Page 846
1 Monday, 29 March 2004
2 [Status Conference]
3 [The appellant entered court]
4 --- Upon commencing at 4.02 p.m.
5 JUDGE POCAR: Good afternoon to everybody. Madam Registrar, can
6 you call for the case.
7 THE REGISTRAR: Yes, Your Honour. Good afternoon, Your Honour.
8 This is the case number IT-95-14-A, the Prosecutor versus Tihomir Blaskic.
9 JUDGE POCAR: Thank you. The appearances. I have a problem in my
10 earphones. I don't know that is -- unless it is Mr. Hayman calling.
11 MR. HAYMAN: Your Honour, Mr. Hayman is attending by phone.
12 MR. NOBILO: And Anto --
13 JUDGE POCAR: Sorry. It's impossible. It's impossible to go on,
14 I'm sorry. I have terrible noises in my earphones.
15 Hello. Let me call for the appearances first. For the
16 Prosecutor.
17 MR. FARRELL: Good afternoon, Your Honour. Appearing for the
18 Prosecution is Norman Farrell, and with me, Your Honour, are the case
19 managers Ms. Susan Grogan and Mr. Kebba Khan. Thank you.
20 JUDGE POCAR: Thank you. For the appellant.
21 MR. HAYMAN: Yes, Your Honour. For the appellant, Russell Hayman
22 appearing by phone from Los Angeles and my co-counsel Mr. Anto Nobilo
23 appearing by phone from Zagreb, Croatia.
24 JUDGE POCAR: Okay. May I first ask Mr. Blaskic if he can
25 understand the proceedings.
Page 847
1 THE APPELLANT: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honour. I
2 understand the proceedings, and I am able to follow.
3 JUDGE POCAR: [Previous translation continues]... may I further
4 inquire how you feel, how is your health. Are you feeling better?
5 THE APPELLANT: [Interpretation] Yes, much better than I was
6 before.
7 JUDGE POCAR: Thank you. So I understand you can follow the
8 proceedings correctly.
9 Well, I do not have to explain the purpose of this Status
10 Conference as we had quite a number of them through these last years. Let
11 me first, then, ask the Defence whether there is any problem concerning
12 the detention of Mr. Blaskic.
13 MR. HAYMAN: Your Honour, thank you for this opportunity. As you
14 know, we filed a request for an independent medical examination some weeks
15 ago, and with the help of this Chamber an examination was arranged. I
16 have not seen the results of that examination. They may have been given
17 to General Blaskic, but I understand follow-up care and treatment is being
18 organised if it hasn't already occurred, and we are grateful for that and
19 for the Chamber's intervention in this regard. If General Blaskic has
20 other concerns or comments on that situation, I would invite the Court to
21 solicit them from him directly.
22 JUDGE POCAR: I thank you, Mr. Hayman.
23 So may I turn to Mr. Blaskic. Is there any issue concerning your
24 detention or your health you wish to take up today? Perhaps if you had to
25 raise any issue concerning your health, I would suggest that we go into
Page 848
1 private session, but if that's the case, of course. Mr. Blaskic.
2 THE APPELLANT: [No interpretation]
3 THE INTERPRETER: Your Honour, we're not unable to -- we're not
4 able to hear the witness.
5 JUDGE POCAR: Yes. I don't have the translation.
6 THE INTERPRETER: Interpreters are unable to hear the witness when
7 we switch our microphone on. Once our microphone is off, then we can hear
8 the accused.
9 THE APPELLANT: [No interpretation]
10 THE INTERPRETER: We're having a technical problem, Your Honour.
11 JUDGE POCAR: I can't get the translation.
12 THE REGISTRAR: Your Honour, the technician is on his way.
13 JUDGE POCAR: Is the problem fixed, Mr. Blaskic?
14 THE APPELLANT: [Interpretation] I can hear you very well and I'm
15 getting the translation.
16 THE INTERPRETER: We still have a technical problem in the English
17 booth. The minute we turn the microphone on to interpret what Mr. Blaskic
18 is saying, we can no longer hear him.
19 MR. FARRELL: Your Honour, maybe until the technical problem is
20 resolved if General Blaskic would mind just stating one statement, one
21 sentence at a time and then there can be a translation of that one
22 sentence and instead of General Blaskic proceeding throughout, if he just
23 says one statement and then the translation, we may be able to proceed.
24 If not, I'm not sure we'll be able to proceed with the difficulties with
25 the translators.
Page 849
1 JUDGE POCAR: Yes, Mr. Farrell, we can try, but ... Mr. Blaskic,
2 can you try to say one short sentence and then stop a moment for the
3 translation. Maybe we work with -- let's give a try.
4 THE APPELLANT: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I have no questions
5 regarding the treatment in the Detention Unit. The staff's attitude to me
6 is very professional and they are behaving correctly in every way. I
7 would like to thank you and the Detention Unit and the officials of the
8 Detention Unit for making it possible to have an independent medical
9 examination. I have not completed all the tests yet, but once the tests
10 are completed, then I will be waiting for the results of the tests.
11 That's all.
12 JUDGE POCAR: I thank you, Mr. Blaskic. So when we have the
13 results, we'll know how to proceed on that.
14 Can I now turn to the -- to the case. Well, I don't have much to
15 say except that the Appeals Chamber is preparing the judgement. The
16 hearings were already held in this case, so we are on the way to finalise
17 the decision. It will take still some more time to have it, but I cannot
18 now give any exact date for that.
19 Is there any other issue that the parties want to raise at this
20 juncture?
21 Mr. Farrell.
22 MR. FARRELL: On behalf of the Prosecution there isn't, Your
23 Honour. Thank you.
24 JUDGE POCAR: The Defence. Mr. Hayman.
25 MR. HAYMAN: Your Honour, on behalf of the appellant I would
Page 850
1 simply note that we were surprised by filing by the Prosecutor on 24 March
2 seeking to add to the briefing and indeed to the evidence in the case
3 through the filing of a declaration and submission of the other materials.
4 We filed last night an opposition and a request that that filing be
5 stricken in its entirety.
6 JUDGE POCAR: Well, Mr. Hayman, I have just received your
7 response, your objection to the filing of the Prosecution, and I haven't
8 read it yet. I was on the way coming to this courtroom when I got it. So
9 we'll see at the Chambers level how to proceed on the Bench on this.
10 MR. HAYMAN: Yes, Your Honour.
11 JUDGE POCAR: Mr. Farrell.
12 MR. FARRELL: I just wanted to indicate, Your Honour, that we
13 haven't even the filing yet and I'm not in a position to comment on
14 Mr. Hayman's comments on the record, obviously. I'm sorry he's surprised.
15 It probably would help us if he would just indicate one way or the other
16 what the allegation is and then we can move on, but we'll wait for the
17 opposition and respond -- or file a reply - I'm sorry - to that. Thank
18 you.
19 MR. HAYMAN: Your Honour, for the record --
20 JUDGE POCAR: Yes, Mr. Hayman.
21 MR. HAYMAN: May I? Mr. Farrell wants us to take a position on
22 the nature of the Rule 68 disclosures when we've never had any discovery
23 of the Prosecutor's Office of the Prosecutors involved in the other cases,
24 of the investigators involved in this case and other cases, and
25 respectfully, it's not incumbent on us to take a position of whether Rule
Page 851
1 68 violations were intentional or not; and if the Court wants to go into
2 that subject matter, we submit we're going to need to have discovery
3 powers with respect to the Prosecutor's Office and we may need to have a
4 hearing so that, for example, the declarant whose declaration was
5 submitted by Mr. Farrell can be subject to cross-examination, as well as
6 other relevant witnesses from the Prosecutor's office. That is our
7 position.
8 JUDGE POCAR: I thank you, Mr. Hayman.
9 Mr. Farrell.
10 MR. FARRELL: I think we'll wait and respond. It's -- the filing,
11 as you're aware, was simply a request to clarify what their position was
12 during the argument. I'm not in agreement with his proposals, but of
13 course we'll simply respond in writing and put any concerns in writing to
14 you when we file our reply at that time. Thank you.
15 JUDGE POCAR: Thank you, Mr. Farrell. Well, I take note here of
16 this submission and declaration made by the parties. The Appeals Chamber
17 will wait for the reply of the Prosecution to the objection and then we'll
18 take -- we'll consider the motion and make a decision on it.
19 Well, if there is no other matter to take up, I think -- I think
20 there is none. Am I correct, Mr. Farrell?
21 MR. FARRELL: That's correct, Your Honour. Thank you.
22 JUDGE POCAR: Mr. Hayman?
23 MR. HAYMAN: There is none, Your Honour. JUDGE POCAR: Thank you. Then we can
24 adjourn. This Status Conference stands adjourned.
25 Whereupon the Status Conference adjourned at 4.15 p.m.