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1 Tuesday, 30 June 2015
2 [Status Conference]
3 [Open session]
4 [The appellants entered court]
5 --- Upon commencing at 9.30 a.m.
6 JUDGE AGIUS: Good morning, everybody.
7 Madam Registrar, could you call the case, please.
8 THE REGISTRAR: Good morning, Your Honour. This is case number
9 IT-08-91-A, the Prosecutor versus Mico Stanisic and Stojan Zupljanin.
10 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay. Thank you.
11 Could I have appearances. Prosecution first.
12 MS. ELMORE: Good morning, Your Honour. Elizabeth Elmore on
13 behalf of the Prosecution. I'm here today with senior appeals counsel
14 Laurel Baig and case manager Colin Nawrot. Also with us today are
15 appeals interns Hyuree Kim and Lindsay Cumming.
16 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you very much.
17 Appearances for Mr. Stanisic.
18 MR. ZECEVIC: Good morning, Your Honour. Slobodan Zecevic
19 appearing for Mr. Stanisic this morning. Thank you.
20 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you.
21 And appearances for Mr. Zupljanin.
22 MR. KRGOVIC: Good morning, Your Honour. Dragan Krgovic
23 appearing for Zupljanin Defence.
24 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you.
25 Before we proceed, I just want to make sure that both appellants
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1 can follow the proceedings in a language that they can understand.
2 Mr. Stanisic, I address myself to you first. Are you able to
3 follow the proceedings and understand them?
4 THE APPELLANT STANISIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour. Thank
5 you.
6 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you.
7 Mr. Zupljanin, are you able to follow the proceedings and
8 understand them?
9 THE APPELLANT ZUPLJANIN: [Interpretation] I am not receiving
10 interpretation, Your Honour, so I'm not sure what you're asking me.
11 JUDGE AGIUS: Could someone please check that he is on the right
12 channel to start with, and I will continue speaking. Can you hear me
13 now?
14 THE APPELLANT ZUPLJANIN: [Interpretation] Yes, I can hear you
15 now.
16 JUDGE AGIUS: All right. Thank you. So I have a question for
17 you, Mr. Zupljanin. I just want to make sure that you can follow the
18 proceedings in a language that you understand.
19 THE APPELLANT ZUPLJANIN: [Interpretation] Yes, I can follow the
20 proceedings in a language that I understand.
21 JUDGE AGIUS: That's good. Thank you.
22 THE APPELLANT ZUPLJANIN: [Interpretation] Thank you.
23 JUDGE AGIUS: This Status Conference is called in accordance with
24 Rule 65 bis of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. Sub-rule (B) of Rule
25 65 bis requires a Status Conference to be convened within 120 days after
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1 the filing of a notice of appeal, and thereafter within 120 days after
2 the last Status Conference. The reason is to allow -- or the purpose is
3 to allow any person in custody pending appeal the opportunity to raise
4 issues in relation thereto and including also the mental and physical
5 condition of that person.
6 In the present case, the parties filed their notices of appeal on
7 13th May 2013 and the first Status Conference was held on 4th September
8 2013. The second to sixth Status Conferences were held on 11th December
9 2013, 9th April 2014, 24th July 2014, and 12th November 2014, and
10 9th March 2015 respectively.
11 Today's Status Conference is the seventh in this case and was
12 scheduled pursuant to an order issued by myself on the 14th of May, 2015.
13 Now the first part of today's agenda relates to the detention
14 conditions and health -- possible health issues of appellants. Thus I
15 would like to inquire into the status of your detention conditions and
16 health situation, Mr. Stanisic and Mr. Zupljanin.
17 I will start with you, Mr. Stanisic. If you have any concerns in
18 relation to the conditions of your detention or your state of health, I
19 would invite you to raise them now. And if you prefer, this discussion
20 can take place in private session.
21 THE APPELLANT STANISIC: [Interpretation] No, we do not need a
22 private session. The situation has not changed since last time. It's
23 such that I can stand it and there is nothing special that I have to say.
24 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay. Thank you.
25 Mr. Zupljanin, if you have any concerns in relation to the
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1 conditions of your detention or your state of health, please speak now.
2 If you would prefer, this discussion can take place in private session.
3 THE APPELLANT ZUPLJANIN: [Interpretation] No need to go to a
4 private session. Everything is regular, unchanged, everything continues
5 as it has until now. Thank you.
6 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you very much.
7 Now I will go to the next item which is the recent procedural
8 history. I know that this is -- contains nothing new as far as you are
9 concerned, but one of the reasons of a Status Conference is also to
10 inform the general public and those who are following us.
11 Before turning to any issues that the parties may wish to raise,
12 I will outline the recent procedural history of this case, focusing on
13 decisions and orders issued since the last Status Conference held on the
14 9th of March of this year. Indeed, one of the purposes of a
15 Status Conference is to inform people outside the Tribunal of what is
16 happening in a particular case, even though this information, as I have
17 just stated, is already known by the parties.
18 First, with regard to the composition of the Appeals Chamber
19 seized of the present case, I recall that on the 22nd of April of this
20 year, the President of the Tribunal appointed Judge Christoph Fluegge,
21 Judge Fausto Pocar, and Judge Liu Daqun to replace Judge Arlette
22 Ramaroson, Judge Khalida Khan, and Judge Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov on the
23 Bench respectively.
24 The parties and public may be wondering why these further changes
25 to the Bench were made. The reason is a very simple one. The three
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1 Judges who have been replaced are all Judges of the International
2 Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. As the parties may be aware, the mandate
3 of that Tribunal, the ICTR, and therefore the mandate of any ICTR Judges
4 in the Appeals Chamber will come to an end by the end of the year of this
5 year. When it became clear that this case would not conclude in 2015, it
6 therefore became necessary to replace any ICTR Judge on the Bench with an
7 ICTY Judge whose mandate will continue into 2016. I also recall that on
8 the 20th of April this year, the Prosecution filed a confidential motion
9 requesting that an exhibit be placed under seal. And the Appeals Chamber
10 issued a confidential order granting the motion on 27th May 2015.
11 This concludes my summary of the recent procedural history of
12 this case.
13 I come next to basically the last item of today's
14 Status Conference agenda and that's issues raised by the parties. I
15 would like to address myself first to the Prosecution. Do you wish to
16 raise any issue?
17 MS. ELMORE: Thank you, Your Honour. Only that the Prosecution
18 would renew its request made at prior Status Conferences for as much
19 notice as possible and at least eight weeks prior to the date of the
20 appeal hearing.
21 JUDGE AGIUS: We'll do our best. We'll do our best, Ms. Elmore.
22 The plans are to have the hearing done this year. Without committing
23 myself, it probably will be in November, in November. Earliest it will
24 be October, but it's more probable that we're talking of November. And
25 then the case -- the appeal will be decided mid-next year. Our intention
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1 is to hand down the decision, the judgement, in June of next year.
2 MS. ELMORE: Thank you, Your Honour.
3 JUDGE AGIUS: And so if there are any changes, we will of course
4 inform you.
5 Mr. Stanisic, do you have any issues you would like to raise?
6 I'm asking him first.
7 THE APPELLANT STANISIC: [Microphone not activated]
8 THE INTERPRETER: Microphone, please.
9 THE APPELLANT STANISIC: [Interpretation] No, personally I have
10 nothing.
11 JUDGE AGIUS: All right.
12 Mr. Zecevic.
13 MR. ZECEVIC: Thank you, Your Honour. We have nothing. I would
14 just like to emphasise that we join with the Prosecution for request for
15 as earlier notice as possible, because both my co-counsel Mr. Bourgon and
16 myself are committed to different trials and we would need to know in
17 advance.
18 JUDGE AGIUS: Yeah, but more or less you already know.
19 MR. ZECEVIC: No, no, thank you very much.
20 JUDGE AGIUS: We will of course inform you, as I said, if there
21 are changes.
22 MR. ZECEVIC: Thank you very much.
23 JUDGE AGIUS: Yes, Mr. Zupljanin, do you wish to raise any issue?
24 THE APPELLANT ZUPLJANIN: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I have
25 nothing special to say. And as for the case, Mr. Krgovic will say
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1 anything that needs to be said and I fully trust him. Thank you.
2 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you, Mr. Zupljanin.
3 Mr. Krgovic.
4 MR. KRGOVIC: Nothing from our side, Your Honour. We just join
5 with the Prosecution request about the earlier announcement of the
6 hearing.
7 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay. You heard me on that already.
8 Unless there is anything else you would like to raise, I believe
9 this concludes today's Status Conference. I thank the parties for their
10 attendance and co-operation and call the proceedings to a close. Thank
11 you.
12 --- Whereupon the Status Conference adjourned
13 at 9.43 a.m.
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