Tribunal Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Page 349

1 Friday, 5 April 2002

2 [Status Conference]

3 [Open session]

4 [The appellants entered court]

5 --- Upon commencing at 4.09 p.m.

6 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Registrar, will you please call the case next

7 on the court rolls.

8 THE REGISTRAR: Yes, Your Honour. This is case number IT-96-23-A

9 and IT-96-23/1-A, the Prosecutor versus Kunarac, Kovac, and Vukovic.

10 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: The three appellants are here in court. Can

11 they hear me?

12 Mr. Kunarac, you can hear me?

13 THE APPELLANT KUNARAC: [Interpretation] [No interpretation].

14 THE APPELLANT KOVAC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour.

15 THE APPELLANT VUKOVIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour, I can.

16 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: May we take the appearances. Counsel for the

17 appellants.

18 MR. PRODANOVIC: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honour. My

19 name is Slavisa Prodanovic. I am Defence counsel for the accused

20 Dragoljub Kunarac. Thank you.

21 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Thank you.

22 MR. KOLESAR: [Interpretation] Your Honour, good afternoon. My

23 name is Momir Kolesar. I'm an attorney-at-law from Zemun, and I am

24 representing the accused Radomir Kovac in this case. Thank you.

25 MR. JOVANOVIC: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honour. My

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1 name is Goran Jovanovic. I am attorney-at-law, and I'm representing the

2 accused Zoran Vukovic.

3 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Very well. And for the Prosecution.

4 MR. CARMONA: Your Honour, my name is Anthony Carmona. I appear

5 on behalf of the Prosecution. Together with me is Ms. Norul Rashid,

6 Queen's Counsel, and Ms. Helen Brady.

7 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Good. We meet today pursuant to a Scheduling

8 Order issued on 22nd of March fixing this meeting as one for the holding

9 of a Status Conference. We have held two previous Status Conferences, one

10 in June last year and one in October last year. So this is the third

11 Status Conference.

12 I believe we are all familiar with the purpose of a Status

13 Conference. We have read out the provisions before, but briefly, the

14 object is to afford to the appellants an opportunity for the status of

15 their case to be reviewed and also for them to raise any issues relating

16 to the case and in particular to their mental or physical well-being.

17 So let me start with the status of the case. Since the holding of

18 the second Status Conference, we've had oral arguments in the appeal.

19 This was last December, and we are now at the beginning of April 2002.

20 I can tell you, therefore, that the position is this: The

21 delivery of the judgement was reserved at the end of the oral hearings in

22 December, and the judgement should be ready for pronouncement before the

23 end of July. I put it that way because of the need for me to avoid the

24 inconveniences which result from being too specific. It may well be that

25 the judgement will be delivered well before the end of July, but I prefer

Page 351

1 on this occasion to give you a ballpark picture of the situation, and so I

2 speak of the end of July as the terminal date by which you can expect to

3 have the judgement of the Appeals Chamber.

4 Now, are there any matters which you would like to raise either in

5 relation to the status of the case or in relation to the physical and

6 mental well-being of the appellants?

7 Mr. Prodanovic?

8 MR. PRODANOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, today we have

9 received a report from an independent medical board which, at the

10 beginning of March, carried out an examination of the accused Kunarac.

11 Let me remind you that last year in March, due to problems that the

12 accused experienced in the elbow of his left arm, Dr. Banovic from

13 Belgrade carried out an examination here at the Detention Unit and

14 provided an opinion where he suggested that a new surgery be performed so

15 that the function of the left elbow would be preserved.

16 Let me also remind you, Your Honour, that Dr. Banovic performed a

17 surgery on the accused's right arm in 1995. On that occasion, the

18 subsequent surgery was scheduled; however, due to reasons unknown to us,

19 this was rescheduled and postponed. And pursuant to a request by the

20 Detention Unit and probably the Registry, a new examination was carried

21 out by a physician from Holland. The accused and I were told that it was

22 their opinion that a surgery was not necessary.

23 The Defence submitted a request that an independent medical board

24 carry out another examination because the physicians who initially carried

25 the examination here in Holland were not specialists in orthopaedics.

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1 Therefore, at the beginning of March this year, two physicians, one from

2 Belgium and one from France, performed the examination of the left elbow

3 of the accused Kunarac, and I have received their report and opinion

4 today. At this point, the report is only in French, and I am not familiar

5 with its contents. I was not able to inform the Chamber of its contents

6 during this Status Conference, but I wanted to notify the Chamber of the

7 state of the health of my client.

8 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Thank you, Mr. Prodanovic.

9 MR. PRODANOVIC: [Interpretation] You're welcome.

10 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: You're mentioning that by way of information

11 to the Court as to the present state of play concerning that matter.

12 You're not asking for any particular measures.

13 MR. PRODANOVIC: [Interpretation] No, Your Honour. We still have

14 to examine the report and the findings of the experts. I don't think that

15 the matter is urgent at this point in time.

16 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Then we will hear counsel Mr. Kolesar,

17 counsel for Mr. Kovac.

18 MR. KOLESAR: [Interpretation] Your Honour, as regards both

19 physical and mental health of my client, I believe that the situation is

20 normal, and at the moment I don't think that any particular measures are

21 necessary in that regard at this point.

22 However, I wish to ask you the following: On the 18th of

23 December, after the oral arguments, I submitted a motion to the Court

24 whereby I provided the Court with some additional information regarding

25 the judgement I mentioned which was rendered in Japan. That is the case

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1 law that I was referring to. I supplied the Chamber with some additional

2 information which was overdue at that time. So I just wanted to draw your

3 attention to this fact. Thank you very much.

4 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: The Chamber, through me, would like to thank

5 you for your courtesy in supplying that material which we have perused and

6 will be studying in due course. Thank you very much. We have received

7 the material. Thank you.

8 Mr. Jovanovic?

9 MR. JOVANOVIC: [Interpretation] I thank you, Your Honour. I will

10 be very brief. Zoran Vukovic's Defence feels no need to raise any

11 particular issue at this time.

12 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Would any of the appellants wish to address

13 the Court directly? Do you have any concerns? Or should I take it that

14 their position has been adequately represented by their counsel?

15 THE APPELLANT KUNARAC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, with your

16 permission, I would just like briefly to tell you that I have had this

17 problem with my arm for a year and a half. The Dutch physician, whose

18 opinion was that the surgery was not necessary, did not perform any

19 specific examination at all. I have very serious problems with my arm. I

20 cannot use my arm. And I should like this problem to be solved as soon as

21 possible. Thank you very much.

22 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Well, Mr. Kunarac, the position has been

23 stated by your counsel, and I think I understand what he's saying. He's

24 saying that he needs time to study the text of the report, which is in a

25 language that he doesn't understand at the moment. And I would assume

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1 that, having studied the report, he would then embark on any particular

2 steps which are indicated by that study.

3 Is that right, Mr. Prodanovic?

4 MR. PRODANOVIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour, you're quite

5 right. That is exactly what I had in mind.

6 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Mr. Kovac, would you like to say anything?

7 THE APPELLANT KOVAC: [Interpretation] I thank you, Your Honour.

8 Nothing.

9 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Mr. Vukovic?

10 THE APPELLANT VUKOVIC: [Interpretation] I thank you, Your Honour.

11 Likewise, nothing to raise.

12 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Mr. Carmona?

13 MR. CARMONA: Yes, Your Honour. We just wish to indicate that the

14 particular document, the medical opinion, we only received late this

15 afternoon. And we too will be looking at it also.

16 Additionally, in relation to Mr. Kolesar, we have in fact

17 responded by a document filed on the 7th of March in relation to that

18 particular judgement, and we additionally had a translation done, in an

19 attempt to assist the Court.

20 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Yes.

21 MR. CARMONA: Thank you.

22 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: And I take it that your filing would have

23 been shown to the other side in the normal course of events.

24 MR. CARMONA: Certainly.

25 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Yes. Very well. There does not seem to be

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1 any other business before the Court at this time, and so I shall adjourn

2 the proceedings.

3 Yes, Mr. Kolesar?

4 MR. KOLESAR: [Interpretation] Your Honour, have just heard from my

5 colleagues from the Prosecution that something has been sent in relation

6 to my brief of the 18th of December. I haven't received anything yet. I

7 don't know whether I need to receive that material in order to know what

8 the position of the Prosecution is.

9 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Mr. Carmona --

10 MR. CARMONA: Yes.

11 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: -- would not your response material have been

12 filed in the normal way?

13 MR. CARMONA: Indeed. It was filed publicly.

14 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Would you look into that and make sure that

15 it is available to your colleague on the other side?

16 MR. CARMONA: Indeed. Indeed, Your Honour.

17 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Because I'm sure the Appeals Chamber would

18 derive benefit from any reaction that he has.

19 MR. CARMONA: Certainly. I'm much obliged.

20 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: It will be looked into, Mr. Kolesar, yes.

21 MR. KOLESAR: [Interpretation] Thank you.

22 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Thank you very much. There being no other

23 business, I would adjourn the proceedings at this point. Thank you.

24 --- Whereupon the Status Conference adjourned

25 at 4.25 p.m.