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1 Monday, 11 December 2006
2 [Open session]
3 [Status Conference]
4 [The appellant Hadzihasanovic entered court]
5 --- Upon commencing at 8.05 a.m.
6 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Good morning to all.
7 Mr. Registrar, will you please call the case.
8 THE REGISTRAR: Thank you, Your Honour. Good morning. This is
9 IT-01-47-A, the Prosecutor versus Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura.
10 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Well, I would like to begin by ensuring in
11 the usual way that the radio equipment is working.
12 Mr. Hadzihasanovic, can you hear the proceedings in a language you
13 understand? Yes.
14 What about counsel, Mr. Hadzihasanovic and Mr. Kubura ...
15 MS. RESIDOVIC: [Interpretation] Good morning, Mr. President. We
16 can hear and understand interpretation for General Hadzihasanovic. Edina
17 Residovic, lead counsel, Mr. Bourgon, co-counsel, and our court manager.
18 MR. IBRISIMOVIC: [Interpretation] Good morning, Your Honours. On
19 behalf of Mr. Amir Kubura, this is Mr. Fahrudin Ibrisimovic and Mr. Rodney
20 Dixon. And as we've already informed you, our client will not be
21 attending today's Status Conference.
22 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: The Prosecution.
23 MR. BUCK: Good morning, Your Honour, for the Prosecution, I am
24 Arthur Buck. With me is co-counsel, Antoinette Issa and our case manager
25 Sebastian Van Hooydonk.
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1 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: I take it those announcements correspond to
2 the appearances.
3 As you are aware, Rule 65 bis of the Rules of Procedure and
4 Evidence requires that Status Conferences be held for each appellant in
5 the Tribunal's custody at intervals no greater than 120 days. This is the
6 second Status Conference at the appeals stage of this case, and the last
7 Status Conference was held on 1st of September, 2006. This conference,
8 therefore, falls within the 120-day period set by Rule 65 bis.
9 While Mr. Hadzihasanovic is presently in custody at the United
10 Nations Detention Centre, Mr. Kubura was granted early release on
11 11th April 2006 and was therefore not entitled to a Status Conference
12 under Rule 65 bis. You have already heard counsel saying that Mr. Kubura
13 will not be here today.
14 In the interests of justice, and in order to facilitate the
15 appeals process, Mr. Kubura was, however, invited to be represented at
16 this conference along with Mr. Hadzihasanovic. I'm pleased to see that
17 Mr. Kubura's counsel have joined us for this joint Status Conference.
18 I would like to remind the parties that Status Conferences serve
19 two purposes. First, they allow the appellants an opportunity to express
20 concerns relating to the appeal and detention conditions. Second, they
21 provide an opportunity to update the appellants with respect to the status
22 of their case.
23 I shall begin with the second of these objectives; namely, an
24 update. This case involves three appeals filed by Mr. Hadzihasanovic,
25 Mr. Kubura, and the Prosecution.
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1 On 15 March 2006, Trial Chamber II rendered its judgement in this
2 case. Mr. Kubura filed his notice of appeal from that judgement on 13th
3 April 2006. Mr. Hadzihasanovic filed his notice of appeal on 18th April
4 2006, and on the same day, the Prosecution filed its notice of appeal.
5 Subsequently, Mr. Hadzihasanovic and Mr. Kubura sought extensions
6 of time to file their appeal briefs pending translations of the trial
7 judgement. That judgement had been rendered in French, a language with
8 Mr. Hadzihasanovic and counsel for Mr. Kubura do not speak.
9 So on 27 June 2006, I, as Pre-Appeal Judge granted
10 Mr. Hadzihasanovic's motion seeking an extension of time for submission of
11 his appeal brief until 45 days after the transmission to him of a partial
12 B/C/S translation of the trial judgement with a full translation to be
13 completed subsequently.
14 Mr. Kubura requested the full 75-day period ordinarily allowed
15 under Rule 111 for the appeal brief. He was granted an extension until 60
16 days after the transmission to his counsel of a certified English
17 translation of the trial judgement. A decision also filed by the
18 Prosecution was entitled to consolidated response brief until 40 days
19 after the second of the two appellant's briefs.
20 Meanwhile, as I have said, the Prosecution filed a notice of
21 appeal on 18th April 2006. It filed an appeal brief on 3 July 2006.
22 Mr. Kubura and Mr. Hadzihasanovic subsequently filed separate
23 motions seeking extensions of time to file the respondents' briefs until
24 40 days after the transmission of the translations of the trial judgement
25 to Mr. Kubura's counsel and to Mr. Hadzihasanovic respectively. The
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1 motions were granted on 26 July and 8 August 2006. Both decisions noted
2 that the Prosecution would be entitled -- be permitted to file a
3 consolidated reply brief within 15 days of the filing of the later of the
4 two response briefs of Mr. Hadzihasanovic and Mr. Kubura. This was in
5 keeping with Rule 113 of the Rules and paragraph (C) of the practice
6 direction on the length of briefs and motions.
7 Now, since the last Status Conference in this case, no new motions
8 have been filed in the three appeals. I am pleased to note the
9 translations of the trial judgement in this case are now complete. I have
10 been informed by the court records and support section of the Tribunal
11 that the English translation of the full trial judgement was transmitted
12 to the parties on 23 November 2006 and the B/C/S translation of full
13 judgement was transmitted to the parties on 1 December 2006.
14 Now, unless there has been some misunderstanding about the dates,
15 I will ask Mr. Ibrisimovic and Mr. Dixon, counsel for Mr. Kubura, whether
16 they would confirm receipt of the English translation of the trial
17 judgement on 23 November this year.
18 MR. IBRISIMOVIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour, we received
19 the translation of the judgement on the 23rd of November, earlier this
20 year.
21 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: And I would also ask Mr. Hadzihasanovic
22 whether he would confirm receipt of the B/C/S translation on 1 December
23 this year.
24 MS. RESIDOVIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour, the Defence for
25 General Hadzihasanovic and Mr. Hadzihasanovic himself received the
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1 translation of the judgement into B/C/S on the 1st of December, 2006.
2 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Now, then, as the translations have been
3 completed and duly transmitted, the briefing schedule for these appeal
4 proceedings may proceed. I would like to remind counsel for
5 Mr. Hadzihasanovic and counsel for Mr. Kubura that they are required to
6 submit their appeal briefs and respondents' briefs in the Prosecution's
7 appeal in accordance with the time that's set forth in the decisions of
8 27 June, 26 July, and 8 August 2006.
9 So, do the parties have any remaining concerns in respect of the
10 status of the case? No? Then I take it that the answer is no.
11 MR. BOURGON: Good morning, Mr. President.
12 On behalf of the accused Hadzihasanovic, we have spoken with the
13 Prosecution this morning and we have compiled those dates in accordance
14 with those decisions that Your Honour has just mentioned, those decisions
15 of 27 June, 26 July, and 8 August.
16 According to this, to those decisions, the -- if I begin with the
17 response which is to be filed by the Defence to the Prosecution brief, our
18 response would be due on the 15th -- sorry, on the 10th of January; that
19 is, for Mr. Hadzihasanovic.
20 As far as our appeals brief, it would have to be filed on the 15th
21 of January.
22 Now, we spoke with the Prosecution this morning, and those dates
23 do not coincide exactly with the dates on which the respondent Kubura has
24 to file his response, nor his appeal, and for the sake of making it easy
25 for all the parties in the courtroom, including Your Honour, and the
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1 Appeals Bench we thought that we could harmonise that schedule and get
2 filing dates that would be the same for both respondents in this case and
3 that would make that -- the response brief could be filed by both parties
4 on the 10th of January, whereby Mr. Kubura would be granted a few days
5 additional in order to file his response brief at the same time as the
6 Hadzihasanovic brief. And as far as the appeals brief is concerned,
7 instead of filing on the 15th of January, Mr. Hadzihasanovic would be
8 granted a few additional days and both parties would file on the 22nd of
9 January.
10 This is a submission that we propose, Mr. President, in light of
11 the winter recess coming along and the difficulties in meeting with
12 Mr. Hadzihasanovic over this period, and we discussed this with the
13 Prosecution and it is our understanding that they agree to this proposed
14 schedule. Of course the others can -- we can verify with both the
15 Prosecution and counsel for Mr. Kubura whether this schedule is a joint
16 proposition which I believe it is.
17 Thank you, Mr. President.
18 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Thank you, Mr. Bourgon.
19 Would counsel for Mr. Kubura say whether he supports this
20 proposal.
21 MR. DIXON: Thank you, Your Honour. Yes, we do endorse that
22 proposal.
23 At present, our response to the Prosecution brief is due, in fact,
24 on the 1st of January, and hence the request to harmonise it with that for
25 Mr. Hadzihasanovic to file on the 10th of January, only a few days later.
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1 So we would support that proposal fully, Your Honour.
2 Thank you.
3 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Would the Prosecution confirm that it accepts
4 the proposals?
5 MR. BUCK: Yes, Your Honour, we have accepted these proposals.
6 May I clarify. We talked about the 22nd of January. I think
7 that's actually a Sunday, so the 23rd of January would be more sensible
8 for that date.
9 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Mr. Bourgon shakes my head.
10 MR. BOURGON: Unless I've my calendar is wrong, I've got the 22nd
11 as being Monday.
12 MR. BUCK: Fine.
13 MR. BOURGON: Thank you, Mr. President.
14 MR. BUCK: I'm looking at the 2006 calendar, Mr. President.
15 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: It's the 2007 calendar, I believe.
16 MR. BUCK: My abject apologies.
17 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Well, then, that is agreed.
18 MR. BUCK: Your Honour.
19 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Yes.
20 MR. BUCK: If I may.
21 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Yes.
22 MR. BUCK: There was one thing I didn't bring one with Defence
23 counsel at the time.
24 During this period, the appeals section of the ICTY will be having
25 a joint appeals advocacy training programme lasting seven days with the
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1 appeals sections of ICTR and ICC, and this will fall during the period in
2 which we would file the reply.
3 May we respectfully request an additional five days for the
4 consolidated reply until the 30th of January?
5 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Let's see how Mr. Bourgon and counsel for
6 Mr. Kubura react to that.
7 Mr. Bourgon.
8 MR. BOURGON: Mr. President, we fully agree with the proposition
9 by counsel for the Prosecution. If it can help them in filing a joint --
10 I don't think that this file date delay will cause much of a delay in the
11 hearing of the appeal, and if it can help them, then for sure then we
12 agree to -- for the sake of good cooperation with the Prosecution.
13 Thank you, Mr. President.
14 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Would counsel for Mr. Kubura --
15 MR. DIXON: Your Honour, there is no objection to that proposal.
16 Thank you.
17 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Then that is agreed.
18 MR. BUCK: Thank you, Your Honour.
19 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Now, conditions of detention. Would
20 Mr. Hadzihasanovic have any concerns about this?
21 THE APPELLANT HADZIHASANOVIC: [Interpretation] Good morning, Your
22 Honour. My answer is very brief. Everything is tolerable: The
23 conditions of detention, the food, as well as my health. Everything is
24 fine. Thank you.
25 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: If there are no other matters, and I see
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1 none, I would bring these proceedings to an end and the adjournment at
2 this time.
3 Thank you very much.
4 --- Whereupon the Status Conference adjourned at
5 8.21 a.m.
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