You are charged under Count 6 with

8 persecutions on political, racial, and religious grounds, a crime against

9 humanity, including murder, cruel and inhumane treatment, terrorising the

10 civilian population, destruction of personal property, and forcible

11 transfer punishable under Articles 5(h) and 7(1) of the Statute of the

12 Tribunal.

13 How do you plead do that count, guilty or not guilty?

14 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Not guilty.

15 JUDGE BONOMY: Thank you. And then lastly you're charged under

16 Count 7 with inhumane acts, forcible transfer a crime against humanity

17 punishable under Articles 5(i) and 7(1) of the Statute of the Tribunal.

18 How do you plead to that count, guilty or not guilty?

19 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Not guilty.

20 JUDGE BONOMY: Thank you. You may now sit. Thank you.

21 Now, as a result of these pleas combined with the pleas of not

22 guilty previously tendered by Mr. Beara, the Registrar will take note

23 that a trial must be fixed in due course.

24 Mr. Ostojic, as already indicated in earlier order of the

25 Chamber, the period for preliminary motions, period of 30 days that is

1 revived as a result of this process, is already running and is running

2 from the 30th of March, I think, in terms of that order. So I take it

3 that it has been drawn to Mr. Beara's attention that if he has any

4 preliminary motions to make then he has until about the end of this month

5 to do so.

6 MR. OSTOJIC: Yes, Your Honour. Thank you for that.

7 JUDGE BONOMY: I knows also that there is a Status Conference in

8 this case on the 15th of June, and that Status Conference will stand. It

9 should take place on that occasion.

10 Can you clarify, just confirm for me that as far as you are

11 concerned, as far as you're aware, all disclosure has been made in

12 appropriate form.

13 MR. OSTOJIC: I did receive this morning, Your Honour, some

14 documents that are signature on the Defence counsel desk. To the extent

15 that I haven't had a chance to review this, I believe that they are

16 complying in part, and I don't think we have an issue or a problem with

17 the Prosecution at this time with the compliance of those documents.

18 JUDGE BONOMY: Right. And is there any other matter that Mr.

19 Beara would wish to raise with the Court at this stage?

20 MR. OSTOJIC: Not at this time, Your Honour, no.

21 JUDGE BONOMY: Thank you, Mr. Ostojic.

22 MR. OSTOJIC: Thank you.

23 JUDGE BONOMY: Ms. Issa, are there any matters that the

24 Prosecution would wish to raise at this stage?

25 MS. ISSA: No, Your Honour, not at this time.

1 JUDGE BONOMY: Can you clarify just the one thing for me about

2 disclosure. On the assumption that the disclosure was complete, the

3 order that was issued indicated the 30-day period was running from the

4 30th of March. Does the bundle on the Defence table indicate that the

5 situation should have been otherwise?

6 MS. ISSA: I can indicate, Your Honour, that we obviously started

7 to make disclosure before today. We actually did provide some disclosure

8 on the last occasion. We also provided disclosure under 66(A)(i) which

9 is now complete and we are continuing to provide disclosure.

10 As Your Honour may be aware, there are a number of accused that

11 are now present in the Tribunal that are related to the Srebrenica case.

12 We may have indicated on a prior occasion that we are -- we may be

13 bringing a joinder application to join the -- these accused, and

14 consequently we're looking at the disclosure from a global perspective in

15 terms of all the accused and we do intend to provide disclosure on the

16 electronic database system in an efficient manner, taking into account

17 all the accused that are present before the -- in the Tribunal currently.

18 JUDGE BONOMY: Thank you. So just one other point, Ms. Issa.

19 The disclosure in terms of 66(A)(i), that's the supporting material and

20 the prior statements of the accused, was that so far as the amended

21 indictment is concerned completed prior to the 30th of March?

22 MS. ISSA: Yes, Your Honour, it has been.

23 JUDGE BONOMY: So the order that was made earlier is in an

24 appropriate form and that the 30 days for preliminary motions would start

25 running on the 30th of March, the day that the fresh indictment was

1 filed.

2 MS. ISSA: That's correct.

3 JUDGE BONOMY: Thank you. Well, that completes the matters that

4 require to be dealt with this morning. The Court is accordingly

5 adjourned.

6 --- Whereupon the Further Initial Appearance

7 adjourned at 8.14 a.m.

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