Tribunal Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Page 385

1 Friday, 26 April 2002

2 [Initial Appearance]

3 [Open session]

4 [The accused entered court]

5 --- Upon commencing at 2.30 p.m.

6 JUDGE ROBINSON: There's a disturbance --

7 [Trial Chamber and Registrar confer]

8 JUDGE ROBINSON: After that technical difficulty, I'll ask the

9 Registrar to call the case.

10 THE REGISTRAR: Yes, Your Honour. Good afternoon. This is case

11 number IT-99-37-I, the Prosecutor versus Slobodan Milosevic, Milan

12 Milutinovic, Nikola Sainovic, Dragoljub Ojdanic, Vlajko Stojiljkovic.

13 JUDGE ROBINSON: Thank you. And may I have the appearances.

14 MS. DEL PONTE: Yes, Your Honour. The Prosecution is represented

15 by myself, Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, with my collaborator, Trial

16 Attorney Christina Romano, and the Case Manager, Rebecca Graham.

17 JUDGE ROBINSON: Thank you very much, Madam Prosecutor.

18 For the Defence.

19 MR. VISNJIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, for the Defence,

20 myself, Tomislav Visnjic, attorney-at-law from Belgrade, together with my

21 colleagues Vojislav Selezan, an attorney-at-law from Belgrade, and Peter

22 Robinson, an attorney-at-law from the United States of America.

23 JUDGE ROBINSON: Thank you very much. This is the initial

24 appearance of Mr. Ojdanic, and the initial appearance is conducted under

25 Rule 62 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. At this hearing, the

Page 386

1 accused will be asked to enter a plea to the Second Amended Indictment in

2 the case against him.

3 Mr. Visnjic, may I take it that your client has received a copy of

4 the indictment in a language that he understands and that you have had the

5 opportunity of going through the indictment with him?

6 MR. VISNJIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, that is correct.

7 JUDGE ROBINSON: Thank you. Does your client wish to have the

8 indictment read out in full or is he prepared to waive that right?

9 MR. VISNJIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, our client is prepared

10 to waive his right to have the indictment read out to him in its

11 entirety.

12 JUDGE ROBINSON: Thank you. In that case, let the accused stand.

13 Mr. Ojdanic, please stand. You have heard what your counsel has

14 said. The indictment has been explained to you.

15 THE INTERPRETER: Microphone, please.

16 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I confirm what my lawyer said, that

17 I have been familiarised with the contents of the indictment. I have

18 understood it well, and I personally consider that there is no need for me

19 to hear it once again here in its entirety.

20 JUDGE ROBINSON: Very well, Mr. Ojdanic.

21 Now, I'm going to read to you the counts in the Second Amended

22 Indictment, and to each count you will enter a plea. Confine your answers

23 to either "guilty" or "not guilty."

24 Count 1 charges you with deportation, a crime against humanity,

25 punishable under Article 5(d) of the Statute of the Tribunal. How do you

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1 plead; guilty or not guilty?

2 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I plead not guilty.

3 JUDGE ROBINSON: Count 2 charges you with other inhumane acts

4 (forcible transfer), a crime against humanity, punishable under Article

5 5(i) of the Statute of the Tribunal. How do you plead?

6 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I plead not guilty, Your Honour.

7 JUDGE ROBINSON: Counts 3 and 4 relate to the alleged killing of

8 hundreds of Kosovo Albanian civilians between 1 January 1999 and 20 June

9 1999.

10 Count 3 charges you with murder, a crime against humanity,

11 punishable under Article 5(a) of the Statute of the Tribunal. How do you

12 plead; guilty or not guilty?

13 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Also I plead not guilty.

14 JUDGE ROBINSON: And count 4 charges you with murder, a violation

15 of the laws or customs of war, punishable under Article 3 of the Statute

16 of the Tribunal and recognised by Article 3(1)(a) of the Geneva

17 Conventions. How do you plead; guilty or not guilty?

18 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Not guilty.

19 JUDGE ROBINSON: Count 5 charges you with persecutions on

20 political, racial, and religious grounds, a crime against humanity,

21 punishable under Article 5(h) of the Statute. How do you plead; guilty or

22 not guilty?

23 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Again, I plead not guilty.

24 JUDGE ROBINSON: Thank you. That completes the pleas. You may

25 sit.

Page 389

1 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] You're welcome. Thank you very

2 much.

3 JUDGE ROBINSON: There are two or three other matters incidental

4 that I would raise at this time.

5 Madam Prosecutor, I just remind you of the duty of the Prosecutor

6 to make available to the Defence, in a language that the accused

7 understands, within 30 days of the Initial Appearance, copies of all the

8 supporting material which accompany the indictment, as well as all prior

9 statements. That's the standard requirement under Rule 66(A)(i), and I

10 take it that that obligation will be discharged.

11 I come next to the question of the next hearing, a Status

12 Conference. My intention is that this Status Conference should be

13 organised as quickly as possible, because I foresee a number of incidental

14 matters arising, both for the Defence as well as the Prosecutor. As you

15 know, we have a very crowded timetable, and I would have liked to have had

16 it organised to take place within a month. That has not proved to be

17 possible, and the first date that's available is Friday, the 21st of June,

18 at 3 p.m.

19 MS. DEL PONTE: Thank you, Your Honour. I can inform the Court

20 about the disclosure timetable. We have the total quantity of the

21 material in English and in B/C/S, and that are, in total, 14 binders. For

22 all except one of the binders, we have all material ready in English and

23 B/C/S, and in relation to this binder, there are 30 pages still in

24 translation process to B/C/S. So that we think that the translations can

25 be completed and all binders ready for disclosure by Friday, 10 May.

Page 390

1 However, Your Honour, before we disclose the material fully, we

2 will be filing a motion for non-disclosure of the material to the public.

3 We will also be filing a motion to extend the protective measures applied

4 to the Milosevic case to a certain witness to this case, and we would

5 appreciate if we can wait to the response to the motion before disclosing

6 the material. In any case, we are ready to start disclosure by Monday, 6

7 May.

8 About the Status Conference, I take notice. We will be ready, and

9 we will get in touch with the Defence counsel for this Status Conference

10 preparation. Yes.

11 JUDGE ROBINSON: Thank you very much. We will await the motions

12 that you will file.

13 Mr. Visnjic, anything that you wish to raise?

14 MR. VISNJIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, not for the time

15 being. Not until we receive some material from the Office of the

16 Prosecutor. For the time being, there is nothing I have to raise.

17 JUDGE ROBINSON: Thank you very much.

18 Well, there being no other matters, this hearing stands

19 adjourned.

20 --- Whereupon the Initial Appearance adjourned

21 at 2.45 p.m.

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