Tribunal Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

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 1                           Tuesday, 12 May 2015

 2                           [Status Conference]

 3                           [Open session]

 4                           [The appellants entered the courtroom]

 5                           [The appellant Pusic not present]

 6                           [The appellant Coric not present]

 7                           --- Upon commencing at 3.01 p.m.

 8             JUDGE MERON:  Please be seated.

 9                           [Trial Chamber and Legal Officer confer]

10             JUDGE MERON:  Registrar, would you please call the case.

11             THE REGISTRAR:  Good afternoon, Your Honour.  This is the case

12     number IT-04-74-A, the Prosecutor versus Prlic et al.

13             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you.

14             Let me first make sure that the audio equipment is functioning

15     properly.

16             Can the appellants hear the proceedings in a language they

17     understand?  Let me begin with Mr. Prlic.

18             THE APPELLANT PRLIC:  I'm able to hear you, but this equipment

19     [Overlapping speakers].

20             JUDGE MERON:  I see you have some problems there.  I see that the

21     security is trying to fix it.

22             Okay now, Mr. Prlic?

23             THE APPELLANT PRLIC:  Yeah, it's okay.

24             JUDGE MERON:  It's okay now.  Thank you.

25             Mr. Stojic.  You can hear me, right?


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 1             THE APPELLANT STOJIC: [Interpretation]  Everything is fine,

 2     Your Honour.

 3             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you very much.

 4             Mr. Praljak.  I see yes.  Thank you very much.

 5             Mr. Petkovic.  Thank you -- it's okay?  Thank you.

 6             THE APPELLANT PETKOVIC: [Interpretation] Everything is all right.

 7     Thank you.

 8             JUDGE MERON:  I would like to note that on 7 May Mr. Pusic filed

 9     his consent to hold today's Status Conference in his absence.  I also

10     understand that Mr. Coric has waived his right to be present today

11     because he is feeling unwell.

12             I would now like to call for the appearances.  For the -- well,

13     for the Prosecution.  May I?

14             MR. STRINGER:  Yes.  Good afternoon, Mr. President.  For the

15     Prosecution it's Douglas Stringer, Luke Fadem, legal interns

16     Sophie Beelaerts van Blokland, Thomas Wooden, and our Case Manager,

17     Colin Nawrot.

18             JUDGE MERON:  I see the interns are taking over the OTP.

19             MR. STRINGER:  They indeed are, Mr. President.  They're an

20     excellent group.

21             JUDGE MERON:  I am sure they are.  Thank you, Mr. Stringer.

22             Before calling for the appearances for the Defence, I note that

23     Mr. Petkovic filed his waiver of his -- waiver of his right to be

24     represented by his counsel and co-counsel during this conference today,

25     during this Status Conference.


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 1             So for the Defence for Mr. Prlic.

 2             MR. KARNAVAS:  Good afternoon, Mr. President.  Michael Karnavas

 3     and Suzana Tomanovic.

 4             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you, Mr. Karnavas.

 5             For Mr. Stojic.

 6             MS. NOZICA: [Interpretation] Good day, Your Honour.

 7             For Mr. Stojic, I am Senka Nozica and --

 8             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you, Ms. Nozica.

 9             For Mr. Praljak.

10             MS. NOZICA: [Interpretation] And Molly Martin pro bono.

11             MS. FAUVEAU-IVANOVIC:  Good afternoon, Your Honour.  For

12     Mr. Praljak, Natacha Fauveau-Ivanovic, co-counsel.

13             JUDGE MERON:  I'm just waiting to make sure that -- wait until we

14     are final.  It came, yeah.  Thank you very much, Ms. Fauveau-Ivanovic.

15             For Mr. Coric.

16             MR. PLAVEC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I'm Mr. Drazen Plavec,

17     co-counsel for Mr. Coric.

18             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you, Mr. Drazen Plavec.

19             For Mr. Pusic.

20             MR. IBRISIMOVIC: [Interpretation] Good day, Your Honour.  I am

21     Fahrudin Ibrisimovic for Mr. Pusic, with Mr. Sahota.

22             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you, Mr. Ibrisimovic.

23             As you are aware, Rule 65 bis (B) of the Rules of Procedure and

24     Evidence requires a Status Conference to be convened within 120 days

25     after the last Status Conference has been held for each appellant in the


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 1     Tribunal's custody.  A Status Conference serves two primary purposes.

 2     First, it allows the appellants an opportunity to express concerns

 3     relating to their appeal or detention conditions and for the Tribunal to

 4     inquire about the mental and physical condition of the detained persons.

 5             Second, it provides an opportunity to update the appellants with

 6     respect to the status of their case.

 7             I now turn to before -- before turning to the health situation, I

 8     would like to remind everybody that the last Status Conference was held

 9     on the 21st of January, and, therefore -- and that the Status Conference

10     of today was scheduled by order -- order which I issued on May 4 just

11     sometime ago.

12             So now I turn to the principal object of this conference to

13     inquire into the status of the detention conditions and the health

14     situation of the appellants.

15             If any of the appellants wish it, this discussion can take place

16     in a closed session.

17             Anyone who would like me to close the session?  I see no desire

18     to close the session, so we will continue with the public session.

19             Mr. Prlic, anything to raise?

20             THE APPELLANT PRLIC:  No, Mr. President.  I think that my mental

21     and physical condition are still okay.  Hoping that it is going to

22     continue as such.  Thank you.

23             JUDGE MERON:  You certainly look very well, if I may say so.

24             Mr. Stojic.

25             THE APPELLANT STOJIC: [Interpretation] Good day, Your Honour.


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 1     Everything is fine.  I don't have any problems.  That's the situation

 2     right now.  Thank you.

 3             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you.  I'm very pleased to hear that.

 4             Mr. Praljak.

 5             THE APPELLANT PRALJAK: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I don't have

 6     any problems.  I have been bearing the situation really well for the past

 7     11 and a half years and I will continue to do so.  Thank you very much.

 8             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you very much, indeed.

 9             Mr. Petkovic.

10             THE APPELLANT PETKOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I don't

11     have any problems.  Thank you very much.

12             JUDGE MERON:  And finally for Mr. Coric.

13             MR. PLAVEC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, according to our

14     information, in general Mr. Coric is absolutely okay.  I think at the

15     moment he has some minor difficulties.  They may not even be

16     difficulties, but he was actually undergoing some medical examinations

17     and there was some -- he had some X-rays done and so for the -- for

18     24 hours he needs to rest, but otherwise there are no major problems

19     involved.

20             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you very much indeed.

21             So let me now turn to summarise the recent procedural history.

22             All of the appellants' brief in this case were filed on

23     12 January, 2015; and all the Defence and Prosecution respondents' briefs

24     were filed on 7 May 2015.  The Defence and Prosecution's reply briefs are

25     to be filed no later than 29 of May.


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 1             I note that all of the respondents' briefs, except for

 2     Mr. Petkovic and Mr. Pusic, were filed confidentially.  I would ask that

 3     counsel file public redacted versions of these briefs in a timely manner,

 4     which I would consider to be - and I hope this is agreeable - within 30

 5     days of today.  If there are any confidential appellants briefs remaining

 6     to be filed publicly, I would ask that counsel do so within the same

 7     time-frame.

 8             And now the next point on my agenda is to ask the parties whether

 9     they are any other issues that they would like to raise, and let me start

10     from the Prosecution.

11             MR. STRINGER:  Nothing from the Prosecution, Mr. President.

12             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you, Mr. Stringer.

13             And from the Defence.  Let me go one by one.

14             For Mr. Prlic, any questions?

15             MR. KARNAVAS:  Nothing, Your Honour.  Thank you for asking.

16             JUDGE MERON:  Mr. Stojic.

17             MS. NOZICA: [Interpretation] We have nothing.  Thank you,

18     Your Honour.

19             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you.

20             Mr. Praljak.

21             MS. FAUVEAU-IVANOVIC:  Nothing, Your Honour.  Thank you very

22     much.

23             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you very much.

24             Mr. Petkovic, for Mr. Petkovic.

25             THE APPELLANT PETKOVIC: [Interpretation] We don't have any


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 1     questions.  Thank you.

 2             JUDGE MERON:   Thank you.

 3             And finally for Mr. Coric.

 4             MR. PLAVEC: [Interpretation] Nothing Your Honour, thank you.

 5             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you.

 6             Since there are no other matters to be raised, I thank the

 7     parties for their attendance and adjourn these proceedings.

 8                           --- Whereupon the Status Conference adjourned

 9                           at 3.14 p.m.

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