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1 Wednesday, 1 August 2001
2 [Motion Hearing]
3 [Open session]
4 [The accused entered court]
5 --- Upon commencing at 2.35 p.m.
6 JUDGE MAY: Yes. Will the Registrar call the case.
7 THE REGISTRAR: Good afternoon, Your Honours. Case number
8 IT-00-39 & 40-PT, the Prosecutor versus Biljana Plavsic.
9 JUDGE MAY: The appearances.
10 MR. HARMON: Good afternoon, Mr. President and Your Honours. My
11 name is Mark Harmon. Assisting me is my co-counsel, Mr. Alan Tieger.
12 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Harmon, where were you when we were due to begin?
13 We've all been waiting for you.
14 MR. HARMON: I apologise. I was in a meeting with representatives
15 of the Dutch government, and then I was in a meeting with Mr. Boas, and
16 then I had to finish that meeting and get my robe. So I apologise for
17 delaying the Court.
18 JUDGE MAY: Very well. Yes. For the Defence.
19 MR. PAVICH: On behalf of Ms. Biljana Plavsic, Robert Pavich. I'm
20 assisted by Eugene O'Sullivan.
21 JUDGE MAY: Yes. And for the Dutch government.
22 MS. de MAN: We have two representatives of the Ministry of
23 Justice, Mr. Abraham Visser and Mr. Jan van den Heuvel, and two
24 representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Niels Blokker and
25 I myself am Frederique de Man.
Page 69
1 JUDGE MAY: Thank you. This hearing is in open session. If at
2 any stage any of the parties or indeed the government wish the matter to
3 go into closed session, they can make an application.
4 The Trial Chamber is holding this hearing in relation to an
5 application for provisional release by Mrs. Plavsic. It was made by way
6 of motion filed on the 11th of July. The Prosecutor responded on the 25th
7 of July, and the Prosecutor's position is this: that there is no
8 objection, as I understand it, to provisional release provided, that is,
9 that various conditions are met.
10 And, Mr. Harmon, it seems to me that -- those conditions which
11 bring us here today are matters which in the outset can be dealt with in
12 open session. Have you any objections to dealing with them in open
13 session? At least to deal with the presence of the government here.
14 There may, of course, be matters of detail which should be dealt with in
15 private session.
16 MR. HARMON: Insofar as the conditions themselves that have been
17 suggested by the Office of the Prosecutor, I have no objection to those
18 being identified, but once we get into the details, I will be making a
19 motion for a closed session.
20 JUDGE MAY: Yes. The condition which is pertinent is this: that
21 the accused should remain on the territory of the Netherlands. The Trial
22 Chamber, on receiving that response from the Office of the Prosecutor,
23 invited the government to respond, which they did very promptly, and they
24 have sought clarification of various issues and asked for a hearing, which
25 is the reason that we are here today.
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1 The purpose of the hearing is to, as far as possible, to
2 facilitate the clarification of those issues. I should say that the Trial
3 Chamber have had the opportunity of considering the matter, and our view
4 is this, that although it may not be possible to resolve this matter
5 today, it is a matter which should be dealt with promptly; and we shall,
6 if no order can be made today, and it seems unlikely that one will be made
7 today, nonetheless there should be a hearing in 28 days at which the
8 matter is resolved one way or another.
9 That being said, we'll hear from the parties. Mr. Harmon, it may
10 be appropriate to begin with you, although it's not your motion.
11 MR. HARMON: Mr. President, one of the reasons I was delayed is I
12 was, as I mentioned, was I was meeting with representatives of the Dutch
13 government as well as Mr. Boas. I would request, based on those
14 discussions and knowing what we will be discussing therefore in this
15 hearing, I would make a request for a private session in order to have a
16 more fulsome discussion in order to enlighten the Court as to the concerns
17 of the Dutch government.
18 JUDGE MAY: Very well. Before we do that, Mr. Pavich, is there
19 anything which the Defence would like to raise while we're in open session
20 before we go into closed session?
21 MR. PAVICH: No, Your Honour.
22 JUDGE MAY: Or, indeed, the Dutch government?
23 MS. DE MAN: No, Your Honour.
24 JUDGE MAY: Very well. Yes, we'll go into closed session.
25 [Private session]
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21 [Open session]
22 JUDGE MAY: We would be grateful if all submissions from any
23 parties, new submissions from the parties or the position of the
24 government, could be communicated to us a week before, at least several
25 days before, so that we may have the full position and have a chance to
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1 consider it before the next hearing.
2 This application is adjourned until Wednesday, the 29th of August,
3 at 4.30. Any further submissions by the parties or the government are to
4 be with the Trial Chamber at least three days beforehand, preferably a
5 week. The matter is adjourned.
6 --- Whereupon the Motion Hearing adjourned at
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