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1 Wednesday, 21 September 2011
2 [Open session]
3 [The appellant entered court]
4 --- Upon commencing at 9.29 a.m.
5 JUDGE AGIUS: Good morning, everybody.
6 Madam Registrar, could you kindly call the case, please.
7 THE REGISTRAR: Good morning, Your Honour. This is case
8 IT-05-87/1-A, the Prosecutor versus Vlastimir Djordjevic.
9 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you, Madam. Could I have the appearances for
10 the parties, starting with the Prosecution, please.
11 MR. WOOD: Good morning, Your Honour.
12 JUDGE AGIUS: Good morning.
13 MR. WOOD: Kyle Wood and Christine Dahl for the Prosecution,
14 along with case manager Colin Nawrot.
15 JUDGE AGIUS: Kyle Wood?
16 MR. WOOD: Yes, Your Honour.
17 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you. And appearances for Appellant
18 Djordjevic.
19 MR. DJURDJIC: [Interpretation] I wish good morning to all,
20 Your Honours. I am co-counsel, Veljko Djurdjic. With me is
21 Ms. Marie O'Leary, she is our legal assistant and a member of our team.
22 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you, Mr. Djurdjic.
23 Before I proceed any further, I want to make sure that the
24 Appellant Djordjevic is able to follow the proceedings in a language that
25 he can understand.
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1 THE APPELLANT: [Interpretation] Yes.
2 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay.
3 So this Status Conference, as you know, is called in accordance
4 with Rule 65 bis of our Rules of Procedure and Evidence. Rule 65 bis in
5 its paragraph (B) requires a Status Conference to be convened within
6 120 days after the filing of a Notice of Appeal and, thereafter, within
7 120 days after the last Status Conference. The idea is to allow any
8 person in custody pending appeal the opportunity to raise issues in
9 relation thereto, including the mental and physical condition of that
10 person.
11 In the present case, the parties filed their Notices of Appeal,
12 respectively on the 24th of May, 2011, and as you recall the first
13 Status Conference was held and presided over by me on the 30th of May of
14 this year.
15 Today's Status Conference, being the second one, was scheduled by
16 an order signed by me and issued on the 24th of August. Let's start with
17 the first main issue; namely, the detention conditions and health of
18 Appellant Djordjevic. First of all, I would like to point out
19 particularly in relation to health issues, if there are any, that should
20 appellant -- should your client, Mr. Djordjevic, wish so, we can discuss
21 these in private session.
22 So let me ask about -- inquire about the status of his detention
23 conditions first. Are there any problems that your client would like to
24 signal or raise or have discussed?
25 MR. DJURDJIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I am co-counsel
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1 Veljko Djurdjic. As for the health and detention conditions, as regards
2 my client, there have been no changes, and according to his words,
3 everything is fine as it is.
4 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you. You have got nothing to add yourself,
5 Mr. Djordjevic, have you?
6 THE APPELLANT: [Interpretation] No, Your Honour. I am fine.
7 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you. Now, the second matter that we are
8 going to deal with is the recent procedural history and what arises in
9 the wake of what has taken place already.
10 On the 11th of March of this year, as you recall, the parties
11 were granted an extension of time of 60 days to file their Notices of
12 Appeal, this was mainly because of the complexity of the case which was
13 recognised by myself and my colleagues in the Appeals Chamber. On the
14 24th of May, 2011, both the Prosecution and the Djordjevic Defence filed
15 their respective Notices of Appeal. The Prosecution presented two
16 grounds of appeal, while Djordjevic presented 19 grounds of appeal.
17 On the 27th of May, 2011, the Djordjevic Defence filed a motion
18 requesting an extension of time and word limit in respect of its appeal
19 brief. At the Status Conference of a few days after, namely of the
20 30th of May, 2011, and after hearing oral submissions from the parties, I
21 extended the dead-line for filing appeal briefs by seven days up to the
22 15th of August, 2011, and that was applicable for both parties. In
23 addition, I granted the Djordjevic Defence team an extension of up to
24 15.000 words for its appeal brief. That brought up the total allowed of
25 4 to 5.000 words. I also granted the Prosecution the same extension in
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1 respect of its brief and response.
2 Both appellants brief were filed on time on the 15th of August,
3 and I wish here to thank you both for having been punctual in your
4 filing. The respondent's briefs are due no longer than the 26th of
5 September, namely, in another five days' time, and the briefs and reply
6 no longer than the 11th of October, 2011. We need to move forward, and
7 therefore I enjoin you to comply with these dead-lines to the best of
8 your abilities.
9 And I would also like to remind the parties, and this is very
10 important what I am going to say, particularly in relation to the
11 Defence, of the obligation to file public redacted versions of their
12 confidential submissions. I note that the Prosecution filed already the
13 public redacted version of its appeal brief on 17th August 2011. To
14 date, however, more than a month later, we have not yet received a public
15 redacted version of the Djordjevic appeal brief. I encourage the Defence
16 to make this filing as soon as possible, and before I establish the date,
17 I would like to know from you how long do you think it can take you or it
18 would take you to be able to do this?
19 MR. DJURDJIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, the Defence would be
20 able to do that after we received the respondent's brief.
21 JUDGE AGIUS: Yes, but what does that have to do, because what I
22 am asking for is a -- you filed a confidential appeal brief. Now you are
23 required to also file a public redacted one; in other words, the brief
24 itself is not going to change depending on what the respondent's brief
25 will contain. So it's a question of going through what you have already
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1 filed confidentially and redact what needs to be redacted so that you can
2 file it as a public redacted version of the same brief.
3 So how long do you think -- this should have already been done,
4 let's say, about a month ago. So when will you be in a position to do
5 so?
6 MR. DJURDJIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, because of the
7 obligations we had we neglected this obligation, but we will do our best
8 to submit and file this public redacted version as soon as next week.
9 JUDGE AGIUS: All right. So next week, 29th, all right. I will
10 give you a little bit more than you have asked for. I will give you up
11 to the 3rd of October, 3rd of October, to file the public redacted
12 version. That means not the coming Monday, the Monday after. So you
13 will have the rest of this week, entire next week, and Monday of the
14 following week. Okay. Thank you.
15 As regards the filing, I think I have got nothing else to say.
16 We are expecting, as I said, the brief replies by not later than the
17 11th of October, and at this point I would like to ask you whether there
18 are any issues that you have and that you would like to raise before we
19 conclude. Start with the Prosecution.
20 MR. WOOD: Yes, just briefly, Your Honour. I noticed that you
21 just said the 11th of October for the reply briefs.
22 JUDGE AGIUS: Yes.
23 MR. WOOD: Earlier you had said the 10th of October. We just
24 want to clarify. Our calculation also showed the 11th of October would
25 be the due date for the reply briefs.
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1 JUDGE AGIUS: Yes. If I said the 10th, I must have made a
2 mistake somewhere. It's the 10th -- 11th of October.
3 MR. WOOD: Thank you, Your Honour.
4 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay. Thank you. Any issues, Mr. Djurdjic?
5 MR. DJURDJIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, yes, I do have an
6 issue that I would like to raise, perhaps it's a bit too early, but we
7 are getting closer to the time where the Defence would like to submit --
8 to file a request for an extension of the dead-line for the represent in
9 brief, and also an extension -- another extension of the number of words
10 in the appeals brief. We would request another 15.000 -- to be granted
11 another 15.000 -- 1.500, which would mean that the total would amount to
12 6.000 words. Now the entire case has 65 pages with the annex -- the
13 indictment, there are 14 municipalities mentioned in the indictment upon
14 which our client was convicted, and also in the Appeals Chamber there --
15 in the appeal's brief there are 19 grounds of appeal mentioned by the
16 Prosecutor. And you have allowed an extension to the Prosecutor as well
17 to 45.000 words as -- which is the same number of words that you have
18 granted us. So we believe that this extension would contribute to an
19 efficient unrolling of this -- proceedings and it would allow us to
20 submit all our filings in reasonable time and within a reasonable
21 dead-line.
22 And I just need to mention one more thing: To date we have yet
23 to receive the translation of the judgement into the language of the
24 client, of my client, the accused, and this would be another reason why
25 we would appeal or why we would request for the extension of the number
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1 of words in our appeals brief.
2 Your Honour, my apologies, but I've just been told by my
3 assistant that the number of words was not quite precisely recorded in
4 the transcript. So we are requesting an extension of the number of words
5 by 6.000 which would amount to a total of 15.000. And, of course, an
6 extension of time for another 15 days, which would then amount to a total
7 number of 30 days.
8 JUDGE AGIUS: Yes, thank you. The Prosecution have any comments
9 about that?
10 MR. WOOD: The Prosecution would not object, Your Honour, to an
11 extension of time, but we would object to an extension of words. Seeing
12 no particular specific reason for such a grand extension of words, of
13 course, a reply is just that, a reply. It is limited only to what is in
14 the response. It's not an opportunity to expand the arguments. As it
15 stands now, the Prosecution can see no particular special reason for such
16 an extension of words. Thank you.
17 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you. Let me get this clear, you want an
18 extension, the number of words, of 6.000, an extra 6.000 words?
19 MR. DJURDJIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour. In the Sainovic
20 case, which relies on the same factual and legal basis, the Pre-Trial
21 Judge allowed such an increase in terms of the number of words in the
22 reply, from 3.000 up to 9.000 words. In other words, General Lukic, who
23 was a police general, was accorded 9.000 extra words; General Ojdanic,
24 5.000; and Mr. Sainovic as well as Generals Pavkovic and Lazarevic got
25 3.000 each. Having in mind that we are alone in these proceedings and
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1 that we have to cover all the bases, and also keeping in mind that the
2 Prosecution will most likely use up its fund of 45.000 words in their
3 reply, we believed that this increase by 6.000 words suffices in order
4 for the Defence to do its work properly, in addition to all the other
5 reasons I specified.
6 [Appeals Chamber and Legal Officer confer]
7 JUDGE AGIUS: So the Trial Chamber, having -- not Trial Chamber,
8 the Appeals Chamber, having heard the submissions and oral motion from
9 the Djordjevic Defence, having also heard the response orally from the
10 Prosecution, decides as follows: In relation to the requested extension
11 of time of 15 days, there being no objection forthcoming from the
12 Prosecution, and because on the face of it the request seems to be
13 justified, the Appeals Chamber accedes to the request and extends the
14 dead-line for the filing of the briefs in reply for both Defence and the
15 Prosecution from the 11th of October to the 26th of October.
16 In relation to the request from the Djordjevic Defence for an
17 additional 6.000 words. Having heard the response of the Prosecution,
18 which essentially objects to such a request, and having considered the
19 particular circumstances of this appeal, the Appeals Chamber acknowledges
20 that an extension of -- a kind of extension would be warranted, albeit
21 not to the extent requested by the Djordjevic Defence, and accordingly
22 grants an extension of 3.000 words to the Defence team, bringing the
23 total now from 9.000 to 12.000. That should be more than sufficient,
24 believe me.
25 Are there any other issues?
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1 MR. WOOD: Not for the Prosecution, Your Honour. No.
2 JUDGE AGIUS: Basically when I say there is an extension of
3 3.000 words, if you want to make use of that facility as well and ask me,
4 I will grant it, too, but I don't think it's the case. Okay.
5 MR. WOOD: No, Your Honour.
6 JUDGE AGIUS: All right. Thank you.
7 Anything else you would like to raise?
8 MR. DJURDJIC: [Interpretation] No, Your Honour.
9 JUDGE AGIUS: All right. Thank you. This concludes today's
10 Status Conference. I thank the parties for their attendance and adjourn
11 these proceedings. Thank you.
12 --- Whereupon the Status Conference adjourned at
13 9.53 a.m.
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