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1 Friday, 1 September 2006
2 [Status Conference]
3 [Open session]
4 [The appellant Hadzihasanovic entered court]
5 --- Upon commencing at 2.15 p.m.
6 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Madam Registrar, will you please call the
7 case.
8 THE REGISTRAR: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honour. This
9 is case number IT-01-47-A, the Prosecutor versus Enver Hadzihasanovic and
10 Amir Kubura.
11 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Welcome to you all. This is the first Status
12 Conference at the appeals stage in the case of the Prosecution against
13 Hadzihasanovic and Kubura. I would like to begin in the usual way by
14 verifying that the audio equipment is working properly.
15 So Mr. Hadzihasanovic, can you hear the proceedings in a language
16 you understand?
17 THE ACCUSED HADZIHASANOVIC: [Interpretation] I can, Your Honour.
18 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: What about counsel for Mr. Hadzihasanovic and
19 Mr. Kubura?
20 MRS. RESIDOVIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour.
21 MR. IBRISIMOVIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour, we have no
22 problems.
23 MS. ISSA: Yes, Your Honour, as well for the Prosecution.
24 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Now I would like to call formally for
25 appearances.
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1 Mr. Hadzihasanovic, you will be represented by?
2 MRS. RESIDOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honours, appearing today for
3 General Hadzihasanovic, am I Edina Residovic and my legal assistant,
4 Vedrana.
5 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Now, Mr. Kubura is not here but I expect that
6 he will be represented by someone.
7 MR. IBRISIMOVIC: [Interpretation] [No interpretation].
8 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: And the Prosecution will be represented by?
9 MS. ISSA: Good afternoon, Your Honour. It's Antoinette Issa on
10 behalf of the Prosecution, and with me is colleague, Marie-Ursula Kind,
11 and our case manager, Ms. Kim Fischer.
12 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Thank you very much.
13 Now, I would like to take this opportunity to recall that
14 Rule 65 bis of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, with which we are all
15 very familiar, requires that Status Conferences be held for each appellant
16 in the Tribunal's custody at intervals no greater than 120 days.
17 Paragraph (B) of that rule reads as follows: "The Appeals Chamber or an
18 Appeals Chamber Judge shall convene a Status Conference, within 120 days
19 of the filing of a notice of appeal and thereafter within 120 days after
20 the last Status Conference, to allow any person in custody pending appeal
21 the opportunity to raise issues in relation thereto, including the mental
22 and physical condition of that person."
23 Now, as Mr. Hadzihasanovic has been in the custody of the United
24 Nations detention centre, he was entitled to a Status Conference within
25 120 days of the filing of his notice of appeal or by 16th August 2006.
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1 Now, that time has lapsed. However, he agreed to accept a short delay in
2 his Status Conference in order to accommodate scheduling conflicts in the
3 arrangement of a Status Conference with Mr. Kubura. I wish to thank
4 Mr. Hadzihasanovic and his counsel for their cooperation and understanding
5 in this regard.
6 Now, Mr. Kubura was granted early release on 11 April 2006, and
7 therefore, whilst not entitled to a Status Conference under Rule 65 bis,
8 nonetheless, in the interests of justice, and in order to facilitate the
9 appeals process, he was invited to send counsel to represent him at this
10 first Status Conference along with Mr. Hadzihasanovic. I'm pleased to see
11 Mr. Kubura's counsel, Mr. Ibrisimovic and Mr. Dixon, have joined us for
12 this Status Conference, and again I welcome you all.
13 I would like to mention at the outset that Status Conferences have
14 two purposes, as you may have gathered from the rule which I've just read
15 out. Whereas they allow the applicants an opportunity to express concerns
16 relating to the appeal and the detention conditions. Second, they provide
17 an opportunity to update the appellants with respect to the status of
18 their case.
19 Now, I shall begin with the second of these objectives, that is to
20 say, an update as to the status of the appeals.
21 This case involves three appeals filed by Mr. Hadzihasanovic,
22 Mr. Kubura, and the Prosecution. I was designated the Pre-Appeal Judge in
23 this case by an order of the President assigning Judges to the case, filed
24 on 26 April 2006.
25 On 15 March 2006, Trial Chamber II rendered its judgement in the
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1 case of Prosecutor against Hadzihasanovic and Kubura. Mr. Kubura filed
2 his notice of appeal from that judgement on 13 April 2006.
3 Mr. Hadzihasanovic filed his notice of appeal on 18 April 2006.
4 Subsequently, Mr. Hadzihasanovic and Mr. Kubura sought extensions of time
5 to file their appeal briefs pending translations of the trial judgement.
6 The judgement had been rendered in French, a language that
7 Mr. Hadzihasanovic and counsel for Mr. Kubura do not speak. On 27 June
8 2006, the Appeals Chamber, accordingly, granted to Mr. Hadzihasanovic an
9 extension of time for the submission of his appeal brief until 45 days
10 after the transmission to him of a partial B/C/S translation of his trial
11 judgement. He did not ask for a complete translation. Mr. Kubura, who
12 had sought an extension of 75 days was granted an extension until 60 days
13 after the transmission to his counsel of a certified English translation
14 of the judgement. Meanwhile, in combination with its response to the
15 Kubura motion, the Prosecution moved to file a consolidated response to
16 the appeals briefs in both cases. The decision of the Appeals Chamber
17 found that the Prosecution was entitled to file a consolidated response
18 brief and to wait until 40 days after the filing of the later of the two
19 appellants' appeals briefs under paragraph (c)(i)(b) of the practice
20 direction on the length of briefs and motions. It noted that it was
21 therefore unnecessary for the Prosecution to file a motion requesting
22 permission to do so.
23 As for the Prosecution's appeal, the Prosecution filed a notice of
24 appeal on 18th April 2006 and an appeal brief on 3 July 2006. Mr. Kubura
25 and Mr. Hadzihasanovic subsequently filed separate motions seeking
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1 extensions of time to file the respondent's briefs until 40 days after
2 receiving the translations of the trial judgement. The motions were
3 granted; Mr. Kubura's on 26th July 2006 and Mr. Hadzihasanovic's on
4 8 August 2006. Both decisions noted that the Prosecution would be
5 permitted to file a consolidated reply brief within 15 days of the filing
6 of the later of the two response briefs of Mr. Hadzihasanovic and
7 Mr. Kubura, in keeping with Rule 113 of the rules and paragraph (c)(i)(c)
8 of the practice direction on the length of briefs and motions.
9 There are at present no pending motions in any of the three
10 appeals to which I have referred. The translations are on the way. I
11 understand that the target date for the completion of the English
12 translation is early November, while the target date for the completion of
13 the B/C/S translation is the second half of November. Once the
14 translations are transmitted to Mr. Hadzihasanovic and to Mr. Kubura's
15 counsel, the parties will be required to submit their appeal briefs and
16 the respondent's brief in the Prosecution's appeal in accordance with the
17 time-limits set forth in the decisions of 27 June, 26 July, and 8 August.
18 Now, do the parties have any remaining concerns in respect of the
19 case?
20 MS. ISSA: No, Your Honour. Thank you.
21 MRS. RESIDOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, the Defence has
22 received all the decisions of the Trial Chamber that you just mentioned,
23 and the Defence will comply with the instructions given in those
24 decisions. Apart from that, the Defence is in constant communication with
25 the Registry, in keeping with the order of the Appeals Chamber to
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1 accelerate the translation of the relevant documents, and we are doing our
2 best to comply with all the requirements within the given deadlines and
3 file our appeals brief and our respondent's brief in a timely manner.
4 We also received your decision of the 13th of July, and
5 accordingly, two weeks ago, we had a meeting with the Registrar where we
6 were given a promise to receive a written answer and we are now expecting
7 that written reply. And we would like to inform the Appeals Chamber that
8 the dilemmas of which we have informed the Appeals Chamber are still
9 outstanding. We hope they will be resolved in due course. And I hope we
10 will be able to deal with all the problems in cooperation with our
11 clients.
12 Thank you.
13 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Thank you, Madam. I appreciate your
14 cooperation, and I do join with you in hoping that the problems to which
15 you have adverted will soon be resolved so that we might proceed with the
16 hearing of the appeals.
17 Now, are there any concerns on the part of counsel for Mr. Kubura?
18 MR. IBRISIMOVIC: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honour. At this
19 moment we have nothing to raise.
20 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Now, I would like to allow Mr. Hadzihasanovic
21 an opportunity to address the Court with any concerns he may have relating
22 to the conditions of his detention or any other matter.
23 THE ACCUSED HADZIHASANOVIC: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your
24 Honour. This is really a pleasant surprise for me and a welcome
25 opportunity. Nobody has ever asked me such a question before in the
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1 courtroom, and I wish to thank you once again for this.
2 My accommodation is bearable. I cannot say I'm happy to be in
3 prison. But otherwise, it's fine. My health is all right, and except for
4 a slightly higher blood pressure and triglycerides, everything else is in
5 perfect order.
6 Thank you again for asking.
7 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Well, Mr. Hadzihasanovic, that is the whole
8 purpose of these proceedings, to give you an opportunity to meet face to
9 face with the Court and to enable you to see that your proceedings are
10 being expedited.
11 I thank you very much.
12 Well, if there are no other matters to be raised, I would bring
13 these proceedings to an end and accordingly adjourn the Court.
14 --- Whereupon the Status Conference adjourned at
15 2.33 p.m.
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