090619IT

Page 6293

1 Friday, 19 June 2009

2 [Open session]

3 [The accused entered court]

4 --- Upon commencing at 10.02 a.m.

5 JUDGE PARKER: Good morning. We delayed the start this morning

6 by an hour because of reports that reached us late yesterday that the

7 witness intended for today was unwell on his arrival in The Hague.

8 Mr. Stamp, are you able to give any further indication?

9 MR. STAMP: Yes, Your Honour, but I believe Ms. Nilsen is more

10 familiar with the details than I am.

11 JUDGE PARKER: We would be grateful if Ms. Nilsen could help us,

12 then, Mr. Stamp.

13 MS. NILSEN: Good morning, Your Honours. Because the witness

14 suffered from very high blood sugar level yesterday as a result of his

15 diabetic diagnosis, we had to suspend the proofing yesterday, as he was

16 seeking the doctor and received some medication. We conditioned late in

17 the afternoon when he came back, but then he was pretty exhausted and we

18 were told that the doctor has said he needed rest.

19 We still have several hours of readback with a language

20 assistant, pretty lengthy transcripts from the Milutinovic et al.

21 testimony and the Milosevic testimony he gave, and the estimated time

22 remaining of the proofing are five hours or so.

23 So the Prosecution planned to spread this proofing a little bit

24 over the weekend so we can follow the doctor's advice and let the witness

25 rest a little bit in between.

Page 6294

1 We aim to finish the proofing with him during this weekend and in

2 order to have him ready to testify after General Drewienkiewicz according

3 to the original notification of the witness order. That means that we

4 don't have any other witnesses who can fill in for him today,

5 unfortunately, as this was a cause that came up yesterday. Thank you.

6 JUDGE PARKER: The information which has reached the Tribunal at

7 chambers this morning indicates that the effect of the witness's

8 condition, although improved from yesterday because of medication and

9 rest, is still significant, and that it will require indeed more rest and

10 the effects of further treatment before he will be in a stable condition.

11 Because of that, in the view of the Chamber, it would not be

12 appropriate to expect the witness to give evidence today, and inevitably

13 his evidence must be delayed until next week as a witness had been

14 programmed for Monday, it will mean that this witness will not be reached

15 until late Tuesday or Wednesday in the ordinary expectation.

16 There is this witness and another, each of whom can be

17 anticipated to be reasonably short in their evidence, and we need to

18 finish by Wednesday evening of next week because we have made

19 arrangements to enable the accused to give evidence in other proceedings

20 for Thursday and Friday of next week.

21 So unfortunately, but the circumstances require it, unfortunately

22 we must adjourn today to continue our evidence on Monday with the

23 evidence of the intended witness on that day, and we hope that by then

24 the condition of the witness intended for today will have improved to

25 enable him to be ready to give evidence on the completion of the evidence

Page 6295

1 of the witness that commences on Monday morning.

2 If there is no other matter.

3 MR. STAMP: Your Honour.

4 JUDGE PARKER: Yes, Mr. Stamp.

5 MR. STAMP: I was just wondering if it might be a convenient time

6 just to apprise the court of the general situation in respect to the

7 remaining witnesses.

8 JUDGE PARKER: Yes.

9 MR. STAMP: There are 33 witnesses remaining. We have been

10 proceeding --

11 JUDGE PARKER: Your mathematics and mine don't agree, but

12 that's --

13 MR. STAMP: 35, I think.

14 JUDGE PARKER: You may know more than we do.

15 MR. STAMP: Yes, I think --

16 JUDGE PARKER: I think 31.

17 MR. STAMP: I think there are 35 on the list.

18 JUDGE PARKER: I'm merely looking at the list that we have

19 approved. Let's not worry about two witnesses at the moment, Mr. Stamp,

20 but we're keeping a score card as well.

21 MR. STAMP: That is cause for some concern on the part of the

22 Prosecution that we have more than have been approved, but I will look

23 into that.

24 We have been moving, Your Honour, at a tremendous pace in this

25 case since it started in terms of the number of witnesses we have taken

Page 6296

1 over a short period of time.

2 JUDGE PARKER: In the view of the Chamber, at a slow pace.

3 Expectations can differ, but we are each very experienced Judges from

4 different jurisdictions of the world and the pace we have been concerned

5 about is slow.

6 MR. STAMP: Yes, Your Honour. This is, if I may say, one of the

7 natural consequences of trying to get witnesses from various countries in

8 the world to attend, and usually I think at the end of the cases you find

9 that it is the most difficult witnesses who remain, witnesses who each

10 have serious individual problems, usually health problems, that make it

11 very very difficult to schedule them. And I can indicate to the Court

12 that the vast majority of these remaining witnesses are witnesses who

13 fall in that category.

14 After the witnesses next week, we will have completed all of the

15 civilian crime-based witnesses, as they are called, apart from those that

16 we have moved the Court for leave to do by videolink, and two victims.

17 The remaining witnesses are generally problematic in respect to health

18 issues or other issues which I could not deal with in open court.

19 But I believe that we will be able to fulfill all the remaining

20 weeks force this term with the witnesses. We have scheduled them, and it

21 is very very difficult because even this morning, two persons had to

22 cancel because of outstanding issues with health or with personal issues

23 in respect to the countries in which they presently reside.

24 As I indicated, some of them do not reside in either Kosovo or in

25 Serbia, and it makes travel arrangements very difficult.

Page 6297

1 I just wanted to apprise the Court of those difficulties we are

2 having, but to indicate to the Court that we are doing everything

3 possible. And I expect that we will be able to fill all the days going

4 into the break, going into the upcoming recess.

5 Thank you very much, Your Honours.

6 JUDGE PARKER: Thank you, Mr. Stamp

7 [Trial Chamber confers]

8 JUDGE PARKER: We will adjourn now to resume on Monday. I think

9 it's 9.00 on Monday. Thank you. 9.00 Monday. Thank you very much.

10 --- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at 10.11 a.m.,

11 to be reconvened on Monday the day 22nd day of

12 June, 2009, at 9.00 a.m.