111208ED

Page 26343

1 Thursday, 8 December 2011

2 [Open session]

3 [The accused entered court]

4 --- Upon commencing at 9.09 a.m.

5 THE REGISTRAR: Good morning, Your Honours. Good morning

6 everyone in and around the courtroom.

7 This is case IT-08-91-T, the Prosecutor versus Mico Stanisic and

8 Stojan Zupljanin.

9 JUDGE HALL: Thank you, Madam Registrar.

10 Good morning to everyone. May we have the appearances today,

11 please.

12 MS. PIDWELL: Good morning, Your Honours. Belinda Pidwell,

13 Joanna Korner, and Sebastiaan van Hooydonk for the Prosecution.

14 MR. ZECEVIC: Good morning, Your Honours. Slobodan Zecevic,

15 Slobodan Cvijetic, Ms. Deirdre Montgomery, and Ms. Annemarie McNulty,

16 appearing for Stanisic Defence this morning. Thank you.

17 MR. KRGOVIC: Good morning, Your Honours. Dragan Krgovic,

18 Miroslav Cuskic, and Heather Cohen, appearing for Zupljanin Defence.

19 JUDGE HALL: If there are no preliminary or other housekeeping

20 matters, I believe we have a videolink witness --

21 [Trial Chamber and Registrar confer]

22 JUDGE HALL: [Microphone not activated]

23 MR. ZECEVIC: I'm sorry, Your Honours, your microphone was not

24 activated it says.

25 JUDGE HALL: Yes, I notice you're on your feet.

Page 26344

1 MR. ZECEVIC: Yes, Your Honours. There are two matters which I

2 informed the Registry that I would like to raise today because Ms. Korner

3 will not be available next Thursday, and we agreed that the Trial Chamber

4 should be made aware of this, and -- but I propose to do that after we

5 finish with the witness because, as I understand, we will still have time

6 enough before we adjourn for the day.

7 JUDGE HALL: Thank you. And thanks for reminding me that I was

8 to have announced immediately this morning what would have been

9 communicated to the parties by e-mail yesterday, that we have been -- we

10 were unable to accommodate counsel's preference in terms of the date for

11 the administrative sitting for next week so it would be fixed for

12 Thursday. The Chamber simply would not be in a position to have prepared

13 itself for the matters with which it would --

14 MR. ZECEVIC: Thank you, Your Honours.

15 JUDGE HALL: Thank you.

16 [Trial Chamber confers]

17 JUDGE HALL: Yes. So the -- as I said, I gather the witness is

18 in place. And I would ask the Court Officer to confirm that they are

19 receiving us.

20 THE REGISTRAR: [Via videolink] Yes, Your Honours, we are

21 receiving you quite good.

22 [Trial Chamber confers]

23 JUDGE DELVOIE: Good morning, Mr. Witness.

24 First of all, do you hear me in a language you understand?

25 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes, yes.

Page 26345

1 JUDGE DELVOIE: Thank you. Thank you for coming to us and being

2 prepared to give your testimony. You are about to read the solemn

3 declaration by which witnesses commit themselves to tell the truth. I

4 need to point out that the solemn declaration that you are about to make

5 does expose to the penalty of perjury, should you give misleading or

6 untruthful evidence to this Tribunal.

7 Now, then, would you please be kind enough to read aloud the

8 solemn declaration?

9 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes. I solemnly declare that I

10 will speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

11 JUDGE DELVOIE: Thank you, sir. You may be seated.

12 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Thank you.

13 JUDGE DELVOIE: Sir, the Court Officer will hand to you a

14 pseudonym sheet with all your -- the elements of your identity. Can you

15 please check all that and confirm that everything is correct in there.

16 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] It is correct.

17 JUDGE DELVOIE: Okay. Can you please sign it then.

18 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Very well.

19 JUDGE DELVOIE: Thank you.

20 Madam Registrar, can it be given an exhibit number, under seal.

21 THE REGISTRAR: Exhibit 2D189, under seal, Your Honours.

22 JUDGE DELVOIE: Thank you very much.

23 Well, then, sir, can I ask you, have you ever been -- have you

24 ever testified before? Before this Tribunal or before any tribunal in

25 the region about the war?

Page 26399

1 accommodate the recording and all of those matters, and the convenience

2 of the accused, perhaps we could take an abbreviated break of 15 minutes

3 in as much as we certainly wouldn't be here for a full session after

4 that.

5 MR. ZECEVIC: Thank you very much, Your Honours.

6 JUDGE HALL: So we come back after 15 minutes.

7 [Trial Chamber and Registrar confer]

8 JUDGE HALL: I stand corrected. I understand that a 15-minute

9 break cannot be accommodated, so we will have to come back in 20 minutes.

10 --- Recess taken at 12.05 p.m.

11 --- On resuming at 12.28 p.m.

12 JUDGE HALL: Sorry, I called on Mr. Zecevic before we rose, and

13 when we came out of court I was remarking to Judge Delvoie that with the

14 videolink and going back and forth remembering which screen to use, I

15 felt myself like someone flying a jet plane who was totally unfamiliar

16 with -- with the instruments.

17 So any confusion that I exhibited earlier that is the

18 explanation. And in that vein it dawned on me that before I call on

19 Mr. Zecevic, the -- sequentially, I should have inquired of Mr. Krgovic

20 as to what the position -- having called, what we understand to be the

21 last witness, what does he say about his case.

22 MR. KRGOVIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour, the Zupljanin

23 Defence hereby officially announces the closing of its Defence case,

24 except for the bar table motion. We ask the Bench's permission to

25 postpone that until Thursday next week.

Page 26400

1 JUDGE HALL: Thank you, Mr. Krgovic.

2 Yes, Mr. Zecevic -- sorry.

3 MR. KRGOVIC: [Interpretation] I apologise. I only wanted to

4 thank the Tribunal services for their assistance during the Defence case,

5 especially the Victims and Witnesses Unit, as well as the interpreters

6 for their patience to cope with the frequent overlapping during our

7 Defence case. And that would be all for me, Your Honours.

8 JUDGE HALL: Thank you, Mr. Krgovic.

9 Yes, Mr. Zecevic.

10 MR. ZECEVIC: Thank you, Your Honours. I will try to be brief as

11 possible.

12 Your Honour, the first matter I wanted to raise with the

13 Trial Chamber is the issue of the video material exhibits in this case.

14 Namely, when we were reviewing the exhibits in this case, the full body

15 of exhibits in this case, it came to our attention that -- that some 58

16 videos have been admitted so far in -- in the case.

17 Now, it is our understanding, Your Honours, that in case of

18 videos, the videos are admitted in their full length of the videos, and

19 that the parties are entitled to rely upon the entire video. But, as a

20 matter of -- of -- practical thing is that the parties are required to

21 upload the English language translation of the relevant portions that

22 they rely upon.

23 Now, we wanted to supplement the translation of some of the video

24 exhibits in this case with additional parts that we intend to rely on of

25 the video material that has been exhibited and the exhibits are the --

Page 26401

1 the Office of the Prosecutor's exhibits.

2 In our review of that material, it became apparent to us that

3 there is a certain confusion. The confusion is with the ERN number, the

4 confusion is with the transcripts of the videos, where, for example, we

5 would have a transcript of a certain part of that video and that that

6 part is not contained in that video material. We tried resolve the

7 situation between the parties, and we had exchanged numerous e-mails and

8 had a meeting yesterday with the Office of the Prosecutor, and we decided

9 that the only practical way how to do achieve this, like how to actually

10 finalize this exercise, would be that we ask from the -- from the

11 Registry, that we receive the copies, the official copies of the official

12 material which has been exhibited in this case, video material.

13 Now, that was agreement between Office of the Prosecutor and all

14 the -- both Defence teams because we think that the only relevant,

15 actually, material is the one which is hold by the Registry. We,

16 therefore, ask the Registry to provide that material to us and, to our

17 surprise, the Registry said that we would need to put that on the record

18 and ask the -- the Trial Chamber to order the Registry to provide that

19 material to us.

20 [Trial Chamber and Registrar confer]

21 JUDGE HALL: As can you continue, Mr. Zecevic, could you assist

22 us by explaining what it is that are you seeking from the Registry that

23 you do not now have? Because inasmuch as the document -- the material

24 which the Prosecution expected to use would have been disclosed to you

25 and then there was the formality of the -- from that bulk of certain

Page 26402

1 items being tendered and admitted on -- on -- on the orders of the -- of

2 the -- of the Court what -- what it is that -- what of that you don't

3 have that you now need.

4 MR. ZECEVIC: Well, Your Honours, the point of the matter --

5 perhaps I wasn't very clear.

6 The point of the matter is, for example, your order was that

7 video exhibited as P1318.15 would be admitted in the exhibits. And that

8 is on the record. The video, 1318.15 has been admitted. The transcript

9 of the -- of the -- of that video has also been admitted. However, the

10 transcript of that video does not correspond to that video. That is the

11 problem.

12 So, therefore, we have -- we have a video material which does not

13 correspond to the transcript, which was admitted as allegedly being the

14 part of that particular exhibit. That is our problem, Your Honours.

15 And ...

16 [Trial Chamber and Registrar confer]

17 JUDGE HALL: Isn't the logical answer that the tendering party,

18 and most of them want to come from the Prosecution, has a responsibility

19 to ensure that the -- I'll say the -- that the real exhibit is before the

20 Court and, of course, and for the use of the party opposite. Because, if

21 I understand you, what you're saying is is that the transcript provided

22 doesn't correspond -- which purported to the be transcript of the

23 exhibited video doesn't correspond with it, then certainly the onus would

24 be on the tendering party to ensure that that error is corrected.

25 MR. ZECEVIC: Well, by all means, that is correct, Your Honours.

Page 26403

1 That is precisely what we are asking for.

2 In order to be able to -- to remedy these errors, we have to find

3 out where the errors are. So -- because we are not sure anymore that is

4 it only one or five videos that are -- that are confused with the

5 transcripts and -- because there is a confusion with the ERN numbers.

6 And that is why we are asking, both parties, are asking the Registry to

7 disclose to us the videos that are exhibited so we can review them and

8 then make the -- the necessary remedy of errors or changes that need to

9 be done.

10 We don't know how else to proceed on that.

11 JUDGE HALL: Well, the -- wouldn't a first approach be for

12 counsel, plural, to meet with the relevant Registry officer and see how

13 this problem could be sorted out. Because it strikes me as being a --

14 technical isn't the right word, administrative isn't the right word

15 either, but practical problem of ensuring that the transcript is

16 reconciled with the videotape which is a largely physical exercise, and

17 I'm not sure how the Bench could assist. Because it -- if the problem is

18 as serious as you indicate, it -- it involves some grunt work which, as I

19 said, counsel and the Registry officer alone can do.

20 MR. ZECEVIC: But, Your Honours, that was precisely our idea. We

21 never wanted to bring this to the attention of the Bench because we don't

22 think that the Bench needs to be involved in this exercise at all. We

23 asked the Registry to provide to the parties the copies of the official

24 video exhibits in this case, and we, as the parties, of course are

25 entitled to all exhibits in this case.

Page 26404

1 Now the Registry denied that request and said that we must

2 obtain -- or that the Registry must obtain the order from the Trial

3 Chamber to do so, and that is why I'm standing now before you.

4 Otherwise, I wouldn't have.

5 [Trial Chamber and Registrar confer]

6 [Trial Chamber and Legal Officer confer]

7 MS. KORNER: Your Honour, can I explain what the difficulty is,

8 as we discussed yesterday with Mr. Zecevic.

9 We think we know what we put in as an exhibit. We think we know

10 what -- what CD we gave to the Registry as the exhibit. But it appears

11 that Mr. Zecevic, having -- because he wants to put in further parts of

12 transcripts, has discovered there seems to be an error. But unless the

13 Registry tell us all what they've got as the CDs with the list, we have

14 no way of finding out because we've got a pile of CDs which we closed.

15 But that's the problem that arises.

16 [Trial Chamber and Registrar confer]

17 JUDGE HARHOFF: But, Ms. Korner, if what the Registry has is what

18 they got from you, then how is the Registry to solve the problem.

19 MS. KORNER: It is clear -- no, but, Your Honours, it's clear

20 that something has gone wrong somewhere. We don't know where. Because,

21 as I say, from our point of view, the day we put in videos or were going

22 to put in videos as exhibits, we gave the transcript to the Registry, to

23 everybody, we then handed over a CD of the video to the Registry. And I,

24 or whoever it was, would get up and say please may this be made exhibit

25 whatever it is. And the transcript goes with it.

Page 26405

1 Apparently somewhere along the line, between the -- us handing

2 them over and the Defence and us all thinking that's what's going in,

3 they haven't gone in, at least for this particular exhibit. I don't know

4 if Mr. Zecevic has done any checks on the others, but on this one,

5 certainly. So unless we see what the Registry has list -- the actual

6 physical CD or video that the Registry has listed as the exhibit,

7 together with the transcript, then we can't see what's gone wrong.

8 [Trial Chamber and Registrar confer]

9 [Trial Chamber and Legal Officer confer]

10 JUDGE DELVOIE: Ms. Korner, or Mr. Zecevic, rather than give to

11 the Prosecution new copies of the CDs they already have, and to the -- to

12 the Defence something they already got, I think, twice, so this would be

13 the third CDs -- CD that would be handed to them, wouldn't it be enough

14 if the Registry would give you a list of the CDs with the matching

15 transcripts -- with the numbers of the matching transcripts?

16 MR. ZECEVIC: No, it will not, Your Honour, I'm afraid.

17 JUDGE DELVOIE: But you have all that.

18 MR. ZECEVIC: Yes, we agree we have all that. We have hours and

19 hours of video material and only 58 videos have been admitted on the

20 record, Your Honours.

21 Now, what we are saying is that there might be -- what we are

22 saying, we identified there is a mistake; for example, video number 4

23 which was given to us by the Office of the Prosecutor and which is a part

24 of the evidence does not correspond to the transcript number 4. That is

25 our position.

Page 26406

1 And in order to be able to find out where are the errors, the

2 only logical, the only sensible solution is that the Registry provides us

3 with this. We discuss, and then we inform the Trial Chamber, or the

4 Registry, where are the mistakes. And then we approach the Trial Chamber

5 and ask that there should be a supplemented video instead of this number

6 4, there should be another video put as number 4. That is the only

7 sensible solution. And I think it will assist the Trial Chamber

8 ultimately. Because, Your Honours, at the point when you -- with all due

9 respect, you will review the evidence at a certain point in future, then

10 you will have on one situation a video which does not correspond at all

11 to the -- to the transcript.

12 So I believe it's in the interests of all parties, and we -- we

13 spoke for hours and exchanged e-mails, and, believe me, the only sensible

14 solution is that. And we wouldn't have, if it wasn't for Registry

15 denial, we wouldn't have raised this matter with the Trial Chamber at all

16 because we think it's a practically technical matter. Until the moment

17 when find where the errors are, and then when we have to remedy those

18 errors, we would approach the Trial Chamber with them.

19 JUDGE HALL: Well, to the extent that, and what has passed

20 between the -- the Bench and counsel with the assistance of our Court

21 Officer, we are still in a position where -- I don't think there is

22 anything that the Bench can, practically speaking, do today. And

23 therefore I would, as I had originally -- earlier suggested that counsel

24 seek to identify with the Registry officer the -- such of the problem as

25 cannot be resolved between them as counsel and would require the

Page 26407

1 intervention of the Bench. But it would seem to be premature at this

2 stage and practically impossible for the Bench to attempt to do it --

3 because it wouldn't know what it's ordering or requiring.

4 MS. KORNER: Well, Your Honours, I see the problem. I think with

5 respect can we at least adopt Your Honours' suggestion that the Registry

6 start by sending us, please, all of us, a list of the videos admitted as

7 exhibits with the ERN numbers and also the video -- the transcripts so

8 that we can see what, at least they say, are the ERN numbers plus that.

9 So would Your Honours, just to save any future discussion with

10 the Registry, order that, as a starter.

11 JUDGE HALL: So ordered.

12 MS. KORNER: Thank you.

13 JUDGE HALL: And I gather there is no practical difficulty with

14 that. So the Chamber makes that order, which should be your starting

15 point.

16 MR. ZECEVIC: Thank you very much, Ms. Korner.

17 And thank you, Your Honours.

18 I thought that this -- that the first thing would be easy,

19 but ...

20 Now I'm coming to a second thing which is a slightly complex

21 issue.

22 JUDGE HALL: If it is what I believe it to be, do we have to go

23 into private session?

24 MR. ZECEVIC: No, it's CHS.

25 JUDGE HALL: Oh, I see.

Page 26408

1 MR. ZECEVIC: The second matter is related to CHS.

2 The -- by order of the Trial Chamber of February 1st, 2011, the

3 CHS, like -- as a -- or POD, whatever it's called, with the underlying

4 material is admitted as evidence.

5 Now, Your Honours, we intend to make a submission on the CHS and

6 the underlying material. As you know, we opposed that, we challenged,

7 and so on and so forth. Now, for us, the -- the logical solution was

8 that we do that in the final -- in the final arguments or in the final

9 brief, but we are in the hands of Your Honours when we should make that

10 submission. It can be either done at a certain point in time between now

11 and the -- and before we file the final submissions, or in the -- in the

12 time where -- when we are filing our final briefs and making our final

13 submissions.

14 However, Your Honours, if Your Honours will -- will consider that

15 the appropriate time for our submission would be final brief or the final

16 arguments, then I have to raise another issue with -- with the Trial

17 Chamber. And that is, there is 1.760 victims in the CHS. We have

18 created our spreadsheet with the colours which will show what are the --

19 in our opinion, and in our submissions, were the -- what are the failures

20 of the CHS. However, we also, in order to be -- to make -- to make it

21 available for the trier of fact to understand why we think this is a

22 failure, we prepared a short narrative on each and every one of these

23 1.760 witnesses contained in the CHS.

24 Now, Your Honours, when we were reviewing our product, it came to

25 our attention that we have approximately 120 words per victim because,

Page 26409

1 Your Honours, we are challenging the sources and we are challenging the

2 contents of the CHS. And, of course, we have to name the sources and the

3 contents that we are challenging, and, plus, give the name to identify

4 the witness. And it comes roughly to 120 words per one victim.

5 Now, all that compiled, if we would use that approximate value,

6 with 1.760 witnesses, it bought us to 211.000 words. Now -- I'm sorry,

7 Your Honours.

8 JUDGE DELVOIE: [Microphone not activated]

9 MR. ZECEVIC: Well, I think -- I think approximately 350 words is

10 per page.

11 Now, the problem is the directive says 60.000 pages for the final

12 brief. We assume that, due to the -- to the size of this case, that our

13 friends from the Office of the Prosecutor will join us for a request to

14 the Chamber that we be given an additional amount of -- of pages for the

15 final briefs, to extend the -- this limit of 60.000. But I wanted to

16 raise this at this point, this issue with the CHS, because it is

17 rather -- it's not like we are asking for 10.000, 20.000, or 30.000

18 pages, we are asking for another 211 --

19 JUDGE HARHOFF: Words.

20 MR. ZECEVIC: I'm sorry, words. I'm sorry.

21 Words, yes. So ...

22 [Trial Chamber confers]

23 MR. ZECEVIC: Your Honours, may I say that we don't expect the

24 Trial Chamber to give us a decision today, but we just wanted to inform

25 the Trial Chamber about the thing that we --

Page 26410

1 JUDGE DELVOIE: Well, we eventually could, Mr. Zecevic, if you

2 make the application for an extended -- are you making the application?

3 MR. ZECEVIC: Yes. But I -- I thought that we will discuss the

4 matter on the -- on -- on the -- on -- on our administrative hearing next

5 week, about the -- the -- the size of the final briefs. But I'm

6 making --

7 JUDGE DELVOIE: Well, one solution could be that we give you the

8 possibility to file this particular issue separately and electronically

9 in that case.

10 MR. ZECEVIC: Well, we would --

11 JUDGE DELVOIE: In an Excel format, please. So perhaps that's

12 something to think about for next Thursday.

13 MR. ZECEVIC: No, that would be really very helpful and we would

14 be very grateful to Your Honours if you would give us that opportunity.

15 JUDGE DELVOIE: Ms. Korner.

16 MS. KORNER: Your Honours, we have no objection to that at all,

17 subject -- would it -- would it really be -- I suppose in one sense it

18 would be a motion to which we would have an opportunity to respond

19 because normally what would happen is we would file final briefs on the

20 seam day, and then if anybody replied to respond to each others' final

21 briefs, but if there's a -- this is going to be filed separately,

22 effectively, I suppose, as a motion, and not part of the final brief,

23 then do we get a chance to respond to it?

24 [Trial Chamber confers]

25 JUDGE DELVOIE: Yes, Ms. Korner. You're right. You would have a

Page 26411

1 possibility to respond.

2 MS. KORNER: Yes. Right. Well, then, Your Honours, we don't

3 have any objection to that.

4 JUDGE DELVOIE: Okay.

5 MR. ZECEVIC: Just to be very precise, Your Honours.

6 Your Honour, Judge Delvoie, mentioned the Excel format. We do have our

7 analysis in the Excel format. However, the Excel format without the

8 narrative is not -- is, I'm afraid, could be meaningless or basically the

9 Trial Chamber will not be able or the other party to follow the Excel

10 sheet comments without the narrative and that is why we need to file both

11 of them.

12 JUDGE DELVOIE: Yes, of course. But you could -- you could put

13 the narrative in the Excel format as well. Each victim being linked to

14 the narrative on another sheet.

15 MR. ZECEVIC: I understand.

16 JUDGE DELVOIE: Which would make things easier to consult and to

17 study. But, whatever. Of course, you need to file both, that's for

18 sure.

19 MR. ZECEVIC: I understand, Your Honours.

20 May I check this technical aspect and come back to Your Honours

21 next Thursday.

22 JUDGE DELVOIE: Okay. Thank you.

23 MR. ZECEVIC: Thank you very much.

24 MS. KORNER: Your Honours, there's just one matter. Of course,

25 the -- this exercise as Mr. Zecevic knows which he has done, as we told

Page 26412

1 him yesterday, won't be based on the final version because as Your

2 Honours know by the 10th of January we should have all the translations

3 back and, additionally, we're applying to add the further death

4 certificates. So just -- presumably this filing will not be made until

5 that happens, so after the 10th of January.

6 MR. ZECEVIC: Definitely. We do not intend to file until we get

7 the final version from the Office of the Prosecutor. Then we will

8 prepare our document and file it. Thank you.

9 If it pleases the Court, yes.

10 MS. KORNER: Then, Your Honours may I just raise two matters

11 briefly.

12 As Your Honours know and as Judge Hall explained, the

13 administrative hearing - I was going to say a la Seselj style, but

14 whatever - will be held on Thursday for which I won't be present. I did

15 suggest that I might raise matters that Your Honours might want to put on

16 to an to an agenda, but I think it's probably more sensible, if we may,

17 that we e-mail the Senior Legal Officer with our suggestions for the

18 agenda, if that seems suitable.

19 [Trial Chamber and Legal Officer confer]

20 JUDGE HALL: [Microphone not activated] Any matters which might

21 not have been obvious to the Chamber, it would be useful if counsel

22 could, by e-mail, indicate items which need to be dealt with at that

23 hearing.

24 MS. KORNER: Yes.

25 JUDGE HALL: Thanks.

Page 26413

1 MS. KORNER: Your Honour, the second matter is, as I believe Your

2 Honours are aware, this is Ms. Pidwell's last day in the Tribunal. For

3 some reason she wishes to exchange winter in Holland for summer in New

4 Zealand, and nobody can understand that.

5 Your Honours, it's only right and proper, therefore, that she

6 should have dealt with the last witness. Anyone who thinks that Senior

7 Trial Attorneys run cases would be gravely mistaken. It is the P-4s who

8 are the backbone and the real force in, I think, any case in this

9 Tribunal as far as the Office of the Prosecutor is concerned.

10 In Ms. Pidwell's case, although she was one of the last arrivals

11 of the team for the Office of the Prosecutor in this case, by dint of her

12 personality and her clear management skills, as well as her courtroom

13 skills which Your Honours have had a chance to observe, she took on the

14 role really by osmosis, but without any complaint at all of really

15 running the team, as was made very clear to me in no uncertain terms at

16 the last time that Ms. Pidwell left temporarily.

17 Your Honour, her leaving does leave a real hole in the team,

18 which I hope will be acknowledged by perhaps a little more leeway on

19 writing motions and the like, but Your Honours, I felt it was only right

20 that on behalf of the Office of the Prosecutor, I should make this plain

21 in Court.

22 JUDGE HALL: Thank you. I didn't realize. I knew that she would

23 leaving us soon, but I didn't realize that today was the last day that we

24 would be seeing her before the Tribunal. And certainly on behalf of all

25 of us on the Bench, we, first of all, thank you for your assistance, to

Page 26414

1 repeat what I would have said in terms when another of your colleagues

2 was departing, that despite the adversarial nature of what we do, the

3 system only works and trials only function if there is a large measure of

4 cooperation, and we have no reason to believe that counsel opposite have

5 ever had good reason - and I emphasise good - to complain about your

6 failure to cooperate when cooperation was called for, and we thank you

7 for your assistance and wish you all the best in your future career.

8 As it turns out today is a day of partings, because in addition

9 to Ms. Pidwell's going today is the last day that we would have before us

10 our Senior Legal Officer, Ms. Yvonne Featherstone.

11 The Tribunal recently observed its 18th anniversary, and at the

12 risk of embarrassing Yvonne in terms of the numbers of summers that she

13 would have seen, it is useful to recognise that a child who was born when

14 the Tribunal began would be about to graduate secondary school. So we've

15 been around for, in this compact age in which we live, well neigh a

16 generation, and she has been with us for an enormous -- for most of that

17 time, and it is a fact on which I have continuously relied in the two

18 -plus years that I have been here and it has been a source of probably

19 some mild annoyance to here and amusement to me, I must confess, that

20 whenever any problems or questions arose, such as we were faced with

21 today, that I would ask in the -- all the years you have been here, this

22 matter hasn't been resolved. So this has become a sort of running

23 joke -- joke with us. I always remind her that she has been here in the

24 expression that is used, since the flood, by which of course I mean

25 Noah's flood, and of course she reminds that she has actually been here

Page 26415

1 long enough to remember there is an actual flood in the basement of this

2 building.

3 So that the -- the, as I said, that institutional memory,

4 unfortunately, will no longer be available to us, and on behalf of the

5 Bench and the team in this trial and the other trials in which we have

6 worked with her, I commend and thank her, and the -- one of the things

7 that I would personally remember, of course, is her even disposition and

8 her -- what I would describe as a focussed rather than flamboyant

9 enthusiasm in terms of solving the problems which has beset all of us.

10 So we -- although this is not the conclusion of this case, we

11 have an administrative hearing as we all know next week, and we return

12 early in the new year to wind up a number of matters before this case is

13 formally closed, and I know that Ms. Featherstone would have wished to

14 see this case through the end, but the nature of life is that on

15 occasions such as this, invite any number of cliches, but life moves on.

16 And like Ms. Pidwell, we wish her all the best in her future

17 endeavours.

18 MS. KORNER: Your Honour, the Office of the Prosecutor obviously

19 wishes Ms. Featherstone the best in the future as well.

20 MR. ZECEVIC: Well, there would be not be many opportunities, but

21 I will join my words with Ms. Korner in this trial, but I would like to

22 put on the record that in this case, and in case of Ms. Pidwell, we do

23 from our heart. Thank you very much.

24 MR. KRGOVIC: And Mr. Zupljanin Defence submits, too.

25 JUDGE HALL: Thank you.

Page 26416

1 So we take the adjournment, to reconvene on --

2 [Trial Chamber confers]

3 JUDGE HALL: -- to reconvene at 9.00 on Thursday; probably in

4 this same courtroom.

5 --- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at 1.11 p.m.,

6 to be reconvened on Thursday, the 15th of December,

7 2011, at 9.00 a.m.