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1 Monday, 23 November 2015
2 [Status Conference]
3 [Open session]
4 [The appellants Coric and Pusic not present]
5 --- Upon commencing at 3.00 p.m.
6 JUDGE AGIUS: So good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to this
7 Status Conference.
8 Madam Registrar, could you call the case, please.
9 THE REGISTRAR: Good afternoon, Your Honour. This is case
10 IT-04-74-A, the Prosecutor versus Prlic et al.
11 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you.
12 I just want to make sure before we proceed that each one of the
13 appellants can follow -- is in a position to follow the proceedings in a
14 language that you can understand.
15 I'll start with Mr. Prlic.
16 THE APPELLANT PRLIC: Good afternoon, Mr. President. I hear and
17 I am able to follow the conference.
18 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you, Mr. Prlic.
19 Mr. Stojic.
20 THE APPELLANT STOJIC: [Interpretation] Good afternoon,
21 Your Honour. Everything is fine.
22 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay, thank you.
23 Mr. Praljak.
24 THE APPELLANT PRALJAK: [Interpretation] I can hear you and
25 understand you. Thank you.
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1 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you.
2 And Mr. Coric.
3 THE APPELLANT PETKOVIC: [Interpretation] Mr. Petkovic.
4 JUDGE AGIUS: Yes.
5 THE APPELLANT PETKOVIC: [Interpretation] I can hear you and
6 understand you, Your Honour.
7 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay. Thank you.
8 Could I have appearances for the parties now, starting with the
9 Prosecution.
10 MR. FADEM: Good afternoon, Mr. President. On behalf of the
11 Prosecution, Luke Fadem, assisted by senior Appeals counsel Barbara Goy,
12 case manager Colin Nawrot, and legal intern Lejla Korjenic.
13 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay. Thank you.
14 Defence. Defence for --
15 MR. KARNAVAS: Good afternoon, Mr. President. Michael Karnavas
16 for Dr. Prlic.
17 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you.
18 For Mr. Stojic.
19 MS. NOZICA: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honour.
20 Senka Nozica, as counsel and Ms. Martin as co-counsel on behalf of
21 Mr. Stojic.
22 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you.
23 For Mr. Praljak.
24 MS. PINTER: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honour. On
25 behalf of General Praljak, Nika Pinter appearing.
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1 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you.
2 Mr. Petkovic.
3 MS. ALABURIC: [Interpretation] Good afternoon. Vesna Alaburic
4 appearing for General Petkovic.
5 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you.
6 Mr. Coric.
7 MR. PLAVEC: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honour.
8 Drazen Plavec, co-counsel, appearing for Mr. Coric.
9 JUDGE AGIUS: Incidentally, let's go into private session for a
10 while, please.
11 [Private session]
12 (redacted)
13 (redacted)
14 (redacted)
15 (redacted)
16 (redacted)
17 (redacted)
18 (redacted)
19 (redacted)
20 (redacted)
21 (redacted)
22 (redacted)
23 [Open session]
24 THE REGISTRAR: We're in open session, Your Honours.
25 JUDGE AGIUS: I thank you, madam.
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1 Yes, I would like to have the appearances for Mr. Pusic.
2 MR. IBRISIMOVIC: [Via videolink] [Interpretation] Good afternoon,
3 Your Honour. Mr. Ibrisimovic, attorney-at-law from Sarajevo, appearing
4 for Mr. Pusic. Thank you.
5 JUDGE AGIUS: All right. Thank you.
6 Following an election by the Plenary of Judges of this Tribunal,
7 I took over the Presidency from Judge Meron on 17 November 2015, and by
8 operation of the Statute of this Tribunal, I consequently became the
9 Presiding Judge of these appeal proceedings, whether you like it or not.
10 On 18 November 2015, pursuant to Rules 65 ter and 107 of the
11 Rules of Procedure and Evidence of this Tribunal, I designated myself as
12 Pre-Appeal Judge, and in that capacity, I am conducting the Status
13 Conference today.
14 This Status Conference is called in accordance with
15 Rule 65 bis(B) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of this Tribunal.
16 This Rule requires a Status Conference to be convened within 120 days
17 after the last Status Conference has been held for each of the appellants
18 in the Tribunal's custody.
19 By the way, Mr. Ibrisimovic, are you following me?
20 MR. IBRISIMOVIC: [Via videolink] [Interpretation] Yes, I am.
21 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you.
22 A Status Conference serves two primary purposes. First, it
23 allows the appellants an opportunity to express concerns relating to
24 their appeal or detention conditions, and for the Tribunal to inquire
25 about the mental and physical condition of the detained persons. Second,
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1 it provides an opportunity to update the appellants with respect to the
2 status of their cases as well as to inform the general public thereof.
3 I note that the last Status Conference was held on
4 2nd September of this year, and today's Status Conference was scheduled
5 by an order issued on the 22nd of October, 2015.
6 I turn now to the first major item on today's agenda. Namely,
7 the situation and health of each one of the appellants.
8 I'd like to inquire into the -- particularly into the status of
9 detention conditions and health situations of each one of you. If any of
10 the appellants present here wishes, this discussion can take place in a
11 closed session. And therefore, my first question to you is -- to your
12 representatives, would any one of you like to have this matter discussed
13 in private or closed session?
14 I hear no declaration.
15 And counsel for Mr. Pusic?
16 MR. IBRISIMOVIC: [Via videolink] [Interpretation] Your Honour,
17 should we discuss Mr. Pusic's state of health, then I would kindly ask
18 that we move into private session.
19 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay. Thank you. So I take it that as regards all
20 the other appellants, there's no request or no particular remarks or
21 submissions regarding detention and health situation; is that correct?
22 Okay. I hear no comments.
23 So let's go into private session, please.
24 [Private session]
25 (redacted)
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1 (redacted)
2 (redacted)
3 (redacted)
4 (redacted)
5 (redacted)
6 (redacted)
7 (redacted)
8 (redacted)
9 (redacted)
10 [Open session]
11 THE REGISTRAR: We're in open session, Your Honours.
12 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay. There being no further remarks on the issue
13 of detention and health of the appellants, I now will proceed to recent
14 procedural history.
15 All of the appellants' briefs in this case were filed on
16 12 January of this year, and all of the Defence and Prosecution
17 respondent's briefs were filed on 7th May of this year. The Defence and
18 Prosecution's reply briefs were filed on the 29th of May of this year.
19 Since the previous Status Conference, I can note that public
20 redacted versions of reply briefs were filed by 9th September 2015, with
21 the exception of Mr. Pusic's reply brief. On the 21st of October, 2015,
22 however, Mr. Pusic's reply and response briefs as well as Mr. Petkovic's
23 response brief were reclassified from confidential to public. This means
24 that all public redacted versions of appeal briefs, response briefs, and
25 reply briefs are now with the Court. Lastly, following a motion from the
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1 Prosecution, Exhibit P02921 was reclassified from confidential to public
2 on the 10th of November, 2015.
3 I am also informing that you there are no public motions pending
4 before the Appeals Chamber, and there are a couple of confidential
5 motions that are being dealt with about which I cannot give details
6 because of the aspect of confidentiality, but eventually you will be
7 informed.
8 I come to -- yes, I also must inform you that Mr. Coric today
9 waived his right to be present. Thank you.
10 At this point, I have nothing left except to ask the parties
11 whether there are any issues that they would like to raise.
12 I will start with the Prosecution.
13 MR. FADEM: Nothing from the Prosecution, Mr. President.
14 JUDGE AGIUS: I thank you.
15 Do any of the appellants have any other issue they would like to
16 raise? I ask counsel first.
17 MR. KARNAVAS: Nothing, Mr. President.
18 MS. NOZICA: [Interpretation] [Microphone not activated].
19 MS. PINTER: [Interpretation] There are no problems, Your Honour.
20 MS. ALABURIC: [Interpretation] There is nothing to raise,
21 Your Honour. Thank you.
22 MR. PLAVEC: [Interpretation] There is nothing, Your Honour.
23 MR. IBRISIMOVIC: [Via videolink] [Interpretation] There is
24 nothing, Your Honour. Thank you.
25 JUDGE AGIUS: So that is about it. I think I can conclude
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1 today's Status Conference. Once more, I wish to thank you for your
2 attendance and for your co-operation. Just to put your mind at rest,
3 having assumed the Presidency of this Tribunal, your appeal is top on my
4 agenda. And as soon as I have settled in properly and have organised the
5 team working on your appeal, I'll make sure that everything works
6 according to plan, and we will keep you informed as we go along.
7 Thank you very much and have a nice afternoon. Thank you.
8 --- Whereupon the Status Conference adjourned
9 at 3.18 p.m.
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