1 Wednesday, 22 October 2003

2 [Open session]

3 [Status Conference]

4 --- Upon commencing at 2.16 p.m.

5 [The accused entered court]

6 JUDGE AGIUS: Yes, Registrar, could you call the case, please.

7 THE REGISTRAR: Good afternoon, Case Number IT-95-13/1: The

8 Prosecutor versus Mile Mrksic, Miroslav Radic and Veselin Sljivancanin.

9 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you.

10 Mr. Mrksic, can you follow what I am saying in a language that

11 you can understand?

12 THE ACCUSED MRKSIC: [Interpretation] Yes, I can, Your Honour.

13 Yes, it's all right.

14 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you and good afternoon to you.

15 Mr. Radic, same question to you. Can you hear what I am saying

16 in a language that you understand?

17 THE ACCUSED RADIC: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honour;

18 yes, I can.

19 JUDGE AGIUS: I thank you and good afternoon to you, too.

20 Mr. Sljivancanin.

21 THE ACCUSED SLJIVANCANIN: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Mr.

22 Presiding Judge; I can hear everything that is being said and understand

23 the language.

24 JUDGE AGIUS: I thank you, sir, and good afternoon to you too.

25 Appearances for the Prosecution.

1 MR. WUBBEN: Good afternoon, Your Honour. I am Mr. Wubben,

2 senior trial attorney. Co-counsel's appearing are Ms. Joanne Richardson

3 and Ms. Kristina Carey, together with case manager Diane Boles.

4 JUDGE AGIUS: I thank you and good afternoon to you.

5 Appearances. Let's start with Mrksic.

6 MR. VASIC: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honour; I am

7 Miroslav Vasic on behalf of Mr. Mrksic.

8 JUDGE AGIUS: I thank you and good afternoon to you.

9 Appearances for Mr. Radic.

10 MR. BOROVIC: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honour.

11 Borivoje Borovic, attorney at law from Belgrade and co-counsel Mira

12 Tapuskovic on behalf of Miroslav Radic.

13 JUDGE AGIUS: I thank you.

14 Appearances for General Sljivancanin.

15 MR. LUKIC: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honour. My name

16 is Novak Lukic, attorney at law from Belgrade. I will be representing

17 Mr. Sljivancanin today.

18 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you, and good afternoon to you, too.

19 You will recall that the last Status Conference convened

20 according to the rules was held on the 2nd of July, 2003. And that goes

21 for the accused Mrksic and the accused Radic. As regards General

22 Sljivancanin, this is the first Status Conference, the initial appearance

23 having taking place two stages, as you will recall, on the 10th of July.

24 Today's Status Conference is being convened in accordance with

25 and pursuant to Rule 65 bis and the Status Conference is also being

1 convened within the 120-day term after the last Status Conference.

2 As you are aware, the purpose of the holding of a Status

3 Conference at specified intervals is dual: First, it's to organise

4 exchanges between the parties with a view to ensuring an expeditious

5 preparation of the trial. And the second raison d'etre of the Status

6 Conference is to give an opportunity to the accused to raise any issue,

7 whatever there may be, in relation to the mental and/or physical

8 condition here at the Detention Unit in Scheveningen.

9 I understand -- and please, if I am not correct to draw my

10 attention to it -- that pursuant to Rule 65(D), a Status Conference was

11 held two days ago on the 20th of October between the parties under the

12 guidance and -- the guidance of the senior legal officer. I am informed

13 of the outcome of the debate or the discussions during the course of that

14 65 ter meeting, and I will be referring to some of the matters as we go

15 along. If I omit to mention anything that deserves to be discussed

16 during this Status Conference, please draw it to my attention.

17 I will deal first with outstanding motions. With regard to

18 accused Radic, I understand that there are no outstanding motions; do you

19 agree with me, Prosecution and Defence?

20 Prosecution.

21 MR. WUBBEN: Yes, I agree.

22 JUDGE AGIUS: And Mr. Borovic?

23 MR. BOROVIC: [Interpretation] I agree, too, Your Honour.

24 JUDGE AGIUS: And the same applies with Mr. Sljivancanin? My

25 understanding is that there are no outstanding motions at the moment.

1 Mr. Lukic.

2 MR. LUKIC: [Interpretation] That's correct, Your Honour; at this

3 moment, at least to my knowledge, there are no outstanding motions by Mr.

4 Sljivancanin. I always must express my reservation because this is early

5 in the day for me. I have just taken over the case, so that's why I'm

6 saying "to my knowledge." But based on the information that I have and

7 based on my insight into the documents, there are no outstanding motions

8 at this moment.

9 JUDGE AGIUS: I thank you, Mr. Lukic.

10 Mr. Wubben, you would agree to that?

11 MR. WUBBEN: I agree.

12 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you. And now we come to the two outstanding

13 motions and I will start with the least important of the two. And I'm

14 starting with this because -- principally because it was not discussed, I

15 understand, during the 65 ter meeting, but I feel the need to draw your

16 attention to it.

17 Way back to October of last year, accused Mrksic filed an

18 application, a motion, contesting the Registrar's decision of the 25th of

19 September, 2002, establishing that the cost of 330 hours of investigative

20 work at the pre-trial stage would have to be borne by the accused. You

21 will also recall that I did prompt the Prosecution and the Registrar to

22 file a response to Mr. Mrksic's application, which were indeed filed.

23 And then subsequently at the Status Conference of the 5th of March this

24 year, I suggested myself, and you agreed, that the matter at the time was

25 -- did not deserve priority by way of importance and we deferred the

1 matter and the decision to later.

2 The Prosecution -- the Registrar also agreed at the time to put

3 on hold its decision pending, of course, a decision by this Trial

4 Chamber, by this -- by myself or the Trial Chamber, the result of which

5 is that several months have passed now and the Registrar has now drawn my

6 attention -- and I understand a copy has been served on you as well -- to

7 the fact that continuing to defer the decision on this matter, the

8 Registrar is incurring into expenses which it contends it ought not to

9 bear.

10 At this point in time, I think that it is appropriate for me to

11 give you the floor, Mr. Vasic, should you have any comments. But until I

12 am and unless I am convinced of the contrary, I think it is time for the

13 Trial Chamber to proceed with the matter and not continue to leave it in

14 the deep-freeze.

15 Yes, sir. Mr. Vasic.

16 MR. VASIC: [Interpretation] Thank you very much, Your Honour. I

17 also believe that this matter should be dealt with by the Trial Chamber.

18 Mr. Mrksic's Defence has already put forward all the arguments concerning

19 his financial situation. We believe this decision by the Registrar is

20 contrary to the simple fact that Mr. Mrksic cannot bear even part of the

21 cost of his defence; especially, I think this should be viewed in the

22 light of the other motion that you will probably speak about connected to

23 the Registrar's decision concerning the categorisation of this case. As

24 these issues are vital for preparing our defence case and our case should

25 be complete by the time the trial starts, these issues are indeed vital

1 at this stage of the proceedings and I believe the Trial Chamber should

2 decide on these issues. It is in the best interest of the accused and

3 his Defence.

4 We expect to be able to carry out our task in this case if funds

5 are granted. I am saying this in view of all the requests that the

6 Defence has submitted in our motions.

7 JUDGE AGIUS: Yes. Two points arise from that. Number one, I am

8 asking both you and the Prosecution whether you have any further

9 submissions to make on this motion, on your motion, to have the Trial

10 Chamber reverse or revoke the decision of the Registrar of the 25th of

11 September or whether you think you have dealt with the matter

12 sufficiently already, such as to enable this Trial Chamber to proceed

13 with its decision after having gone into the matter as it should.

14 MR. VASIC: [Interpretation] Thank you very much, Your Honour.

15 The Defence has put forward all the circumstances relevant for dealing

16 with this issue. These circumstances have not changed significantly. In

17 addition to our motion, there is nothing further that we wish to add

18 about this matter. Thank you.

19 JUDGE AGIUS: Mr. Wubben.

20 MR. WUBBEN: Your Honour, Prosecution would like to underline

21 that we take no position in this argumentation.

22 JUDGE AGIUS: I thank you.

23 So the understanding is that the Trial Chamber -- I have to see

24 whether it is a collegial, or whether it's just me as the pre-trial

25 judge; I think it should be collegial -- we'll see when to hand down the

1 decision. But do expect a decision on this matter in the near future.

2 I also understand that this will affect also another one of the

3 accused who has been handed down a similar decision by the Registrar. It

4 doesn't mean to say that if you are -- if you feel aggrieved by the

5 decision of the Registrar, the fact that we will be taking our time to

6 decide Mr. Mrksic's motions exempts you from the time limits you have to

7 file a motion challenging that decision of the Registrar. So that's up

8 to you, but we will be proceeding. For the time being we don't have

9 another challenge. We only have the challenge by the accused Mrksic.

10 All right.

11 Yes, Mr. Borovic.

12 MR. BOROVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, perhaps this is an

13 opportune moment for me to join the appeal made by Mr. Vasic. We have

14 reached a decision by the Secretariat, not the Court, with respect to 22

15 hours for investigative work and we tabled a proposal from which we can

16 see our client does not have enough money to cater to the needs of his

17 family. But putting that aside, we have received enormous documents for

18 the Dogmanovic trial, a we did not take part in, so not only do we have a

19 categorisation in this proceedings, but more hours, and I'm sure the

20 Prosecution will find our proposal acceptable.

21 I said 20.000 -- I mean 223.000 hours taken away by the

22 Registrar. Thank you.

23 JUDGE AGIUS: Yes, Mr. Lukic.

24 MR. LUKIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, perhaps this is a little

25 premature for me to state my views in the matter, but my position is such

1 that I can say a few words. As I'm informed of the positions of the

2 Defence counsel and the Registrar's positions with respect to the hours

3 to be allotted to the Defence with respect to Mr. Sljivancanin, we are

4 still at the stage when we are examining his financial means. So I'm

5 sure we'll make a decision about that later on, not to be premature.

6 But my stand of principle with respect to the categorisation of

7 this case and according to what my colleagues have told me, that it is

8 impermissible that a trial which has so much weight and media coverage

9 should now boil down to the fact that he is placed in a third-rate

10 position. I think that in principle, at this stage, this must be quite

11 clear to the Trial Chamber that the case merits more with respect to the

12 number of accused, the number of indictments and charges; and the

13 enormous number of materials and documents already furnished requires a

14 higher categorisation. Thank you.

15 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you, Mr. Lukic, but I prefer not to confuse

16 one issue with the other. For the time being we are referring to the

17 decision of the Registrar, to which I mentioned earlier, with regard to

18 the cost of number of hours of investigative work. And as far as the

19 accused Radic is concerned, I suggest, Mr. Borovic, that if you want to

20 associate yourself with Mr. Vasic's motion, then you should do so in

21 writing, particularly because apart from the principle that may or may

22 not be involved, there are also personal circumstantial matters that are

23 probably different. I am not in a position to state whether the position

24 of your client is any better or any worse than that of Mr. Mrksic, but I

25 would suggest that you also file a proper motion to that effect. And

1 that with your addition would be incorporated in our decision. In other

2 words, we will decide both Mr. Vasic's decision and also your -- motion

3 and also yours.

4 MR. BOROVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, we have filed the

5 motion; or rather, we have compiled it, but we wanted to wait for the

6 Status Conference to see the attitude with respect to Mr. Vasic's motion.

7 But we shall be doing that.

8 JUDGE AGIUS: All right. Thank you.

9 And you will also need to state in your motion, should you file

10 one, that you are not asking to be heard in order to make further

11 submissions orally, in other words. That you -- in other words, you go

12 -- give the go-ahead to the Trial Chamber to proceed with the decision

13 without the need of coming back here to hear submissions on the matter;

14 all right?

15 MR. BOROVIC: [Interpretation] Of course, Your Honour. We have

16 always accepted your suggestions and shall act accordingly. Thank you.

17 JUDGE AGIUS: That doesn't mean to say that I'm depriving you

18 from your right to be heard further, if you choose to take that decision.

19 The other thing is a little bit problematic. You mentioned,

20 Mr. Vasic, the Registrar's decision regarding the rest. I do want to

21 remind you that whatever you may have filed was filed ex parte and that

22 you are referring to matters that you filed ex parte and confidentially.

23 I know that it's you who are referring to these matters, but I do want to

24 remind you that they were filed by you ex parte and confidential. So I

25 don't want to be part of that. My choice would be to redact from the

1 transcript any reference to it, unless you choose to ask the Trial

2 Chamber not to. But we still have the problem of the motion itself

3 remaining ex parte and confidential. Yes -- I also know that you brought

4 this up during the 65 ter meeting.

5 MR. VASIC: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honour. I agree with

6 your suggestions that this portion be redacted from the transcript, and I

7 brought up this whole issue within the context of what you said first and

8 touches upon this same issue. On the other hand, I see that my

9 colleagues here expect to encounter the same problem, so that was

10 actually why I decided to bring this up at the Status Conference,

11 although the motion was ex parte, filed ex parte. And so I would like to

12 ask you to have that portion of the text redacted, if that is possible,

13 and the reasons are set out in the motion. And I hope the Trial Chamber

14 will bear that in mind. Thank you.

15 JUDGE AGIUS: Yes, thank you. The relevant part can be redacted,

16 but I don't think I can -- unless there is a specific request from the

17 other two counsel, I don't think I can redact the point raised by

18 Mr. Lukic, for example, because he hasn't filed anything confidentially.

19 And looking at his eyes, I don't think he has the intention or has

20 desires of having this shrouded under an ex parte or a confidential

21 curtain. So we have to find a way out of this.

22 Do you have a reason to keep it confidential and ex parte now, at

23 this point in time, Mr. Vasic?

24 MR. VASIC: [Interpretation] At the time we filed the motion, it

25 was addressed to us, actually, to begin with, so I didn't know what the

1 position was with the other Defence counsel. And at that point in time,

2 there were grounds for these facts to remain ex parte. However, as I see

3 there are problems encountered by my colleagues and are of the same

4 nature, then I think that any sense of this motion having confidentiality

5 no longer exists; there are no more grounds for that. So the situation

6 would perhaps be made simple if I take away the call for confidentiality,

7 because my colleagues are faced with the same problem and will be filing

8 similar motions.

9 JUDGE AGIUS: So I take it -- and I suppose you have nothing

10 against that, Mr. Wubben?

11 MR. WUBBEN: No, Your Honour.

12 JUDGE AGIUS: I think you take an independent position on that.

13 I take it you're lifting the confidentiality yourself and therefore we

14 don't need the redact anything and this will remain in the records.

15 MR. VASIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour. I do consider that

16 to be the best solution for the situation we find ourselves in. Thank

17 you.

18 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay. Now, I am informed by my legal staff that

19 during the course of the 65 ter meeting you were informed or you were

20 reminded that by virtue of the second scheduling order for filings, which

21 was filed on the 7th October, you were given - when I say you, it's the

22 three of you - until the 31st of October - that's the 31st of this month

23 - to file a single document -- each, I mean, not joint -- a single

24 document containing, first, any response to the motion for leave -- any

25 response to the Prosecution motion for leave to file a consolidated

1 amended indictment pursuant to Rule 50(A)(i)(c) and a preliminary motion

2 pursuant to Rule 72 alleging defects on the form of the proposed

3 consolidated indictment.

4 I just want to make sure that you have this date, this deadline

5 engraved in your mind and you will stick to it. You remember how

6 important it is to stick to it. Prosecution will then have 14 days' time

7 within which to file a single response, if at all; if it deems necessary.

8 I also take it, because Mr. Mrksic was here before the other two,

9 that Mr. Mrksic has already filed a preliminary Defence motion way back

10 in August. Perhaps Mr. Vasic, you could -- I don't know, I can't force

11 you to tell us now -- but are we to expect any further motions, apart

12 from what you have already filed in August?

13 MR. VASIC: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honour. We already

14 had this subject on the agenda for our 65 ter conference. This is a

15 preliminary motion, as I say, with respect to the form of the indictment

16 and we will still stand by it and the Trial Chamber need not expect any

17 new motions because the indictment is the same as it was when we filed

18 our motion. Thank you.

19 JUDGE AGIUS: All right. Thank you.

20 So let's go to disclosures. And I suggest that I give the floor

21 to Mr. Wubben first. I am in receipt this morning of your third report.

22 So I feel I am updated, at least up to today, on what the position

23 appears to be with regard to disclosures. But I give you the floor and

24 please deal with this matter where needed with respect to each of the

25 accused consecutively, starting with Mr. Mrksic.

1 MR. WUBBEN: Thank you, Your Honour. Yes, indeed, we filed a

2 motion report on that purpose. With a view to the disclosure issue, I

3 requested my co-counsel, Kristina Carey to prepare the issue and to

4 inform you further.

5 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you.

6 Ms. Carey.

7 MS. CAREY: Yes, thank you, Your Honour. In order what we have

8 done, as you'll see from the report before you, is we have, in fact,

9 submitted a third package of disclosure. This package of disclosure

10 reflected materials that we found pursuant to Rule 68 that apply for all

11 three defendants.

12 With respect to the individual defendants, Mr. Mrksic -- counsel

13 for Mr. Mrksic and counsel for Mr. Radic have been provided with all

14 three packages of disclosure, as you have -- as the Trial Chamber has

15 been notified.

16 The counsel for Mr. Sljivancanin has indicated that to his

17 knowledge he has received all of the -- all three packages of disclosure,

18 which, from the point that we sent them, were identical to the disclosure

19 provided to Mr. Mrksic and Mr. Radic. We have assured counsel for

20 Mr. Sljivancanin that should he find that any portion of that is not

21 correct, we will immediately send him those pieces that would be required

22 to bring them into compliance with the other packages. We have also

23 indicated that we can provide him with a complete inventory of what we've

24 sent so that he can make sure he's done that.

25 The only outstanding matter at this point is continued Rule 68

1 disclosure and continued Rule 66(A)(ii) disclosures as we receive

2 searches from the computer search unit, ISU.

3 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you. Mr. Vasic, any comments on this

4 declaration and on matters of disclosure generally as it may relate to

5 your client?

6 MR. VASIC: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honour. I can only

7 confirm that we have received three sets of documents from the

8 Prosecution. We expect the Rule 68 material to keep on being submitted

9 to us at an even quicker pace, if I may say. I believe that the

10 database, that should be made accessible to us -- can be forwarded to us

11 at a faster pace. As far as Rule 62 documents, during our 65 ter

12 conference we heard from our colleagues from the Office of the Prosecutor

13 that they have been working on that problem and it seems that it is only

14 to be expected that these documents would be submitted to us. There

15 seems to be a technical problem in singling out and forwarding these

16 relevant documents to the Defence team.

17 In the spirit of what we talked about at our last Status

18 Conference and the conclusion reached, I expect this group of documents

19 to be submitted to us as soon as possible so that we can familiarise

20 ourselves with the documents and prepare our Defence case by the time the

21 Trial Chamber is ready to deal with the case at its next stage. Thank

22 you.

23 JUDGE AGIUS: Otherwise, Mr. Vasic, I take it that you have no

24 further concerns or worries or complaints to make with regard to the

25 disclosure process?

1 MR. VASIC: [Interpretation] As for what was agreed at the last

2 Status Conference, we then received two sets of documents, two packages,

3 containing only a small part of the 66(A)(ii) Rule documents. I hope

4 that the Prosecutor will be as good as their word and that these

5 documents under Rule 62(A)(ii) will be submitted as soon as possible.

6 The explanation submitted was that the problem in submitting those

7 documents was of a technical nature, but that nevertheless they had a

8 list of disclosure of those documents. I can only take their word for

9 it. If this does not take place in due course, I will take the liberty

10 to address the Trial Chamber again on this issue.

11 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay.

12 Yes, Mr. Borovic.

13 MR. BOROVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, following the Court's

14 order to the Prosecution, I can only say that the Prosecution's behaviour

15 so far has been nothing but fair in terms of deadlines and their

16 disclosure obligations to the Defence team. As for Rule 68 exculpatory

17 evidence, the Prosecution's obligation is ongoing to forward to the

18 Defence teams documents and materials, especially in view of the case

19 against Mr. Milosevic where witnesses occasionally appear that in some

20 way related to the Vukovar case. This means that we should obtain from

21 the Prosecution these transcripts, because no doubt they are in

22 possession of the transcripts. Thank you.

23 JUDGE AGIUS: Mr. Lukic. I know that you have just come into the

24 picture.

25 MR. LUKIC: [Interpretation] Yes, indeed, Your Honour. That's

1 what I said at the 65 ter meeting that we had two days ago, both this

2 week and last week, Mr. Bulatovic and myself have physically taken over

3 the case from Mr. Sljivancanin himself. What was really important to me,

4 and this was confirmed by the Prosecution at the meeting, was that the

5 material he received was identical to the sets of material submitted to

6 the other Defence teams. Furthermore, today I received from the

7 Prosecution confirmation regarding the lists of documents received. I

8 will use these lists to cross-reference and compare the documents; I am

9 very grateful for them. I am very grateful that they have forwarded

10 these lists to me, because they will no doubt prove useful.

11 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay, Mr. Wubben. Ms. Carey, I take it you

12 followed the discussion and that you will continue along the same lines

13 that you have been resorting to and bring to an end the disclosure

14 process.

15 MR. WUBBEN: Yes, Your Honour, we will.

16 JUDGE AGIUS: I'm not going to set any further time limits or

17 anything. I'm just going to leave it. I have no reason to doubt your

18 efficiency or integrity or good intentions, so I leave it up to you. And

19 then if there are reasons for complaints, I will hear what you have to

20 say.

21 Date for trial. As you can imagine, there's no set date for the

22 trial as yet. Rough estimate is that we're probably talking of next

23 summer, summer of 2004, but that stands to be seen, depending on how we

24 progress in this case and what the position will be as regards to other

25 cases that will be running between now and then. But I would like you to

1 set this date as a rough date, a rough guess, in your mind and work

2 towards possibly bringing all the pre-trial work to an end before -- well

3 before the date in a way that would make it possible for the Tribunal to

4 start the trial in the summer of 2004.

5 I'm also reminded to bring up the matter of the subject of agreed

6 facts. I know that this may be premature at this stage to discuss this,

7 but if there are any agreed facts, facts that you could agree upon even

8 at this stage or as we go along you do not and you should not wait until

9 you have direction or the directive from the Trial Chamber, please go

10 ahead and contact one another and see what you can agree upon.

11 Before we conclude, are there any other matters that you would

12 like to raise; Prosecution?

13 MR. WUBBEN: No, thank you, Your Honour.

14 JUDGE AGIUS: Defence; Mr. Vasic?

15 MR. VASIC: [Interpretation] No, not at this point, Your Honour.

16 Thank you.

17 JUDGE AGIUS: I thank you. Mr. Borovic.

18 MR. BOROVIC: [Interpretation] Same thing, Your Honour. Thank

19 you.

20 JUDGE AGIUS: Mr. Lukic.

21 MR. LUKIC: [Interpretation] No, Your Honour.

22 JUDGE AGIUS: It remains for me to inquire directly from each of

23 the accused whether they would like to say anything with regard to their

24 state of detention, their health, and any other matter they would like to

25 raise.

1 Mr. Mrksic, I saw you --

2 THE ACCUSED MRKSIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I have nothing;

3 yes, yes, I am all right. I have nothing that I have not said before.

4 Everything is fine, thank you.

5 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you.

6 Mr. Radic.

7 THE ACCUSED RADIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I have no

8 objections to raise, thank you.

9 JUDGE AGIUS: Mr. Sljivancanin.

10 THE INTERPRETER: Microphone for the accused, please.

11 JUDGE AGIUS: Microphone, please.

12 THE ACCUSED SLJIVANCANIN: [Interpretation] Mr. President, I want

13 to thank you for addressing me as General; I actually hold the rank of

14 Colonel.

15 As for the conditions of detention, I'm very unhappy about the

16 way I was brought there and about the less-than-truthful accusations

17 levelled against me as well as about the false facts in the indictment

18 against me. I am a man who values discipline; I respect the law, I have

19 no objections to that. I treat fairly all the personnel in the Detention

20 Unit and they treat me in a fair way in return; fair and with dignity.

21 At the beginning, I had some problems with the Registrar trying

22 to bring my lawyers in. It was about item 21 -- Rule 21(4)(c): I am

23 entitled to have a counsel of my own choosing. Mr. Theodor Meron passed

24 a decision in the month of August which has proven me right. So I sent

25 my motion back to be dealt with by the Registry.

1 I have not so far received any document confirming the

2 appointment of my counsel, but having got in touch with Mr. Novak Lukic

3 as soon as they allowed him to see me, we found common ground very

4 quickly. He took over my case and he started working on my case. I

5 believe he will do everything in his power to make it possible for the

6 trial to start in time. I was ready the day I got here, ready for trial.

7 I hope there will be no further procrastinations. I believe that all the

8 documents, all the relevant documents, will be submitted to Mr. Lukic in

9 a timely manner and that he will have the same chance as everyone else to

10 acquaint himself with this case. Thank you, Your Honour.

11 JUDGE AGIUS: In other words, you have no reasons to complain

12 about your condition of detention; no?

13 THE INTERPRETER: Microphone for the accused.

14 THE ACCUSED SLJIVANCANIN: [Interpretation] What I said concerns

15 the personnel at the Detention Unit. They are being very fair and they

16 are treating me with fairness and dignity, not only me, everyone else

17 too, at least as far as I know. So there are no problems with that.

18 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay, I thank you, Colonel, which brings us to an

19 end. I don't think there is any other outstanding matter.

20 The Status Conference concludes here and there will be another

21 Status Conference convened within the statutory term of 120 days. I

22 thank you all, and good afternoon.

23 --- Whereupon the Status Conference

24 adjourned at 2.59 p.m.

25