090406ED

Page 38803

1 during the cross-examination of Ivan Bandic, a Stojic Defence witness.

2 The Trial Chamber notes that the seven documents are not numbered, and

3 notes that the Prosecution did not file any request for the admission of

4 these seven documents.

5 Given the observations provided by Prosecution and by the accused

6 Coric during the hearing of March 23rd, 2009, the Trial Chamber orders

7 the Prosecution to number these seven documents and to file exceptionally

8 a correct request for admission of the seven documents.

9 This is the second oral decision to be rendered.

10 We were supposed to hear a witness today, and we have been told

11 at the beginning of the afternoon that for reasons which the Defence

12 cannot control, the witness is unable to come to testify today.

13 Ms. Nozica, is that right?

14 MS. NOZICA: [Interpretation] Indeed, Your Honour.

15 First of all, good afternoon to all. I would like to provide

16 additional information, in addition to what you've already received.

17 Nevertheless, I would like to raise a number of issues that had better

18 not be raised in open session. Therefore, private session, please.

19 JUDGE ANTONETTI: [Interpretation] Registrar, can we move into

20 private session, please.

21 [Private session]

22 (redacted)

23 (redacted)

24 (redacted)

25 (redacted)

Page 38804

11 Page 38804 redacted. Private session.

Page 38805

1 (redacted)

2 (redacted)

3 (redacted)

4 (redacted)

5 (redacted)

6 (redacted)

7 (redacted)

8 (redacted)

9 (redacted)

10 (redacted)

11 (redacted)

12 (redacted)

13 [Open session]

14 THE REGISTRAR: Your Honours, we're back in open session.

15 JUDGE ANTONETTI: [Interpretation] In open session. We have

16 looked into our schedule. I would like to address this straight away.

17 We have a provisional schedule filed by Mr. Praljak. According

18 to the schedule provided by the Defence, Mr. Praljak should begin on

19 Wednesday, the 6th of May. Insofar as the Stojic Defence team should

20 finish in the week from the 27th to the 30th of April, can I ask whether

21 Mr. Praljak's Defence could not begin on the 4th of May already?

22 In order to do this, may I say this, Ms. Nozica: In light of the

23 changes made to the schedule, if Mr. Bagaric comes from the 20th to the

24 23rd of April, and we then have two witnesses which are on standby for

25 the moment, you should finish on the 30th of April at the latest. Does

Page 38806

1 that mean that after that you have no further witnesses to call?

2 MS. NOZICA: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honours.

3 I would like to inform the Trial Chamber that what we have been

4 planning so far is to hear this witness on the 27th and 28th. We would

5 try to comply with what we have already promised we would do and hear

6 Witness Mandic viva voce on the 29th, and that would bring our case to an

7 end on the 29th. Not "Bandic" but "Mandic."

8 I would also like to inform the Trial Chamber that our Defence

9 team has also envisaged a joint expert witness, Mr. Mato Arlovic.

10 However, this will be done at a later date, not within the framework of

11 the time given to the Stojic Defence. We will do it later, but we will

12 inform the Trial Chamber in due time.

13 After some other Defence teams are finished with their cases, we

14 will inform you and everybody else when we intend to hear the expert

15 witness in question, and I repeat, he's our joint expert witness.

16 JUDGE ANTONETTI: [Interpretation] Very well. We've understood

17 all of this.

18 Mr. Kovacic, according to our schedule, Mr. Praljak should have

19 started on Wednesday, the 6th of May. Could he possibly begin on Monday,

20 the 4th of May?

21 MR. KOVACIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, we have been following

22 the entire situation with regard to the changes to the schedule, and in

23 principle, General Praljak's Defence is ready to start a few days earlier

24 than originally envisaged. General Praljak, as a witness, is also ready

25 to start. He has been ready all this time. We will also inform the

Page 38807

1 Trial Chamber in due course. We will have our summaries ready for

2 everybody.

3 Out of an abundance of caution and not to commit myself before

4 the Trial Chamber, I have to say that there's one critical job which

5 needs to be done during our presentation. We have envisaged and

6 allocated some time in our schedule, but I have not checked whether this

7 we will be able to do. I'm not sure that we'll be able -- I have not

8 been able to check, and the job in question is the physical photocopying

9 of the documents that we are supposed to disclose to the other party and

10 to the Trial Chamber. The lists of documents and the summaries will be

11 submitted before the end of this week, but when it comes to photocopying,

12 you know that this is a time-consuming job, and I have to check whether

13 any corners can be cut there. I believe that it can be done, but I can't

14 promise anything in advance because this is beyond my control, although

15 as I say, I don't think there will be any problem with that. And if you

16 allow me, in a day or two I would be able to tell you exactly whether

17 I'll be able to do that.

18 JUDGE ANTONETTI: [Interpretation] Very well, Mr. Kovacic.

19 According to your chart, Mr. Praljak would make his 84, 84 bis

20 statement on the first day and then the examination-in-chief would start.

21 I've done my sums. There would be nine days of hearing during which

22 General Praljak will be the subject of the examination-in-chief, and the

23 cross-examination, according to your chart, would begin on the 25th of

24 May. I believe that that would be the cross-examination by the other

25 accused, and the cross-examination by the Prosecution would run from the

Page 38808

1 2nd of June until the 11th of June, which means that General Praljak will

2 be testifying for nine days. Is that what you have planned to do?

3 MR. KOVACIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour. In keeping with

4 your suggestion provided last week, we have submitted a new schedule with

5 amendments, and we have taken into account not only the time required by

6 the Defence for examination-in-chief; we have added to that the

7 coefficient necessary based on previous experience. I believe that you

8 have been able to see that -- I believe that it will last longer than the

9 dates that you have mentioned. In any case, we have provided a very

10 precise schedule, and in addition to that we have provided an annex which

11 shows exactly all the methods, i.e., the arithmetic that was used to come

12 up with the schedule. The arithmetics follows your suggestions, and I

13 believe that it must be correct.

14 Thank you.

15 JUDGE ANTONETTI: [Interpretation] Very well.

16 According to the chart for May and June, the last witness in May

17 would be Mr. Vlado Sakic. I assume that your other witnesses will come

18 in July. Is that right?

19 MR. KOVACIC: [Interpretation] Yes, correct, Your Honour.

20 [In English] There is an error in transcript. In July,

21 Your Honour.

22 MR. SCOTT: Excuse me, Your Honour.

23 It seems to be that the Chamber may be referring to an earlier

24 schedule. A revised schedule was provided by the Praljak Defence

25 recently which takes Mr. Praljak's testimony through -- through and

Page 38809

1 including the 7th of July, 2009. It may be that the chart the Chamber

2 may be looking at or some of the Chamber may be looking at is outdated.

3 Is that correct, Counsel? Maybe Mr. Kovacic could correct us on this.

4 JUDGE ANTONETTI: [Interpretation] Mr. Kovacic, in the last chart

5 we have the up-to-date chart, Mr. Praljak will testify until the 9th of

6 July?

7 MR. KOVACIC: [Interpretation] Yes, that's correct, Your Honour,

8 and this is in keeping with the second revised schedule. Unlike the

9 previous schedules, this one has taken into account -- and if you have

10 the paper in front of you, you will see that there is another piece of

11 paper which provides the exact methodology that was used to calculate the

12 time, and you will see that we have also taken into account the time for

13 procedural matters and all the other time-consuming issues.

14 After General Praljak, we have scheduled two experts, and that

15 brings our schedule to an end. In due time, we will provide our schedule

16 for the rest of the witnesses that we have envisaged.

17 JUDGE ANTONETTI: [Interpretation] Very well.

18 Since we are looking at our schedule for July, the Court will

19 adjourn on Thursday, the 16th of July, and we shall reconvene on the

20 17th of August, which I believe is a Monday. So make your arrangements

21 accordingly, particularly if you have any requests for provisional

22 release, so that the Prosecution is able to respond and so that the

23 Trial Chamber is able to rule on each and every motion. You know that

24 this is a process that takes time. If the Prosecution wishes to appeal

25 the decision, the Trial Chamber needs to have enough time to review the

Page 38810

1 matter, and everything has to be organised, in the event of a provisional

2 release for the accused to be able to released on the 20th of July. So

3 make sure you prepare this beforehand so that the Trial Chamber has

4 enough time to hand out its decision. Last time, we had to hand down a

5 very long decision, reasoned decisions, we need to have the motion filed

6 by the parties and the response provided by the Prosecution.

7 Mr. Kovacic, your expert, I believe you have a witness by the

8 name of Arlovic, Mato. Is that the same witness as the one that has been

9 called by the Stojic Defence?

10 MR. KOVACIC: [Interpretation] No, Your Honour. I'm bringing two

11 expert witnesses, Professor Dr. Jurcevic and Professor Dr. Sakic. Both

12 reports have, in the meantime, been submitted to the Trial Chamber. The

13 dead-line of 30 days, according to the Rules, and 60-day dead-line,

14 according to your decision, are now running, and if the Prosecution

15 requests that, they will be heard after General Praljak. And the expert

16 witness that was mentioned by my colleague Senka Nozica,

17 Dr. Mato Arlovic, let me remind you according to the 65 ter list it says

18 that this is an expert witness of all Defence teams, and my learned

19 friend Nozica has taken it upon herself to do the technical part of the

20 job. And that's why she mentioned him as a witness who would be coming

21 after the other Defence teams have finished with their cases, and it

22 still remains to be seen when that will happen.

23 JUDGE ANTONETTI: [Interpretation] Very well. Thank you for this

24 clarification, which enables us to understand the schedule better.

25 It's a shame that your witness is not coming today, the one that

Page 38811

1 had been scheduled for today, I mean. We understand fully why this

2 person has not been able to come.

3 We have not been running late much. In fact, I believe that

4 since January we have heard all the witnesses, we have kept up the pace.

5 Sometimes we run a little late, but I don't think we've lost more than

6 five days. So we hope to see this witness as soon as it is made

7 possible.

8 Would any of the Defence teams like to add anything? Mr. Khan,

9 you're very quiet today. Mr. Karnavas, no questions? Ms. Alaburic? No

10 one wishes to say anything.

11 Mr. Scott, you're also very quiet. No questions?

12 MR. SCOTT: Well, I'll have to disrupt the flow a little bit,

13 Your Honour, and have a couple of -- one or two comments or questions,

14 with the Chamber's indulgence.

15 I failed to say earlier, when I was first on my feet, good

16 afternoon, Your Honours, good afternoon to each of Your Honours, and to

17 all those in and around the courtroom.

18 Very briefly, in terms of scheduling, then, and just to be very

19 clear, I did have a number of questions. I might add that in the course

20 of discussions over the last minutes, most of them have been addressed,

21 at least for the time being. Nonetheless, to be very clear, are we to --

22 is the courtroom then to understand that the Praljak Defence will start,

23 in fact, on Monday, the 4th of May, as opposed to Wednesday of that week?

24 Is that --

25 JUDGE ANTONETTI: [Interpretation] Mr. Kovacic, will Mr. Praljak

Page 38812

1 begin on Monday, the 4th of May?

2 MR. KOVACIC: [Interpretation] We are entirely in the Trial

3 Chamber's hands. We can start on the 4th, if we must, and if not we can

4 start one day after Ms. Nozica is finished. We are ready, and if the

5 Trial Chamber gives us the green light, we will start, with a caveat that

6 the technical part of the job can be done. I believe that it can be, but

7 I can't tell you anything for sure until I am absolutely certain.

8 General Praljak is waving his hands and signalling me that he can

9 start on the 4th.

10 JUDGE ANTONETTI: [Interpretation] Very well. Let's ask the

11 question to Mr. Praljak.

12 On Monday, May 4th, you'll be ready, Mr. Praljak?

13 THE ACCUSED PRALJAK: [Interpretation] Good afternoon,

14 Your Honours.

15 To be honest, as far as I'm concerned, I've been ready for years.

16 In any case, whenever you so wish, I can start. So far, this has just

17 been the case of technical preparations, and as far as I'm concerned, I'm

18 ready, physically, mentally, and technically, to put it that way, on the

19 4th, yes.

20 JUDGE ANTONETTI: [Interpretation] Very well.

21 So, Mr. Scott, normally on May 4th, Mr. Praljak will start

22 testifying.

23 MR. SCOTT: Thank you, Mr. President.

24 THE INTERPRETER: Microphone, please.

25 MR. SCOTT: My apologies.

Page 38813

1 Thank you, Mr. President.

2 The final thing we would raise, then, for today would be that

3 last -- the end of last week, the Praljak Defence filed a response to a

4 motion that the Prosecution filed in connection with the Praljak

5 Rule 65 ter summaries. The Prosecution respectfully submits that a brief

6 reply to that response would be in order, and we would ask for leave to

7 file a brief response by Thursday this week, which I believe is the 9th,

8 if the Chamber would agree.

9 THE ACCUSED PRALJAK: [Interpretation] Your Honours, with regard

10 the short summary requested by the Prosecution -- it's not that. In any

11 case, I would like to say something.

12 When it comes to our work with the witnesses, we talked about

13 events. When you present a theory, when you write a book, then at the

14 end you can have a summary of the basic theses that were presented at one

15 point. However, when a witness testifies about an event which starts

16 with first things first, then, "I went to the kitchen, then I went out

17 for a walk," it's very difficult to make a summary of such accounts. You

18 can't make a summary of somebody being in the kitchen and then going for

19 a walk. You can maybe put it in just one sentence: "This person has

20 testified about this or that." That's why I believe the testimonies or

21 statements of that sort have to be read in their entirety, because an

22 event cannot be summarised or broken down into sequences without omitting

23 important parts. This is not a theory. This is not a story about

24 general events or a political situation that can easily be summarised.

25 JUDGE ANTONETTI: [Interpretation] The only question that the

Page 38814

1 Trial Chamber has to solve is the following: The Prosecution is asking

2 for an additional dead-line for the reply. I think they're asking until

3 Thursday. Let me consult with my fellow Judges.

4 [Trial Chamber confers]

5 JUDGE ANTONETTI: [Interpretation] Mr. Scott, before granting you

6 leave, the Trial Chamber would like to know exactly what are the grounds

7 in the reply that you wish to file by Thursday.

8 MR. SCOTT: Thank you, Mr. President.

9 Your Honours, we believe that there is several points that were

10 raised in the Defence filings that mischaracterised the Prosecution

11 position or require further response.

12 Just as one example, the Prosecution is very, unfortunately,

13 accused of filing these motions simply as a delaying or tactical matter.

14 That is absolutely clearly not the case, and I hope the Chamber has

15 observed the Prosecution's behaviour since at least April of 2006. That

16 is not our practice. We tend to be, in fact, in my view, with all great

17 respect, rather economic in the filings and submissions that we make. We

18 would anticipate making a very brief reply to a few points that have been

19 raised in the response that we do think would be helpful to the Chamber.

20 JUDGE ANTONETTI: [Interpretation] Exceptionally, the

21 Trial Chamber will grant you leave and we'll give you until Thursday to

22 reply.

23 MR. SCOTT: Thank you, Mr. President, Your Honours.

24 JUDGE ANTONETTI: [Interpretation] Very well. Everyone took the

25 floor. I would like to thank everyone who took the floor.

Page 38815

1 We'll resume tomorrow at 2.15 for the witness, who will be ready

2 tomorrow at 2.15. Is that it, Ms. Nozica, we'll have a witness for 2.15?

3 Very well. I wish everyone a pleasant afternoon, and we'll see

4 each other tomorrow at 2.15.

5 --- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at 2.51 p.m.,

6 to be reconvened on Tuesday, the 7th day of April,

7 2009, at 2.15 p.m.