Tribunal Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

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.


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 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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