Page 1
1 Tuesday, 5 July 2005
2 [Open session]
3 [The accused entered court]
4 --- Upon commencing at 4.06 p.m.
5 JUDGE LIU: Call the case, please, Mr. Court Deputy.
6 THE REGISTRAR: Good afternoon, Your Honours. This is case
7 number IT-01-48-T, the Prosecutor versus Sefer Halilovic.
8 JUDGE LIU: Thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
9 This is a status conference. The purpose of this conference is to
10 facilitate the proceedings of this case, and frankly speaking, this Bench
11 was very disappointed and frustrated with no witnesses for the last week.
12 I believe that we need an explanation from the part of the Defence.
13 Yes, Mr. Morrissey.
14 MR. MORRISSEY: Yes, Your Honours, thank you. The Defence
15 apologises for the time lost. As concerns the witness who we were
16 delaying about, he's now arrived in The Hague. I've seen him this
17 morning. I've sent proofing notes through the e-mail which may or may
18 not have reached the Chamber because they were only sent just before we
19 came to court. He'll be ready to testify tomorrow.
20 We do apologise for that -- for the procedure with him. As I
21 indicated in a note I think that was circulated, we only became aware of
22 his existence quite recently and it became apparent to us that he was a
23 witness of potential importance. We did go to see him as quickly as we
24 could and thereafter, the delays occurred in a somewhat unpredictable way
25 following his health developments. He had a what might be described as a
Page 2
1 rolling series of appointments and the future course of those
2 appointments was very hard to predict. At the time it looked like they
3 would be limited and in the end they weren't. But he had the last of
4 those yesterday and he's now arrived today.
5 Now, it's an unsatisfactory situation and we are apologetic for
6 it. I'm not sure how we could have handled that matter differently but
7 in any event it happened the way it did and now he's ready to testify.
8 As to other witnesses, the fact of the matter is that we have
9 continued to cull the witness list down. There is a further development
10 that I'm going to let the Tribunal know about soon. But the witnesses
11 that now appear to remain are only four in number.
12 Now, the witness that we have been talking about has instructed
13 me today - and really only today did this matter arise - that he wants to
14 make an application for protective measures. I'll have to provide some
15 further details to the Prosecutors about that and see what their attitude
16 is. I can deal with that straight away if you want me to, Your Honour,
17 but it might be better to let the Prosecutors hear what we have to say
18 and consider their position. I'm in the Tribunal's hands about that.
19 That's why I'm not mentioning his name now. I'm sorry if I seem to be
20 ponderous, but that's why.
21 As to the other witnesses, Bahrudin Comor was listed for Thursday
22 but he's not going to be called as a witness now. The Defence and
23 Prosecution have held some discussions and a stipulation has been agreed
24 on in respect of certain matters, particularly legal matters relating to
25 the SVB. That will be filed with the Court in due course but the words
Page 3
1 have been agreed on. When they are, I'm going to raise a couple of other
2 matters that go along with it and the Prosecutor will respond to those
3 and we had in mind to do that tomorrow. But so that there will be a
4 legal submission -- effectively an agreed fact or stipulation that will
5 be filed with the Court. And having had those discussions with the
6 Prosecution and having agreed on that the Defence is now not going to
7 call Bahrudin Comor. He's been advised of that.
8 That leaves Witness G who is to appear on Friday. We are advised
9 that he will be appearing with counsel, and there will have to be further
10 discussions with the Prosecutor as to how long that's going to take but I
11 anticipate he's a very short witness.
12 The other remaining witness on the live witness list was the
13 witness who we indicated was present in Uzdol. Again, although he hasn't
14 indicated as yet I see the possibility of a similar application being
15 made. I'd prefer not to name him yet. We think the passport issue is to
16 be resolved with him. We hope it's resolved today but as we understand
17 his passport has been issued and it's on its way back to him so we expect
18 and hope he'll be present on the weekend and ready to proceed next week
19 on Monday.
20 That would conclude the live evidence the Defence was proposing
21 to call. There then remains the decision to be taken as to what to do
22 with any witness that Your Honours refuse to allow us to proceed with
23 98 -- sorry, 92 bis. There may be witnesses that Your Honours say can't
24 be dealt with that way and then we have to make a decision as to whether
25 to call those.
Page 4
1 But as we understand some of those will be dealt with today and
2 others will be dealt with soon. Again, we don't anticipate that that
3 should cause major delays. And again, none of those witnesses, being
4 92 bis as they are, none of those witnesses seem to be central to the
5 case although there are some in respect of which there is room for
6 discussion and debate here.
7 So for that's the position of the Defence case now, that -- we
8 have lost some court time. I acknowledge and as I've said I apologise
9 for it. I should say on behalf of the team that I'm lead counsel of that
10 they really have, Your Honours, been working extremely long hours and
11 endeavouring to avoid the sort of problems that have arisen and there has
12 been a series of matters which have conspired to lead to these delays.
13 However, although there have been delays, the delays have allowed for the
14 Defence to further shorten its case so that in terms of completing this
15 trial we hope that it will not compromise those matters.
16 That's the report I can give you at this stage on the reasons why
17 there were delays.
18 JUDGE LIU: Thank you very much. Although there is only four
19 witnesses left, would you please be kind enough to submit a confidential
20 list of the witnesses in the order that they are going to be called.
21 MR. MORRISSEY: Yes, Your Honour.
22 JUDGE LIU: And as for the protective measures, what specific
23 measures in your mind at this stage?
24 MR. MORRISSEY: With respect to the witness who would testify
25 tomorrow --
Page 5
1 JUDGE LIU: We could go into the private session if you believe
2 that we should.
3 MR. MORRISSEY: Yes perhaps we should.
4 JUDGE LIU: Yes, we will go to the private session, please.
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21 [Open session]
22 JUDGE LIU: Yes, Mr. Morrissey.
23 MR. MORRISSEY: Yes, Your Honour, I think those concluded the
24 matters that I -- I'm sorry, Your Honours, I'm just receiving some
25 static. Pardon me, my earphones were playing up. That concluded the
Page 9
1 matter I was going to raise, Your Honours. I understand there are a
2 number of matters Your Honours want to raise here. My learned friend is
3 going to deal with I think the bulk of those. And at 5.00 I'm meaning to
4 go back and deal with the witness once more and -- in respect of a couple
5 of documents. But yes, those are the matters I wish to raise.
6 JUDGE LIU: Well, thank you. And I believe there are some other
7 matters we have to deal with that are mainly the procedural matters. If
8 you have some previous appointment, you may withdraw at that time. I
9 believe Mr. Mettraux is capable to deal with all those issues. Thank
10 you.
11 The next issue is about the 92 bis statements. The Defence filed
12 a 92 bis motion confidentially on the 29th of June 2005. The Defence
13 requests the admission of the statements of eight witnesses pursuant to
14 Rule 92 bis of the Rules. The Prosecution response to the Defence motion
15 was filed on the 5th of July 2005. After considering the arguments of
16 the parties, the Trial Chamber will now render its decision.
17 The Trial Chamber recalls the decision of the Appeals Chamber in
18 Galic and has adopted the requirements set out therein. As concerns the
19 first witness whose statement was filed in attachment A, the Prosecution
20 has objected to the admission because parts of this statement would go to
21 the acts and conduct of the accused as charged in the indictment. After
22 careful consideration, the Trial Chamber does not agree with the
23 Prosecution's position. The statement, including the parts of the
24 statement challenged by the Prosecution, concern general information on
25 the ABiH or information regarding acts and conducts of others than the
Page 10
1 accused. The Trial Chamber finds that the statement meets the
2 requirements of Rule 92 bis. It's relevant and cumulative in nature and
3 therefore it's admitted.
4 The part of the statement concerning a letter by the accused sent
5 to the Croatia press after the war is not an issue which would be pivotal
6 to the Prosecution's case. The Trial Chamber sees no need to call this
7 witness for cross-examination.
8 As concerns the witness statement filed under attachment B, the
9 Trial Chamber finds that the statement meets the requirements of Rule 92
10 bis as it does not go to the acts and conducts of the accused and is
11 relevant and related to political and historical background. The
12 statement is admitted. The Trial Chamber sees no need to call the
13 witness to appear before this Trial Chamber for cross-examination.
14 The admission of the statement of the witness which was filed
15 under attachment C was not objected to by the Prosecution. The Trial
16 Chamber finds that the statement meets the requirements of Rule 92 bis
17 and the statement is relevant and cumulative in nature. The statement is
18 admitted.
19 The next is about the statement filed under attachment D. The
20 Trial Chamber finds that parts of the statement challenged by the
21 Prosecution do not go to the acts and conduct of the accused but, rather,
22 relates to acts and conducts of others. Moreover, the statement is
23 relevant and related to relevant historical and political background.
24 The statement therefore is admitted. The Trial Chamber does not consider
25 the evidence of this witness to be evidence which could be pivotal to the
Page 11
1 Prosecution's case and sees no need to call the witness for
2 cross-examination.
3 As for the statement filed under attachment E, the Prosecution
4 has requested the witness provide oral testimony on certain paragraphs,
5 submitting that these paragraphs go to the acts and conduct of the
6 accused. Furthermore, the Prosecution has requested to cross-examine the
7 witnesses -- the witness on other paragraphs, submitting that the
8 evidence of the witness is pivotal to the Prosecution's case. The Trial
9 Chamber will allow for cross-examination on the challenged paragraphs.
10 The Trial Chamber will defer its decision on the admission of the
11 statement until such time that the witness has been cross-examined on the
12 statement.
13 As for the statement filed under attachment F, the Trial Chamber
14 finds that the statement does not go to acts and conduct of the accused
15 as charged in the indictment. It's relevant and it's of cumulative
16 nature. The statement is admitted. The Prosecution has submitted that
17 it does not wish to cross-examine this witness. The Trial Chamber does
18 not see a need to call this witness for cross-examination either.
19 As for the statement filed under attachment G, the Trial Chamber
20 found that the relevant parts of the statement have been read out in
21 court during the testimony of a witness, that is Ramiz Delalic. As a
22 result, the evidence contained in this statement is already part of the
23 record. The evidence therefore is unnecessarily cumulative in nature and
24 will not be admitted.
25 The statement filed under attachment H, the Trial Chamber found
Page 12
1 the statement concerns evidence that does not go to the acts and conduct
2 of the accused and is of a cumulative nature. Although the statement has
3 already been discussed with the witness Delalic, the statement of 6 June
4 2005 clarifies a part of the statement of 17th May 2005. The statement
5 is admitted. The Prosecution has not requested to be allowed to
6 cross-examine this witness. Nor does the Trial Chamber see a need for
7 cross-examination. It's so decided for the first group of the 92 bis
8 witnesses.
9 As we understand, the Prosecution will file their replies to the
10 second group of the 92 bis witnesses very soon. Could I get some
11 confirmation on this aspect, Mr. Weiner?
12 MR. WEINER: Yes, Your Honour. We were hoping to file by the end
13 of tomorrow.
14 JUDGE LIU: Thank you very much indeed.
15 [Trial chamber and registrar confer]
16 JUDGE LIU: I've been reminded that for those documents admitted
17 into the evidence, I would like to request the parties to ask for
18 certification of these statements.
19 I hope that we could deal with the next groups of witnesses
20 within this week so that, to give the parties enough time to call those
21 witnesses which need to be cross-examined since the Defence case is
22 extremely short, for four witnesses I believe that we only need about a
23 week's time.
24 Yes, Mr. Morrissey?
25 MR. MORRISSEY: Your Honour I'll just say we are grateful to the
Page 13
1 Prosecution for hurrying up as they are and they were assisting hopefully
2 were assisting each other but we were discussing the stipulations and I
3 can say that Mr. Weiner made great efforts to meet with me and I'm
4 grateful for him doing that. But we will respond very quickly when the
5 Prosecution makes its response to the extents that we need to respond.
6 We'll do that straight away. We don't need any extra time. If we were
7 to get the Prosecution's response by Thursday -- by Thursday, we will
8 reply on Friday morning. We would have a brief reply that we could make
9 and we think it's realistic to do that.
10 Your Honours, could I indicate I would be disappointed if we go
11 as long as a week with what remains of the live evidence because the only
12 witness for next week is the -- is the last witness, and I anticipate
13 that his evidence would be a day but could go longer if the Prosecution
14 have more to put to him but I think it's realistic to budget one day with
15 him. So yes, Your Honours, we will do all we can to comply and thank
16 you.
17 JUDGE LIU: Yes. Thank you. Thank you very much. I only hope
18 that the parties could take the extra effort to facilitate the
19 proceedings of this case.
20 Concerning of the motion for enforcement of court order re:
21 electronic disclosure suite, this Bench have some problems or questions
22 with the filing as well as with the reply by the Prosecution. So we may
23 ask some questions to the parties. The Trial Chamber is seized by the
24 motion for enforcement of court order re: electronic disclosure suite
25 filed by the Defence on the 24th June 2005, seeking an order from the
Page 14
1 Trial Chamber for the enforcement of the May 7, 2004 order regarding the
2 providing of an annex to the end, EDS, to the Defence, and to order the
3 Prosecution to notify the Defence every time new documents are being
4 placed in the Halilovic folder by the Prosecution with a short
5 description of the material being placed therein.
6 The Prosecution responds to the motion for the enforcement of
7 court order re: electronic disclosure suit was filed on the 30th of
8 June. Provision of the index as to who is -- seem to be not feasible but
9 may be indexed as to Halilovic's folder. We are still not quite sure
10 what kind of index the Prosecution or the Defence mentioned here.
11 Yes, Mr. Mettraux.
12 MR. METTRAUX: Yes, good afternoon, Your Honour. We had the
13 opportunity to describe the sort of index we had in mind, and we don't
14 think it would be such a burdensome exercise for the Prosecution in the
15 sense that the information we would expect is the information which we
16 normally provided with when we receive disclosure under Rule 68 or under
17 Rule 66(A), namely a very short, generally one-liner description of the
18 document together with the ERN number of that document. Really the
19 material that we need in order to be able to go through the EDS material
20 is simply a document which would indicate to us very, very briefly
21 whether there is any chance of relevant material to be found in each and
22 every document. It doesn't have to be lengthy. It doesn't have to be
23 particularly precise but it has to give us an idea of what is to be found
24 in each of the documents.
25 We had been given in the past by the Prosecution what they called
Page 15
1 at the time an index which was no more than the list of ERN numbers and
2 those numbers means nothing for the Defence. We would have to open each
3 and every one of the documents to find out ourselves what those documents
4 contain. Furthermore, many of those documents would appear to be in the
5 B/C/S language and neither counsel would be able to read those documents.
6 So to answer Your Honour's question, the information which we would ask
7 the Prosecution to provide would be a one-liner such as those one-liners
8 which we have provided in relation to material which they have disclosed
9 to us in the past. "Order of the 15th of January signed by Mr. Salko
10 Gusic," for instance, or something to that effect which would avoid
11 having to open each and every document.
12 JUDGE LIU: Well, you still did not answer my question
13 specifically. You mean all those documents in the Halilovic's folder or
14 is it beyond that folder?
15 MR. METTRAUX: I must admit that we have some sympathy for the
16 Prosecution difficulties. We are not suggesting that it's an easy
17 exercise for the Prosecution either. We are simply submitting that it's
18 easier for them than it is for us, and that there is a court order
19 ordering them to provide us with search information.
20 We would like to be reasonable in that regard. We think that
21 whatever material would be relevant to us would or should be found in the
22 Halilovic folder and at this stage we would only ask to be provided with
23 an index in relation to that folder. If the Prosecution were to discover
24 that material relevant to our case was misplaced or placed in another
25 folder, I mean we would expect to receive notice of that fact. But at
Page 16
1 this stage we would only insist on the Halilovic folder being indexed.
2 JUDGE LIU: Thank you very much. Did the Prosecution already
3 provide to the Defence such index and how this work and how many
4 documents Halilovic's folder contains? Yes, who is in the position to
5 answer that? Yes, Mr. Re.
6 MR. RE: I'll attempt to do so. The question Your Honour is
7 asking is have we provided them with an index. Well, no, we can't. It
8 doesn't exist. That's what we are trying to explain. When we put
9 together a case -- the Prosecution in the letter which we annexed to our
10 response to the motion, we explained there are over 4 million pages in
11 our collections. There are many hundreds of thousands of documents
12 relevant to the ABiH collections and what's loosely called the Bosnian
13 government or Bosnian Muslim side. Now, to find any documents for a case
14 such as this one - the Hadzihasanovic case, the Delic case, the Oric
15 case - we have to go through different collections of documents. And
16 when I say collections, I mean large numbers of documents which have
17 either been provided to the Prosecution or seized by the Prosecution in a
18 search warrant from various locations throughout the former Yugoslavia.
19 They don't all exist in the same place. And they're catalogued whether
20 they come in according to the collection they come from. For example,
21 the Sarajevo collection, which is described in the EDS, is -- are those
22 documents taken from a search of the ABiH archives in Sarajevo in October
23 2000. Some of those documents were used in the Hadzihasanovic case, some
24 of them in the Delic case, some of them in this case. There are
25 thousands of documents there. We analyse them by -- a language assistant
Page 17
1 looks at them to try to find relevant things. Investigator, criminal
2 analysts, lawyers then go through and pick and choose those which are
3 relevant and put them together as part of our case. But the remaining
4 documents are just untranslated. They never will be translated. There
5 are too many of them and they remain in that collection.
6 Now, at the moment we have no way of indexing them for anyone to
7 find them, us or the Defence. So what we do is we have something called
8 an "IF," which is an information form which contains some information,
9 and there is some metadata. Our evidence section at the moment is
10 attempting to put together a system whereby an index might be available
11 of some of the documents, maybe about half of them, but they can't do
12 that before about September of this year. There will be no index before
13 September of the documents in the 34 separate collections. We are in the
14 same position as the Defence. Now, if documents go into the Halilovic
15 one, it's exactly the same situation.
16 JUDGE LIU: So you mean there is no special folder for
17 Halilovic's case?
18 MR. RE: There is. There is. But I'm told it's empty. We have
19 been -- my friends can correct me if I'm wrong -- we have been providing
20 documents as we find them by CD or by paper disclosure, with indexes,
21 list of index of what the documents are. So they have all the documents
22 that we have used or we have decided are relevant. They have access to
23 the entire OTP evidence collection with two exceptions, those are witness
24 statements and Rule 70 material. In relation to witness statements and
25 Rule 70 material we have searched those, we have put all the relevant
Page 18
1 search terms into those two collections and we have disclosed anything
2 which is within Rule 66 or that we consider, and it has to be our
3 assessment, within Rule 68. Those documents -- Rule 70 won't go on to
4 the collection. The witness statements will when they are all redacted.
5 That's going to take some time to do so. But in the meantime we are
6 searching them. So we are providing the Defence with any documents that
7 we finds in those two other collections. But in relation to the general
8 collection, of the 70 per cent of the -- 70 per cent of our 4
9 million-plus documents, the Defence have the same access to those
10 documents and the same search capabilities an as we do.
11 Your Honour has seen at the trial the Defence have produced a
12 number of documents that either the Prosecution did not have or did not
13 find and there is an obvious reason for that: because the Defence is in
14 a much better position to know where the documents are filed, where they
15 are archived and what their relevance is than investigators working in
16 another language. So the Defence actually have an advantage over the
17 Prosecution in finding these.
18 But there is a difference we want to emphasise between
19 Halilovic-specific folder and the general collection which is where the
20 documents are. We just can't index them in the sense of providing an
21 index that you might find at the back of a book or the front of a brief.
22 It's just not possible at the moment.
23 JUDGE LIU: Thank you very much. Any way, I'm very surprised to
24 hear there is no Halilovic case folder.
25 MR. METTRAUX: Well, Your Honour, we will briefly respond to
Page 19
1 that. There is indeed a Halilovic folder which has three subfolders
2 which contain documents. In addition to that, as my learned friend
3 pointed out, we have access to a general collection. And one of the
4 difficulties with the searches is that you cannot search both collections
5 at once so you have to repeat your search every time. And as we pointed
6 out in our motion, it has officially a 70 per cent retrieval power which
7 is the official line. But our expert in the team, Mr. Cengic, has
8 established I think beyond reasonable doubt that the retrieval power of
9 this system is much lower than that and we have been unable to trace
10 documents which we know to be in this system.
11 Again, we are quite sympathetic to the Prosecution position but
12 we would like to point out that Rule 68(ii) provides that it's for the
13 Prosecution to provide us with an appropriate computer software to do
14 those searches and at this stage the EDS system is anything but adequate.
15 JUDGE LIU: Well, let me consider this issue carefully and I
16 believe that we have to hand out with the other judges and the -- we have
17 to look into the practice of other Chambers on this matter. It seems to
18 me that Mr. Mettraux, you are very familiar with the documents on the
19 part of the Prosecution already.
20 Yes. Well, just for the information of the parties, the decision
21 on the admission of the Witness Karic's formal statement is filed today.
22 The decision on Mr. Halilovic's 96 statement will be filed by tomorrow.
23 The decision on the admission of the exhibits tendered from the bar table
24 will be rendered by tomorrow. This is just for the information of the
25 parties.
Page 20
1 Well, the next issue is about the planning of the trial. I
2 believe at this stage the Prosecution has already received all the
3 statements of the witnesses, including the 92 bis witnesses. Could I ask
4 the Prosecution at this stage whether you are going to have some rebuttal
5 procedure in this case?
6 MR. WEINER: Your Honour, it's not clear at this time as to
7 whether or not we would have any rebuttal. They are proofing their
8 witness that is going to testify tomorrow today, and new proofing notes
9 and more information can result. The witness that is scheduled for
10 Friday, I don't believe we've received a -- we haven't received any
11 proofing notes. I don't believe we've received any extensive statement,
12 and I think everyone is waiting to or the Defence is waiting to meet with
13 counsel and the witness. With regard to the witness that's coming on
14 Monday, we have a -- not a proofing statement, a short, 65 ter summary or
15 a 65 ter summary. We have the Prosecution interview but we are waiting
16 for proofing notes. What I thought was going to be a very quick witness
17 now there is an indication that it could be an all-day witness. So we
18 don't know enough or we don't have enough information at this time to
19 really advise the Court whether or not there would be a rebuttal.
20 JUDGE LIU: When do you think you will be in a position to inform
21 us whether there is any rebuttal?
22 MR. WEINER: When we receive more information and hear these
23 people testify. We have -- the next -- after the one for tomorrow we
24 have two witnesses that we have very little information. We really can't
25 glean what they are going to testify to especially the one on Friday. We
Page 21
1 have no idea.
2 JUDGE LIU: I believe you have received all the statement of
3 those witnesses already so more or less you can see a roughly the picture
4 of the Defence case.
5 MR. WEINER: It's not really clear. For the witness for Friday
6 we don't have a clear picture on what the witness is planning to testify
7 to. With regard to Monday we have some idea and tomorrow, but I spoke to
8 counsel this morning and I said, did the witness for tomorrow bring
9 documents with him or her? And they were uncertain at that time. And
10 this was in the morning so I'm not clear whether or not that person has
11 brought any documents. Will the witness for Friday bring any documents?
12 Unclear. Monday? Unclear. Until we get an idea of what if anything
13 they are going to be producing and what if anything they will be saying
14 we really can't answer that. I would surmise there would be very little
15 if any rebuttal, but I would not close the door to that until we really
16 hear them or get some more information.
17 JUDGE LIU: Maybe next Monday, you are in a better position to
18 inform us about your decision concerning rebuttal.
19 MR. WEINER: I hope so.
20 JUDGE LIU: Well, let's set next Monday for the date that we will
21 get more concrete information about the positions on the Prosecution
22 concerning of the rebuttal.
23 We hope that we could have the rebuttal procedure, if there is
24 any, before the summer recess.
25 So tentatively, tentatively, at this stage, I hope the parties
Page 22
1 could file their final brief by Tuesday, 16th August, right after the
2 summer recess. And if possible, we will have the final arguments next
3 week; that is, on the 22nd of August. This is a very tentative schedule.
4 I just want to warn the parties to be prepared for that date.
5 Are there any other matters that the parties would like to raise
6 at this stage? Yes.
7 MR. METTRAUX: Yes, Your Honour, very briefly. The first one
8 concerned the Defence exhibits. Because the Defence has decided to call
9 such a limited number of witnesses, we are going to be left with a number
10 of documents which we would like to tender and what we are proposing to
11 do is we have asked the Prosecution to consider the binder of documents
12 which we intend to seek to tender and which we also provided to Chamber,
13 for them to consider whether they have any objection to any of those
14 documents, and if so, to which one. If to none, we would seek to tender
15 those by agreement.
16 There is also the possibility of the Defence making a brief and
17 very short motion to amend its Rule 65 ter of exhibits. We've received a
18 number of new documents in the past week or two and we have also received
19 a number of translations from CLSS of documents which neither counsel had
20 been able to read and it may be that we may be able to file a short
21 motion, either at the end of this week but probably at the beginning of
22 the next when we've received all translation to amend our Rule 65 ter.
23 We would think that it would relate to 10 or 12 new documents, and again
24 we with would provide copies immediately to the Prosecution to see
25 whether they would have any objection to that tendering.
Page 23
1 Yes. We've also sought now to cut the list even further than the
2 list which appeared at the front page of the binder which we provided to
3 the Defence and -- to the Chamber and to the Prosecution and we will
4 discuss that matter even further with the Prosecution, but we anticipate
5 that there is going to be only very few documents that we will seek to
6 tender.
7 The second issue which I would like to address very briefly is an
8 application for provisional release which the Defence will be making
9 tomorrow, for the provisional release of Mr. Halilovic between the time
10 of the end of the trial until that time when judgement in this case is
11 rendered and/or the time for final argument. So this motion will be
12 filed first thing tomorrow morning. Actually it's been provided to the
13 Registry already.
14 Third matter briefly is the issue of Rule 65 -- Rule 68
15 disclosure. We would like to place it on the record at this stage that
16 this is the Defence understanding, that a full and complete Rule 68
17 search of existing Prosecution material has been conducted. Experience
18 taught us, at least in this Tribunal, that a number of documents suddenly
19 appear in proceedings when the matter goes on appeal and we would like to
20 make sure that if there is an appeal in this case this doesn't happen.
21 We would just like to place that this is our understanding at this stage,
22 that all of the material in possession of the Prosecution has been going
23 through carefully Rule 68 search.
24 The last two matters, Your Honour, is concerning a number of
25 letters which the Defence has sent to the Prosecution and for which there
Page 24
1 has been no responses. At this stage, we will await those responses and
2 hope that they will be coming before the end of our case. If that were
3 not to be the case we reserve our right to ask the Trial Chamber to draw
4 a number of inferences from this failure.
5 Finally, and lastly, the issue of cross-examination material.
6 There is a court order to the effect that cross-examination material
7 should be provided to the Defence, I believe the words of the court are
8 "as soon as possible." We would just like to indicate that we have
9 received none so far and we would be grateful to receive that material
10 both for the witness tomorrow but also if possible for the witness for
11 Friday to receive that material if possible today.
12 That's all, Your Honour.
13 JUDGE LIU: Thank you very much. As for the first issue, that
14 a -- I believe that there is various ways for the parties to tender their
15 documents. Maybe when we render our decision concerning the documents
16 tendered through the bar table, that will be helpful also to the Defence
17 case.
18 As for the provisional release, as I said that we are expecting
19 the parties to file their final briefs on the 16th of August and final
20 argument will be heard on Monday, 22nd August. So at that time the Bench
21 will consider the request of the provisional release but not before,
22 because we had a very tight schedule at our hands. And I also hope Mr.
23 Halilovic will be present during the final argument.
24 Well, as for the 68 disclosure, I believe Mr. Mettraux has said
25 what he wanted to say and it is in the record already. I understand so
Page 25
1 long as the case is going on, the 68 -- Rule 68 matters will be with us.
2 As for the last matter, about material in the cross-examination,
3 it is true that the Bench made a decision and we delivered several oral
4 decisions concerning of this matter, and I hope that the parties could
5 treat this matter with the attitude of bona fide so as to facilitate the
6 proceedings of this trial. Yes, Mr. Morrissey.
7 MR. MORRISSEY: Just with respect to that last matter, I can
8 indicate that I think Mr. Re is proceeding with bona fides, he spoke to
9 me today. We have arranged in relation to tomorrow's witness that he
10 will give me such material tonight. I happen to know the Prosecution
11 have got a number of pressures on them and we appreciate that in the real
12 world, that in respect of this witness there is no doubt that he's made
13 the relevant efforts and that he's going to give me what I need tonight.
14 I think that's an example of what Your Honour refers to. We have no
15 suspicion about that. As long as I get it tonight, with respect to this
16 particular witness I'm happy.
17 JUDGE LIU: Thank you very much. It's very encouraging.
18 Are there any other matters on the parts of the Prosecution? Mr.
19 Weiner.
20 [Prosecution counsel confer]
21 MR. WEINER: No, Your Honour, other than just in response to the
22 request for Rule 68, for the Court to please be advised and for the
23 record that Rule 68 is ongoing, that whenever we receive a list of
24 witnesses, we make checks on those witnesses. When witnesses are
25 definitely on the list, we run checks on those and if there is anything
Page 26
1 that is Rule 68, it's provided. Thank you.
2 JUDGE LIU: Thank you. Thank you very much. Yes, Mr. Morrissey?
3 No?
4 Well, I believe that's all for today's status conference, and I'm
5 looking forward to see you tomorrow for the next witness.
6 The hearing for this afternoon is adjourned.
7 --- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at 5.01 p.m.
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