Tribunal Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Page 27

1 Thursday, 29 January 2004

2 [Further Appearance]

3 [The accused entered court]

4 --- Upon commencing at 3.02 p.m.

5 JUDGE LIU: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Could Madam

6 Registrar call the case, please.

7 THE REGISTRAR: Good afternoon, Your Honour. Case number

8 IT-95-12-I, the Prosecutor versus Ivica Rajic, also known as Viktor

9 Andric.

10 JUDGE LIU: Thank you. For the sake of the record, could we have

11 the appearances, please. For the Prosecution first.

12 MR. SCOTT: Sorry, Your Honour. Good afternoon, Your Honour.

13 Kenneth Scott for the Prosecutor and Josee D'Aoust also, and our case

14 manager Lakshmie Walpita.

15 JUDGE LIU: Thank you. And for the Defence.

16 MR. OLUJIC: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honour. My name

17 is Zeljko Olujic. I'm Defence counsel for Mr. Ivica Rajic from the

18 Republic of Croatia, Zagreb, and with me in the courtroom today is my

19 colleague Doris Kosta, co-counsel in the case. Thank you.

20 JUDGE LIU: Thank you very much. We will proceed with the further

21 appearance of the accused, Mr. Rajic, pursuant to Rule 50(B) and 62 of

22 Rules of Procedure and Evidence.

23 First of all, I would like to recall the procedural history of the

24 case. The initial indictment against the accused was issued by the

25 Prosecution on the 23rd of August, 1995, and confirmed on the 29th August

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1 1995. International arrest warrants were issued against the accused.

2 On 13 September 1996, the indictment was reconfirmed, and again

3 international arrest warrants were issued against the accused.

4 The accused was arrested in Croatia on 5 April 2003 and

5 transferred to the Detention Unit of the International Tribunal on 24 June

6 2003. On the initial appearance held on 27 June 2003, the accused pleaded

7 not guilty to all counts of the initial indictment.

8 On 25 August 2003, the Defence filed a motion challenging the form

9 of the indictment. In its response filed on 4 September 2003, the

10 Prosecution announced that it would file a motion for leave to amend the

11 indictment in the near future and requested the Trial Chamber to suspend

12 its decision on the merits of the Defence motion until the amended

13 indictment is filed.

14 The Trial Chamber, therefore, decided not to take any decision

15 before being seized with the Prosecution's motion for leave to amend the

16 indictment.

17 On 23 October 2003, the Prosecution filed a motion for leave to

18 amend the indictment and the supporting material concerning proposed

19 amended indictment.

20 By the order issued on 12 January 2004, the Trial Chamber granted

21 leave to the Prosecution to amend the indictment and declared that the

22 Defence motion on the form of the indictment moot. The Defence was

23 granted, in accordance with the understanding reached at the Status

24 Conference held on 3 November 2003, 45 days from disclosure of the

25 supporting material concerning the amended indictment in which to file a

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1 preliminary motion on the form of the amended indictment pursuant to Rule

2 72(A)(2) of the Rules.

3 The amended indictment which is the subject of the hearing today

4 was filed by the Prosecution on 14 January 2004.

5 On 20 January 2004, the Prosecution informed the Trial Chamber

6 that supporting material concerning the amended indictment has been

7 provided to the Defence on 15 January 2004.

8 At this stage, I would like to ask Mr. Rajic: Mr. Rajic, can you

9 hear the proceedings in a language that you understand?

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

11 JUDGE LIU: Have you received the amended indictment against you

12 in a language you understand?

13 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Yes, I have.

14 JUDGE LIU: Did you have a chance to discuss it with your counsel?

15 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Yes.

16 JUDGE LIU: Did your counsel explain to you in detail the contents

17 of that indictment?

18 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Yes.

19 JUDGE LIU: Thank you. You may sit down.

20 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Thank you.

21 JUDGE LIU: Pursuant to Rule 62(3) of the Rules of Procedure and

22 Evidence, Mr. Rajic is called upon to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty

23 on each count of the new indictment. He may do so either today or within

24 30 days from this further appearance. If he fails to enter a plea within

25 the time limit, the Trial Chamber shall enter a plea of not guilty on his

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1 behalf.

2 Mr. Rajic, are you prepared to enter your plea today?

3 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Yes, I am.

4 JUDGE LIU: As you have read the amended indictment and discussed

5 it with your counsel, do you wish the indictment to be read out, which is

6 your right, or do you waive this right?

7 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I waive the right. There's no need

8 for the indictment to be read out.

9 THE INTERPRETER: Could the microphones please be adjusted. Thank

10 you.

11 JUDGE LIU: So my suggestion is that I will now repeat the charges

12 brought against you, and I will then ask you whether you plead guilty or

13 not guilty to the specific charge. Since the initial indictment has been

14 replaced by the amended indictment, I will ask you to enter pleas with

15 regard to all charges contained in the new indictment. Your answer in

16 each case may be guilty or not guilty as the case may be. Do you

17 understand that, Mr. Rajic?

18 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Yes, I do understand that.

19 JUDGE LIU: Are you ready to plea at this moment?

20 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I'm ready.

21 JUDGE LIU: Yes. Let's proceed.

22 Count 1 charges you with wilful killing, a grave breach of the

23 Geneva Conventions of 1949, punishable under Article 2(a), 7(1) and 7(3)

24 of the Statute of the Tribunal. How do you plead; guilty or not guilty?

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

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1 JUDGE LIU: Count 2 charges you with murder, a violation of the

2 laws or customs of war, as recognised by Article 3(1)(a) of the Geneva

3 Conventions, punishable under Articles 3, 7(1) and 7(3) of the Statute of

4 the Tribunal. How do you plead; guilty or not guilty?

5 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Not guilty.

6 JUDGE LIU: Count 3 charges you with inhuman treatment (including

7 sexual assault), a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions of 1949,

8 punishable under Articles 2(b), 7(1) and 7(3) of the Statute of the

9 Tribunal. How do you plead; guilty or not guilty?

10 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Not guilty.

11 JUDGE LIU: Count 4 charges you with outrages upon personal

12 dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment (including

13 sexual assault), a violation of the laws or customs of war as recognised

14 by Article 3(1)(c) of the Geneva Conventions, punishable under Articles 3,

15 7(1) and 7(3) of the Statute of the Tribunal. How do you plead; guilty or

16 not guilty?

17 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Not guilty.

18 JUDGE LIU: Count 5 charges you with unlawful confinement of a

19 civilian, a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, punishable

20 under Articles 2(g), 7(1) and 7(3) of the Statute of the Tribunal. How do

21 you plead; guilty or not guilty?

22 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Not guilty.

23 JUDGE LIU: Count 6 charges you with cruel treatment, a violation

24 of the laws or customs of war, as recognised by Article 3(1)(a) of the

25 Geneva Conventions, punishable under Articles 3, 7(1) and 7(3) of the

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1 Statute of the Tribunal. How do you plead; guilty or not guilty?

2 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Not guilty.

3 JUDGE LIU: Count 7 charges you with appropriation of property, a

4 grave breach of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, punishable under Articles

5 2(d), 7(1) and 7(3) of the Statute of the Tribunal. How do you plead;

6 guilty or not guilty?

7 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Not guilty.

8 JUDGE LIU: Count 8 charges you with plunder of public or private

9 property, a violation of the laws or customs of war, punishable under

10 Article 3(e), 7(1) and 7(3) of the Statute of the Tribunal. How do you

11 plead; guilty or not guilty?

12 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Not guilty.

13 JUDGE LIU: Count 9 charges you with extensive destruction not

14 justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly, a

15 grave breach of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, punishable under Articles

16 2(d), 7(1) and 7(3) of the Statute of the Tribunal. How do you plead;

17 guilty or not guilty?

18 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Not guilty.

19 JUDGE LIU: Count 10 charges you with wanton destruction of a city

20 or devastation not justified by military necessity, a violation of the

21 laws or customs of war, punishable under Articles 3(b), Article 7(1) and

22 7(3) of the Statute of the Tribunal. How do you plead; guilty or not

23 guilty?

24 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Not guilty.

25 JUDGE LIU: Thank you, sir. You may sit down, please.

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1 May the registrar please take note that Mr. Rajic has pleaded not

2 guilty to all counts of the new indictment. And the registrar will be

3 instructed to fix a date for trial when appropriate.

4 At this stage, are there any matters that the Prosecution wishes

5 to raise?

6 MR. SCOTT: May it please the Court. Just as a matter of record,

7 Mr. President, as you've already mentioned, the supporting material did --

8 was sent is out to counsel on the 15th of January, and I believe that all

9 should be in good order. I've not had any indication from counsel that

10 there's been any problems with that material. I do have today, and will

11 hand to counsel today -- there were four translations that were missing in

12 -- from English into B/C/S and were not available at the time in that

13 binder -- or bundle, I should say, on the 15th, but I have those today,

14 and I think that will be -- complete all the supporting material. And I

15 suppose, Your Honour, that the next order of business would be

16 recalendaring any motions on the amended indictment.

17 JUDGE LIU: Thank you.

18 MR. SCOTT: Thank you.

19 JUDGE LIU: Are there any matters that Defence counsel would like

20 to raise at this stage?

21 MR. OLUJIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour. I should like to

22 refer to the observation made by my learned colleague with respect to the

23 supporting material received. The OTP has been very considerate and has

24 sent us supporting material upon which it bases its case, Prosecution

25 case. To the present day, we received eight large bundles with about 5 to

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1 10.000 pieces of paper to them, and today my learned colleague says that

2 he will be handing over some more supporting material today, which I'll be

3 happy to receive.

4 However, I should like to address the Chamber because we have a

5 very great problem, and the problem is with respect to signature. The

6 archives of the secret service of the Republic of Croatia has distributed

7 all the documentation into 10.126 boxes, or registry boxes, and in those

8 boxes there are 10 to 20 million papers, Your Honours. In other words,

9 the OTP, with the material that it has given us, has not told us the

10 addressees and the receivers, although on some of the stickers that does

11 exist. But they haven't told us how they arrived at those materials, how

12 they came by them. And the labels are not the kind that we need to have

13 for us to go to the Croatian state archives and be able to control the

14 source and authenticity of the documents themselves. In other words, I

15 have to check out some of the documents given to me by the OTP.

16 So I should like to ask the OTP, in a reasonable period of time

17 necessary to get that done, to give us the correct designations so that we

18 could check them out, as I have said. That is what I wanted to bring to

19 the Court's attention this afternoon. Thank you.

20 JUDGE LIU: Well, I'm surprised to hear that there is such a huge

21 amount of documents available from the security service of the Republic of

22 Croatia. Maybe, Mr. Scott, you could make some clarification on this

23 issue.

24 MR. SCOTT: Sorry, Your Honour, this microphone is in a bad place.

25 It's all right now. Thanks.

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1 Mr. President, I have to say, and it's not really a complaint,

2 counsel has been completely courteous up to the present time, and I think

3 we've had professional dealings with each other, and so this is not in the

4 form of a complaint, but this is the first I've heard of these concerns.

5 I would be happy to discuss them with counsel and perhaps what would be

6 most helpful would be if counsel could transmit to us a letter indicating

7 his concerns with a listing of the documents that he's concerned about. I

8 just simply don't know which documents he's referring to.

9 I would be surprised, as Your Honour apparently is, that there is

10 that volume, but I don't -- it's possible. I just simply don't have the

11 information right now to make a further response. But I would be happy to

12 receive a letter from counsel indicating his concerns and listing the

13 documents. Thank you.

14 JUDGE LIU: Well, is it possible, after this sitting, the parties

15 will meet with each other to discuss this matter?

16 MR. SCOTT: I'm happy to talk to counsel and see if we can find a

17 time while he is still in The Hague. I apologise, Your Honour, I'm on a

18 very tight schedule this afternoon on another matter, so today it might

19 not be possible but it may be possible to meet with him tomorrow.

20 JUDGE LIU: Thank you. Is there anything else, Mr. Olujic?

21 MR. OLUJIC: [Interpretation] No, Your Honour, nothing else. I

22 have just heard that my learned colleague has other business to attend to

23 today and hasn't got time for a meeting, but if there is goodwill on the

24 part of the OTP, I will set all I have said out in writing

25 chronologically, and I hope that the misunderstanding with respect to

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1 establishing the truth before this Court of law will be able to be

2 resolved on a collegial basis, without any problems.

3 JUDGE LIU: Thank you very much. Are there any other matters that

4 Mr. Rajic would like to raise to this Bench?

5 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] No, Your Honour.

6 JUDGE LIU: How about the conditions in the Detention Unit? Do

7 you have anything to complain?

8 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] No.

9 JUDGE LIU: Thank you. You may sit down.

10 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Thank you.

11 JUDGE LIU: Well, I think that's all for this hearing if there's

12 nothing else that the parties would like to bring to the attention of this

13 Bench. The hearing is adjourned.

14 --- Whereupon the Further Appearance adjourned

15 at 3.24 p.m.

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