Page 212
1 Monday, 23 January 2012
2 [Status Conference]
3 [Open session]
4 [The appellant entered court]
5 [The appellant M. Lukic not present]
6 --- Upon commencing at 2.29 p.m.
7 JUDGE GUNEY: [Interpretation] Good day to all of you. The
8 hearing is now open.
9 Madam Registrar, could you please call the case.
10 THE REGISTRAR: Good afternoon, Your Honours. This is case
11 number IT-98-32/1-A, the Prosecutor versus Milan Lukic and Sredoje Lukic.
12 JUDGE GUNEY: [Interpretation] Thank you.
13 I see that Mr. Milan Lukic is not in the courtroom today.
14 I'm now addressing Mr. Milan Lukic's counsel. Are there any
15 submissions you have to make in this courtroom?
16 MR. VISNJIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, as far as I know,
17 Mr. Lukic sent a waiver for his attendance of this Status Conference, and
18 I've been authorised to represent him today. The reason for his absence
19 is obviously a problem regarding transport from the Detention Unit to the
20 Tribunal. On a number of occasions he's already had health problems
21 because the police, the Dutch police, would make him wear glasses, or
22 rather, would blindfold him when transporting him here. And today we
23 have been authorised or I have been authorised to represent him, but next
24 time we shall try to solve this problem, which is becoming a chronic one,
25 in a different way.
Page 213
1 JUDGE GUNEY: [Interpretation] Thank you very much.
2 Given that Mr. Milan Lukic has waived his right to be present in
3 the courtroom, I agree to proceed in spite of his absence, given the
4 information that you have just provided us with.
5 Mr. Sredoje Lukic, can you hear and follow the proceedings in a
6 language that you understand?
7 THE APPELLANT S. LUKIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour.
8 JUDGE GUNEY: [Interpretation] Please sit down. That's perfect.
9 I would now like to ask the respective parties to introduce
10 themselves. Let's start with the OTP representative, if you please.
11 MR. CROSS: Good afternoon, Your Honour. Appearing for the
12 Prosecution, I'm Matthew Cross, together with Mr. Matthias Schuster, and
13 our Case Manager is Colin Nawrot. Thank you, Your Honour.
14 JUDGE GUNEY: [Interpretation] Thank you.
15 Could Defence counsel for Mr. Milan Lukic please introduce
16 themselves.
17 MR. VISNJIC: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honours. My
18 name is Tomislav Visnjic and I represent Milan Lukic.
19 JUDGE GUNEY: [Interpretation] Thank you, counsel.
20 Thank you, counsel.
21 I'm now turning to counsel for Mr. Sredoje Lukic.
22 MR. DIECKMANN: Good afternoon, Your Honour. This is
23 Jens Dieckmann representing Sredoje Lukic, together with Ms. Malovic as
24 assigned interpreter for this session. Thank you very much.
25 JUDGE GUNEY: [Interpretation] Thank you.
Page 214
1 This Status Conference has been convened pursuant to
2 Rule 65 bis (B) and (C) of the Rules of Procedure of this Tribunal,
3 according to which a Status Conference must be convened within 120 days
4 of the filing of a notice of appeal and thereafter within 120 days after
5 the last Status Conference. The main objective of convening a
6 Status Conference is to allow any person in custody pending appeal the
7 opportunity to raise issues in relation therein, including the mental and
8 physical condition of that person.
9 The Status Conference being held today is the seventh
10 Status Conference being held as part of the appeal proceedings. The last
11 Status Conference was held on the 8th of July, 2011. It was followed by
12 hearings on appeal on the 14th and 15th of September, 2011. It is our
13 intention to file the appeal judgement prior to the summer court recess
14 2012. Unfortunately, it is not possible for me to be more precise at
15 this point in time.
16 I'm now addressing Mr. Sredoje Lukic. Could you please inform us
17 of the conditions in the Detention Unit as well as any health problems
18 that may have arisen.
19 THE APPELLANT S. LUKIC: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honour,
20 for having given me the floor. There have been no changes since the last
21 Status Conference. Everything is in order.
22 JUDGE GUNEY: [Interpretation] Thank you very much. You may sit
23 down.
24 I'm now turning to Milan Lukic's Defence counsel. Are there any
25 concerns that you have that concern the conditions in the Detention Unit
Page 215
1 or that concern the health of your client? I'm addressing Milan Lukic's
2 Defence counsel.
3 MR. VISNJIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour --
4 JUDGE GUNEY: [Interpretation] Has Milan Lukic expressed any
5 concerns he may have concerning the conditions in the Detention Unit and
6 his health? Could you please try and address that issue.
7 MR. VISNJIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I've not had any
8 special contacts with my client with this regard. An hour ago when I
9 arrived in the Netherlands, I was still thinking that he would appear in
10 the courtroom today. Obviously there have been some objective conditions
11 for which he is not here today. From my previous conversations with him,
12 I can tell you that he did not have any particular objections to the
13 conditions of detention or any health concerns.
14 JUDGE GUNEY: [Interpretation] Thank you very much.
15 And finally I would like to ask the parties whether there are any
16 issues they would like to raise at this point in time.
17 I'm first going to put the question to the OTP representative.
18 MR. CROSS: We have nothing to raise this afternoon, Your Honour.
19 Thank you.
20 JUDGE GUNEY: [Interpretation] Thank you very much.
21 Does Mr. Milan Lukic's Defence counsel have any issues it would
22 like to raise?
23 MR. VISNJIC: [Interpretation] Your Honours, there are no
24 particular issues that we wish to raise today.
25 JUDGE GUNEY: [Interpretation] Thank you very much.
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1 I'm now turning to Defence counsel for Mr. Sredoje Lukic. Are
2 there any particular issues you would like to raise at this point in
3 time?
4 MR. DIECKMANN: Thank you very much, Your Honours. On behalf of
5 Sredoje Lukic, I can declare that there are no issues to raise this
6 afternoon. Thank you, Your Honours.
7 JUDGE GUNEY: [Interpretation] Thank you.
8 As I have no other issues to address, I believe that we can close
9 today's hearing. I would like to thank the parties for their
10 participation and I would like to thank the Tribunal staff for their
11 assistance in organising this Status Conference.
12 The hearing is adjourned.
13 --- Whereupon the Status Conference
14 adjourned at 2.42 p.m.
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