1 Wednesday, 29 July 1998

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2 (Closed session)

3 --- Upon commencing at 10.03 a.m.

13 Pages 10942 to 11025 redacted - in closed sesion

1 --- On resuming at 3.07 p.m.

2 (Open session)

3 JUDGE JORDA: The hearing is now in session.

4 Would you please, registrar, have the accused brought

5 in?

6 (The accused entered court)

7 JUDGE JORDA: Mr. Kehoe, you have the floor.

8 MR. KEHOE: Thank you, Mr. President. Good

9 afternoon. Good afternoon, Judge Shahabuddeen.

10 Just a few exhibits, Mr. President, to clean

11 up. We had previously had an exhibit, which was a

12 videotape, and the number of that video is

13 Exhibit 270. When we played that tape, we mistakenly

14 cut off the beginning portion of the tape, and what we

15 would like to do at this point is play the complete

16 copy of that tape.

17 I would also say that I was advised during

18 the playing of that tape that there were several words

19 in B/C/S that were incorrect in the transcript, and we

20 have changed those as well pursuant to instructions

21 from the translators.

22 In any event, Judge, we would ask to

23 introduce into evidence an amended version of

24 Exhibit 270 with the amended transcript.

25 JUDGE JORDA: Are you ending your

1 presentation of evidence this afternoon, Mr. Kehoe?

2 MR. KEHOE: Yes, Mr. President, we will.

3 JUDGE JORDA: Very well, then. Continue.

4 MR. KEHOE: Mr. President, as I noted at the

5 outset, this is a clip that was taken from TV Busovaca,

6 and at this point, we would like to offer into evidence

7 this clip. I do believe that the original had a French

8 translation and this particular version did not have a

9 French translation to date. So if we could just play

10 this tape from the beginning and allow it to play

11 through, we will follow up with the transcript in

12 French.

13 With all due respect, Mr. Dubuisson, if we

14 could just move to Exhibit 270, whatever the next

15 letter designation is, so if we could keep this tape

16 and transcript in sequence, I think it would be of some

17 assistance in the record-keeping.

18 THE REGISTRAR: For the time being, we have

19 270, which includes a video cassette, images of the

20 events of 15 April, 1993 in Busovaca; we have 270A,

21 which is the transcripts, the French transcripts of

22 Exhibit 270; and 270B, this is the transcript in

23 English of the same exhibit; and in the end, we have

24 270C, which is an excerpt of the cassette, 270, with

25 some images.

1 You are now requesting then that you would

2 like to obtain another letter, 270D, for the entire

3 cassette?

4 MR. KEHOE: Yes.

5 THE REGISTRAR: Very well. Then 270D, and

6 270E for the complete transcript in English?

7 MR. KEHOE: Yes.

8 THE REGISTRAR: And 280F for the transcript,

9 the full transcript, in French.

10 MR. KEHOE: When that's completed, I will

11 give you 270F, yes.

12 THE REGISTRAR: Very well.

13 MR. KEHOE: The transcript that had been

14 previously provided in French and English is basically

15 the same as the transcript that we are now presenting

16 other than a few names that were apparently left out.

17 THE REGISTRAR: The document that I have at

18 this moment here is a transcript in English which is

19 numbered 270E.

20 MR. KEHOE: Mr. President, with the French

21 translation in 270B, I believe, Mr. President, you

22 could follow along with a French translation and we can

23 follow the transcript through.

24 JUDGE JORDA: So for the time being, I do not

25 have a French translation, Mr. Kehoe.

1 MR. KEHOE: There is a French translation,

2 270B, Mr. President, and as I noted, the only

3 difference between 270B and 270C, in this particular

4 version, there are a couple of names that I was

5 informed were left out of the tape, and we just tried

6 to make it as accurate as possible. But I think it

7 would be easier for the Court, Mr. President, if

8 Mr. Dubuisson gave 270B to Your Honour and you could

9 follow it through.

10 JUDGE JORDA: I don't know if he has it.

11 Mr. Dubuisson?

12 As far as I'm concerned, I think we can go

13 ahead. Judge Shahabuddeen has his version. I have my

14 version in French. Thank you. We can begin.

15 Mr. Dubuisson?

16 MR. KEHOE: If I could ask the lights be

17 dimmed briefly and we can play the tape.

18 THE INTERPRETER: The interpreters note, if

19 the interpreters are requested to interpret this, we

20 might need a copy of the transcript.

21 THE REGISTRAR: This is a public document.

22 We are in a public session.

23 MR. KEHOE: It is a public document and is in

24 public session. I believe, with the transcripts that

25 are before the court, there is no need for the

1 translation section to translate everything verbatim.

2 What we have before the court is the actual translation

3 section's translation.

4 JUDGE JORDA: Very well.

5 (Videotape played)

6 MR. KEHOE: Mr. President, it appears that

7 even with the new exhibit, the last four lines of the

8 last page did not make it to this video where the

9 individual says that they are going towards the village

10 of Ahmici. That, of course, made it to the previous

11 exhibit, so we can again go back and put the exhibit

12 together and show it to Defence counsel in its toto.

13 I'm not certain why it didn't make it to the super VHS

14 when it did make it to the other copies.

15 In any event, with that caveat, Your Honours,

16 we will offer that these be viewed in tandem and we

17 will, again, supply a corrected copy.

18 JUDGE JORDA: Mr. Hayman?

19 MR. HAYMAN: I would note, for the record,

20 that we have a certain amount of confusion concerning

21 this tape because Mr. Nobilo's office contacted TV

22 Busovaca, the source for the tape, we were told. They

23 informed Mr. Nobilo's office that they never had any

24 contact with anyone from the Office of the Tribunal

25 Prosecutor, including provision of a tape. So we're a

1 little uncertain as to this tape, and the only reason

2 we mention it is there were different portions of the

3 tape. Some of them may have been made by different

4 cameras. We just don't know, and we were attempting to

5 investigate and see if there was any additional

6 footage, and that is the information we were given by

7 TV Busovaca.

8 MR. KEHOE: This particular tape was Busovaca

9 TV tape that was provided to us in a request from the

10 Bosnian government, but the initial source of this, we

11 are informed, is Busovaca TV.

12 JUDGE JORDA: Yes, Mr. Nobilo?

13 MR. NOBILO: Mr. President, when this exhibit

14 is being admitted, the representative of the

15 Prosecutor's office said that the source was Busovaca

16 Television. On the basis of that information, I

17 checked with Television Busovaca and also in the

18 municipality of Busovaca, which is the owner of

19 Busovaca Television, and we received two letters, which

20 are being translated in the registry, from which it

21 emerges that they never provided the Prosecution with

22 such a tape.

23 Today, the Prosecution tells us something

24 else, that the source is no longer Busovaca Television,

25 but rather the army of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which is

1 something quite different from what they had said

2 originally.

3 So could this matter be cleared up in

4 accordance with the rules? The source has to be

5 indicated or a witness has to be brought in to

6 authenticate the exhibit. Thank you.

7 MR. KEHOE: Quite simply, Mr. President, the

8 source of this is Busovaca TV. We made a request of

9 the Bosnian government if there was any film footage

10 concerning this matter. They informed us in giving

11 this that this particular tape is from Busovaca TV.

12 Now, it was handed to us pursuant to a request from the

13 Bosnian government. That's all I know. If there was

14 some lack of clarification in that regard at the

15 outset, I apologise, but that's where it came from.

16 JUDGE JORDA: This is a Rule 71 hearing, and

17 so we are forced then to confer with Judge Riad. So

18 for the time being, we are simply going to say that we

19 will provisionally admit this video cassette, along

20 with explanations given by the Prosecutor and by the

21 Defence, and then we will advise you whether or not

22 this will be admitted as an exhibit, keeping in mind,

23 of course, the objection with regard to the source.

24 Mr. Kehoe?

25 MR. KEHOE: Mr. President, at this point, I

1 will turn the floor over to my colleague, Mr. Cayley.

2 MR. CAYLEY: Good afternoon, Mr. President,

3 Judge Shahabuddeen. The final exhibit is Exhibit 462,

4 if that could be distributed to the Judges and the

5 Defence, please?

6 Exhibit 462, Mr. President, Your Honour,

7 consists of, firstly, two rubrics, the first in French,

8 the second in English, which is a translation of the

9 common terms used in the following 93 death

10 certificates. The 93 death certificates contained in

11 this exhibit are those which were issued in respect of

12 those Bosnian Muslims who were killed on the 16th and

13 17th of April in the municipality of Vitez, and the

14 certificates relate specifically to those who died in

15 Ahmici, Pirici, Santici, and Nadioci, clearly relevant

16 to a number of counts in the indictment.

17 These 93 death certificates do not represent

18 the total number of individuals who were killed. Why

19 is that? Well, there are a number of reasons. First

20 and foremost, in order to obtain a death certificate in

21 Bosnia and Herzegovina, the system is common - in fact,

22 it's common in my country - that an interested party

23 must make an application for a death certificate with a

24 physician's examination record or a coroner's report

25 indicating that the person was dead.

1 In a number of cases, the people that were

2 killed had no living relative remaining to make such

3 application. So the final figure for the dead is

4 unknown but could be in the region of 120. I say that

5 simply to clarify matters, and it may be that in other

6 cases that are heard in this Chamber, the figure may be

7 different.

8 I don't wish to add anything else. I would

9 simply apply for these to be admitted into evidence.

10 JUDGE JORDA: Mr. Hayman, Mr. Nobilo, no

11 objections?

12 MR. NOBILO: No objection.

13 JUDGE JORDA: It will be admitted. There are

14 no objections.

15 MR. HARMON: Good afternoon, Mr. President,

16 Judge Shahabuddeen, counsel.

17 With that, Mr. President and Judge

18 Shahabuddeen, we have concluded the presentation of our

19 evidence and we rest our case in chief. I would make

20 one request, Mr. President, and that is that the

21 Chamber permit the Prosecutor's office to reserve the

22 opportunity to present evidence that it may receive

23 from the Republic of Croatia and from Bosnia and

24 Herzegovina pursuant to orders that have been issued by

25 this Court and that have not been abided by this

1 Court.

2 Other than that, Mr. President, we rest our

3 case. I would make an additional request of Your

4 Honours, and that is at the conclusion of this public

5 hearing, that we go into a closed session in-camera to

6 further discuss an issue that was raised yesterday with

7 the Trial Chamber. We will be just a matter of minutes

8 in that regard. Thank you.

9 JUDGE JORDA: Mr. Hayman?

10 MR. HAYMAN: With respect to the request to

11 reserve the right to present further evidence, the

12 Defence filed a legal brief on that question as

13 requested by the Court in the middle of June, and we do

14 not have anything to add to the arguments and

15 authorities set forth in that brief.

16 JUDGE JORDA: Thank you. As you know, there

17 are orders, binding orders, which have been issued, but

18 to date -- perhaps we should go to closed session on

19 this note and continue with this as a status conference

20 in closed session.

21 --- Whereupon proceedings adjourned at

22 3.50 p.m. for Status Conference

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