Tribunal Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Page 158

1 Monday, 8th November, 1999

2 --- Upon commencing at 9 a.m.

3 [Open session]

4 [Initial Appearance]

5 [The accused entered court]

6 JUDGE MAY: Yes. Let the Registrar call the

7 case.

8 THE REGISTRAR: Good morning Your Honour.

9 Case number IT-95-8-I, the Prosecutor versus Damir

10 Dosen.

11 JUDGE MAY: Yes. The appearances.

12 MR. NIEMANN: Please Your Honour, my name is

13 Niemann. I appear with my colleague, Mr. Kapila

14 Waidyaratne, and the case manager, Patrica Reynders.

15 MR. PETROVIC: My name is Vladimir Petrovic.

16 I am an attorney from Belgrade and I represent

17 Mr. Dosen in this case.

18 JUDGE MAY: This is the adjourned initial

19 appearance of this accused, adjourned from last week.

20 The amended indictment was confirmed in this case on

21 the 30th of August of this year.

22 Mr. Petrovic, I take it that your client has

23 received a copy of the amended indictment in a language

24 which he understands and that you've had the

25 opportunity of going through it with him? Counsel who

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1 was here last week undertook to do that; is that

2 right?

3 MR. PETROVIC: That is right, Your Honour.

4 My client received a copy of the indictment in Serbian

5 language. We had an opportunity to read through it

6 entirely. Mr. Dosen has understood the indictment. He

7 understands what he is charged with and he is prepared

8 to make a plea today on all the charges in the

9 indictment.

10 JUDGE MAY: Very well. The final matter is

11 this, before we deal with the indictment: Does he wish

12 to have the indictment read out in full or is he

13 prepared to waive that right? As you know, there is a

14 right to have the indictment read out in full, but

15 frequently it's waived to save time.

16 MR. PETROVIC: I spoke to Mr. Dosen regarding

17 this matter. It is sufficient that only the counts be

18 read out without reading the indictment in its

19 entirety. Thank you.

20 JUDGE MAY: Yes. Thank you. Let the accused

21 stand.

22 Mr. Dosen, you've heard what your counsel has

23 said, that you've had the indictment in a language you

24 understand. You've been through it with him, and you

25 are in a position to enter pleas today; is that right?

Page 160

1 THE ACCUSED: Yes, it is.

2 JUDGE MAY: Now, I am going to read to you

3 the counts in the indictment, and to each you must

4 enter a plea. Kindly confine your answers to "guilty"

5 or "not guilty."

6 The first three counts relate to alleged

7 offences between the 24th of May and the 30th of August

8 1992 in Keraterm Camp. Count 1: Persecutions on

9 political, racial or religious grounds, crime against

10 humanity, punishable under Articles 5(h), 7(1) and 7(3)

11 of the Statute of the Tribunal. How do you plead,

12 guilty or not guilty?

13 THE ACCUSED: No, not guilty.

14 JUDGE MAY: Count 2: Inhumane acts, a crime

15 against humanity, punishable under Articles 5(i), 7(1),

16 7(3) of the Statute. How do you plead, guilty or not

17 guilty?

18 THE ACCUSED: Not guilty.

19 JUDGE MAY: Count 3: Outrages upon personal

20 dignity, violations of the laws or customs of war as

21 recognised by Article (3)(a)(c) of the Geneva

22 Conventions of 1949, punishable under Articles 3, 7(1)

23 and 7(3) of the Statute of the Tribunal. How do you

24 plead, guilty or not guilty?

25 THE ACCUSED: Not guilty.

Page 161

1 JUDGE MAY: Counts 4 to 7 relate to alleged

2 offences on or about the 25th of June 1992 in room 2 of

3 the camp. Count 4: Torture, a crime against humanity,

4 punishable under Articles 5(f), 7(1) and 7(3) of the

5 Statute. How do you plead, guilty or not guilty?

6 THE ACCUSED: Not guilty.

7 JUDGE MAY: Count 5: Torture, a violation of

8 the laws or customs of war recognised by Article

9 (3)(1)(a) of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, punishable

10 under Articles 3, 7(1) and 7(3) of the Statute. How do

11 you plead, guilty or not guilty?

12 THE ACCUSED: Not guilty.

13 JUDGE MAY: Count 6: Inhumane acts, a crime

14 against humanity punishable under Articles 5(i), 7(1)

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

16 not guilty?

17 THE ACCUSED: Not guilty.

18 JUDGE MAY: Count 7: Cruel treatment, a

19 violation of the laws or customs of war recognised by

20 Article (3)(1)(a) of the Geneva Conventions of 1949

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

22 Statute. How do you plead, guilty or not guilty?

23 THE ACCUSED: Not guilty.

24 JUDGE MAY: Yes. You may be seated.

25 THE ACCUSED: Thank you.

Page 162

1 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Niemann, that concludes the

2 putting the indictment.

3 MR. NIEMANN: Yes, Your Honour.

4 JUDGE MAY: This matter, clearly, is in no

5 position at the moment to proceed, but it may be

6 sensible to do what we can, if anything.

7 MR. NIEMANN: Yes, Your Honour.

8 JUDGE MAY: The accused -- the defence have

9 had all the material, have they?

10 MR. NIEMANN: The confirmation material has

11 been disclosed, Your Honour, yes.

12 JUDGE MAY: There is another accused, of

13 course, on this indictment.

14 MR. NIEMANN: Yes, Your Honour.

15 JUDGE MAY: How do you propose to go on from

16 here?

17 MR. NIEMANN: Well, Your Honours, it would be

18 our submission that the matters should proceed together

19 and that on all next occasions when the other accused

20 is to come before the Tribunal, so should this accused,

21 and the matter to proceed that way.

22 I don't know at this stage what the position

23 is with respect to when a hearing of the matter

24 involving the accused Kolundzija will proceed, but I

25 would imagine it would be sometime after the Kvocka

Page 163

1 case, Your Honour, so I think it may be some time. But

2 we are in a position to make available the material in

3 a reasonably timely manner and -- because both the

4 cases are prepared for trial. So we can proceed rather

5 quickly in that regard.

6 JUDGE MAY: What is the extent of this case?

7 There are seven counts. How many witnesses are we

8 looking at?

9 MR. NIEMANN: Excuse me, Your Honour. I can

10 say it this way, Your Honour. Probably about 50 to 60

11 witnesses. The position is that the evidence is

12 identical to the evidence that will be led against the

13 accused Zigic in the other case and the accused

14 Kolundzija and this accused, Your Honour. So it is the

15 same evidence exactly in relation to the three

16 accused. And we think about 50, 60 witnesses, Your

17 Honour.

18 JUDGE MAY: So, what is that, four months for

19 the Prosecution? Something of that order?

20 MR. NIEMANN: A month, I think -- yes, I

21 would imagine six weeks probably to dispose the

22 Prosecution case, Your Honour.

23 JUDGE MAY: Well, there will be a hearing in

24 the case of the co-accused, I anticipate, certainly in

25 January. I shall make some inquiries about that.

Page 164

1 Yes, there is no date at the moment for a

2 Status Conference for the co-accused, but I anticipate

3 there will be one towards the end of January, and it

4 would be sensible for this accused to appear at the

5 same time.

6 MR. NIEMANN: Yes, we would suggest that,

7 Your Honour.

8 JUDGE MAY: It may require further amendments

9 to the indictment? You have to produce a joint

10 indictment.

11 MR. NIEMANN: I think the indictment has in

12 fact been joined. There is a process, complicated as

13 it is, but they were served individually, but there in

14 fact exists one joint indictment.

15 JUDGE MAY: Yes, but there are other people

16 involved.

17 MR. NIEMANN: They can't proceed to trial,

18 no.

19 JUDGE MAY: So at some stage we shall need a

20 new indictment on just these two?

21 MR. NIEMANN: Yes, Your Honour.

22 JUDGE MAY: Yes. Well, thank you very much.

23 Is there anything else we can usefully do today?

24 MR. NIEMANN: I don't think so.

25 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Petrovic, you've heard what's

Page 165

1 suggested. This matter will have to proceed with the

2 co-accused. There is a Status Conference in his case

3 which will have to be fixed in January, and it would

4 seem sensible for this accused to appear at the same

5 time.

6 MR. PETROVIC: Yes, indeed it does seem

7 sensible. The only thing I would like to inquire is

8 whether there will be a formal request on the part of

9 the Prosecution to join the indictments, that is the

10 indictments of Kolundzija and Dosen. That is one

11 thing.

12 Secondly, I have received some statements

13 that it was about seven or eight witness statements. I

14 would like to know whether this is the entire

15 supporting material, whether I can consider that all

16 the supporting material has been produced and whether

17 from now on the clock is running as far as the

18 preliminary motions are concerned on the part of the

19 Defence.

20 JUDGE MAY: Well, from what the Prosecution

21 have said, the answer to that question is yes.

22 Clearly, some sort of joint indictment also will have

23 to be produced so that the two can be tried together.

24 Your client did not appear last week because

25 he was suffering from an injury sustained playing

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1 volleyball, as I understand it. He is now recovered,

2 is he?

3 MR. PETROVIC: Yes, that is correct. That is

4 correct. And today he -- since he still has pains in

5 his back and he -- it was with some effort that he

6 arrived in the Court today, because he is still in pain

7 when they put on his flak jacket.

8 JUDGE MAY: Is there anything else you want

9 to raise, Mr. Petrovic?

10 MR. PETROVIC: No, not really, except that if

11 the Prosecution would specify whether this was the

12 entire supporting material so far and whether the time

13 for the preliminary motions is running as of today.

14 MR. NIEMANN: That's right, Your Honour.

15 That is correct.

16 JUDGE MAY: Yes is the answer, as I thought.

17 Mr. Dosen, would you stand up, please. That

18 concludes the initial appearance. As you've heard,

19 there are various preliminary matters which have to be

20 covered, various steps which have to be taken before

21 your case will be ready for trial, and you will appear

22 with your co-accused at a date which is to be fixed in

23 January, which will be your next Court appearance.

24 JUDGE MAY: Very well. We'll adjourn until

25 then.

Page 167

1 --- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at

2 9.18 a.m. sine die.

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