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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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