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1 Tuesday, 29 August 2006
2 [Status Conference]
3 [Open session]
4 [The appellant Bala entered court]
5 --- Upon commencing at 6.02 p.m.
6 JUDGE MERON: Madam Registrar, would you please call the case.
7 THE REGISTRAR: Good afternoon, Your Honour. This is case number
8 IT-03-66-A, the Prosecutor versus Fatmir Limaj, Haradin Bala, and Isak
9 Musliu.
10 JUDGE MERON: Thank you. Could I please have the appearances of
11 the parties. The Prosecution first.
12 MS. CAREY: Good afternoon, Your Honour. Kristina Carey for the
13 Prosecution. I'm joined today by my co-counsel, Milbert Shin, and our
14 case manager, Kim Fischer.
15 JUDGE MERON: Thank you, Ms. Carey.
16 Counsel for Mr. Limaj.
17 MR. KHAN: If it pleases Your Honour, Karim Khan for the
18 respondent, Fatmir Limaj.
19 JUDGE MERON: Thank you, Mr. Khan.
20 Counsel for Mr. Bala.
21 MR. GUY-SMITH: Good evening, Your Honour. Gregor Guy-Smith
22 appearing on behalf of Mr. Bala who is present with us.
23 JUDGE MERON: Thank you. Thank you very much.
24 Counsel for Mr. Musliu.
25 MR. POWLES: May it please Your Honour, Steven Powles appearing on
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1 behalf of the respondent Isak Musliu.
2 JUDGE MERON: Thank you very much.
3 I understand that Mr. Limaj and Mr. Musliu, who are not currently
4 incarcerated, are not attending the Status Conference. Would their
5 respective counsel kindly confirm this for the record?
6 Mr. Khan.
7 MR. KHAN: Your Honour, I can indeed.
8 JUDGE MERON: And Mr. Powles.
9 MR. POWLES: Your Honour, yes. Similarly, I can confirm that.
10 JUDGE MERON: Thank you very much.
11 Mr. Bala, however, is present today, and I want to make sure that
12 he can follow our proceedings.
13 Mr. Bala, can you hear the proceedings in a language you can
14 understand? Mr. Bala?
15 THE APPELLANT BALA: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour, I can.
16 JUDGE MERON: Thank you, Mr. Bala. You may be seated.
17 This is, as you know, a Status Conference called in accordance
18 with Rule 65 bis of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. Rule 65 bis (B)
19 requires a Status Conference to be convened within 120 days of the last
20 Status Conference to allow any person in custody pending appeal the
21 opportunity to raise issues in relation thereto, including the mental and
22 physical condition of that person.
23 The last Status Conference in this case was held on 4 May 2006.
24 As Mr. Bala is currently detained at the UN Detention Unit, I want
25 to start by asking him whether there are any issues he would like to raise
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1 at this time.
2 Mr. Bala, do you have any issues that you would like to raise? Do
3 you have any concerns regarding your mental or physical well being,
4 Mr. Bala?
5 THE APPELLANT BALA: [Interpretation] No, Your Honour. Everything
6 is fine.
7 JUDGE MERON: Thank you, Mr. Bala. You may be seated.
8 Now I would like to ask counsel for Mr. Limaj and Mr. Musliu
9 whether there are any issues that Mr. Limaj and Mr. Musliu would like to
10 raise through counsel.
11 Counsel for Mr. Limaj.
12 MR. KHAN: Your Honours, there is not, although I will take the
13 opportunity with your leave to thank my learned friends from the
14 Prosecution and my learned friends for the Defence, and of course the
15 graciousness of Your Honour, in rescheduling this matter from 8.00 a.m. to
16 later in the evening. I am very grateful for that.
17 JUDGE MERON: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Khan.
18 Now we will hear from counsel for Mr. Musliu.
19 MR. POWLES: Your Honour, I'm grateful. Nothing to raise on
20 behalf of Mr. Musliu.
21 JUDGE MERON: Thank you very much.
22 I am pleased to note that since our last Status Conference the
23 parties have filed a number of briefs. The briefing of both the
24 Prosecution's appeal and Mr. Bala's appeal is now complete. The Appeals
25 Chamber will of course try to read through the briefs and schedule oral
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1 argument on the appeals as soon as possible.
2 Before concluding this Status Conference, I want to ask counsel
3 for the Prosecution and Defence whether they've any other issues that they
4 would like to raise at this time.
5 Prosecution.
6 MS. CAREY: No, Your Honour. The Prosecution has nothing.
7 JUDGE MERON: Thank you.
8 Defence.
9 MR. GUY-SMITH: There is nothing to be raised.
10 JUDGE MERON: Thank you.
11 MR. POWLES: No, thank you very much, Your Honour.
12 MR. KHAN: Your Honour, we concur. I'm grateful. Thank you.
13 JUDGE MERON: Before we adjourn, there is one last piece of
14 business that I would like to take care of. In accordance with
15 Rule 65 bis we will need to have another Status Conference on or before
16 27 December. Tuesday, 5 December, would, I believe, be a good day for our
17 next Status Conference. So I would like everybody to plan on having a
18 Status Conference that day.
19 Later in the fall, I will hopefully send out an order confirming
20 that the Status Conference will be held on that date. The order will also
21 let everybody know the time of the conference and the courtroom in which
22 it will be held.
23 I thank the parties for their attendance and call the proceedings
24 to a close.
25 Thank you very much.
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1 --- Whereupon the Status Conference adjourned at
2 6.09 p.m.
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