130717SC

Page 210

1 Wednesday, 17 July 2013

2 [Status Conference]

3 [Open session]

4 [The accused entered court]

5 --- Upon commencing at 2.57 a.m.

6 JUDGE AGIUS: Good afternoon, everyone. Call the case, please.

7 THE REGISTRAR: Good afternoon, Your Honours. This is case

8 number IT-05-87/1-A, the Prosecutor versus Vlastimir Djordjevic.

9 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you. Could I now please have the appearances

10 for the parties. The Prosecution.

11 MR. MILANINIA: Good afternoon, Your Honour. Nema Milaninia on

12 behalf of the Prosecution. I am joined here today by my colleague

13 Mr. Kyle Wood, and our Case Manager, Mr. Colin Nawrot.

14 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you.

15 MR. DJURDJIC: [Interpretation] For the Defence, Veljko Djurdjic,

16 Your Honour.

17 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you.

18 Now, before we proceed, one further formality. I just want to

19 make sure that everyone can follow the proceedings in a language that

20 they understand. I'll start with you, Mr. Djordjevic. Can you follow

21 the proceedings?

22 THE APPELLANT: [Interpretation] Yes, I can. Thank you.

23 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you. I assume that applies to you,

24 Mr. Djurdjic, as well. You can follow the proceedings in a language that

25 you understand.

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1 I think I will be offending you if I asked you if you can follow

2 the proceedings in a language that you can understand, so let's proceed.

3 This Status Conference is called in accordance with Rule 65 bis

4 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. Rule 65 bis in its section (B)

5 requires a Status Conference to be convened within 120 days after the

6 filing of a notice of appeal and thereafter within 120 days after the

7 last Status Conference. The reason for such Status Conferences is to

8 allow any person in custody pending appeal the opportunity to raise

9 issues in relation thereto, and that includes also in relation to the

10 mental and physical condition of that person.

11 In the present case the parties filed notices of appeal on

12 24th May 2011, and the first Status Conference was held on 30th May 2011.

13 The second through seventh Status Conferences were held on

14 21st September 2011, 16th January 2012, 11th May 2012, 23rd August 2012,

15 and 5th December 2012. We also had another Status Conference on the

16 9th of April, 2013. Today's Status Conference being the eighth in this

17 case was scheduled by an order signed by me and issued on the

18 12th of June of this year.

19 I'll start with perhaps the most important part of the

20 Status Conference, and that relates to the detention condition --

21 conditions and health of the appellant, Mr. Djordjevic. So I am

22 inquiring now about the status of the detention conditions and the health

23 situation of your client.

24 Mr. Djordjevic, I see you standing. If you have any concerns in

25 relation to the conditions of your detention or your state of health, I

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1 would invite you to raise them now, and if you so prefer, this discussion

2 can take place in private session.

3 THE APPELLANT: [Interpretation] Everything is all right. Thank

4 you, Your Honour. There are no problems to raise.

5 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you. And you confirm that as far as you

6 know, Mr. Djurdjic, as well?

7 MR. DJURDJIC: [Interpretation] Yes, I confirm that, Your Honour.

8 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you. Now we'll move to the resume of the

9 recent procedural history. You will notice that it's a little bit

10 shorter than usual. This is normally done so that the public is fully

11 aware of what has been taking place and also for the record.

12 The parties have heard me summarise the procedural history many

13 times before, and for that reason I have not included all of the same

14 details here today. However, I will set out the dates of the most

15 important filings and events below as it is important that the public be

16 aware of the background of this case.

17 Both the Defence and the Prosecution filed their respective

18 notices of appeal on 24th May 2011, having previously been granted an

19 extension of time of 60 days. The Prosecution presented two grounds of

20 appeal, and Appellant Djordjevic presented 19 grounds of appeal.

21 After having been granted various extensions of time and word

22 limits, the parties filed their appeal briefs on 15th August 2011, their

23 response briefs on the 26th September 2011, and their reply briefs on

24 26th October 2011.

25 The Prosecution filed a public redacted version of its appeal

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1 brief on 17th August 2011. Djordjevic filed a public redacted version of

2 his appeal brief on 30th September 2011. However, following a

3 confidential motion by the Prosecution requesting redactions of certain

4 information, Djordjevic was ordered to make an additional redaction, and

5 he refiled the public redacted version of his appeal brief on the

6 23rd of January, 2012.

7 Both parties filed public redacted versions of their responses

8 briefs -- response briefs on 30th January 2012. The Prosecution filed

9 its public redacted reply brief on 8th February 2012, and Djordjevic

10 filed a notice of reclassification of his reply brief on the

11 9th of February, 2012.

12 On the 7th of March, 2012, President Meron issued an order

13 assigning Judge Khalida Rachid Khan to the Bench in place of

14 Judge Fausto Pocar. Subsequently on the 27th of September, 2012,

15 Judge Patrick Robinson was assigned to the Bench in place or in lieu of

16 Judge Liu Daqun. On the 17th of October, 2012, the translation of the

17 Trial Chamber -- the trial judgement into the B/C/S language was filed.

18 The following day I issued an order setting the time limit to file any

19 motion seeking a variation of the grounds of appeal following the

20 translation of the trial judgement. Pursuant to that order, Djordjevic

21 filed a submission on the 29th November 2012.

22 Turning to events of this year, there was a further change to the

23 Bench pursuant to an order issued by President Meron on 19th March 2013.

24 Judge Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov was assigned to the Bench in lieu of

25 Judge Andresia Vaz. Finally and more importantly, the appeals of the

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1 parties were heard before the full Bench on Monday, 13th May 2013, in

2 Courtroom I.

3 I once more take this opportunity to thank the parties for their

4 submissions on that day and for their co-operation throughout the

5 hearing. I can inform the parties that we are making good progress in

6 this case as scheduled.

7 Do you have any comments that you would like to make on this part

8 of the proceedings?

9 MR. MILANINIA: No, Your Honour.

10 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay. Thank you.

11 Now, next and final part of today's agenda is -- relates to

12 issues that may be raised by the parties, other issues, in other words.

13 I start with the Prosecution. Mr. Milaninia.

14 MR. MILANINIA: Your Honour, the Prosecution has no issues at

15 this time.

16 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay. Thank you very much.

17 Mr. Djurdjic?

18 MR. DJURDJIC: [Interpretation] The Defence has nothing to raise

19 either, Your Honour.

20 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay. Thank you.

21 Out of an abundance of caution, Mr. Djordjevic, your lawyer

22 hasn't raised anything or doesn't wish to raise anything. Do you have

23 any particular issue that you would like to raise?

24 MR. DJURDJIC: [Interpretation] No, thank you.

25 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you.

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1 There is no further -- there being no further business to

2 transact, I believe this concludes today's Status Conference. Once more,

3 I thank you for your attendance and now adjourn these proceedings. Thank

4 you.

5 --- Whereupon the Status Conference adjourned

6 at 3.09 p.m.