Tribunal Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Page 7

1 Friday, 13 June 2003

2 [Initial Appearance]

3 [Open session]

4 [The accused entered court]

5 --- Upon commencing at 2.33 p.m.

6 JUDGE KWON: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Would the

7 Registrar please call the case.

8 THE REGISTRAR: Case number IT-03-69-I, the Prosecutor versus

9 Jovica Stanisic.

10 JUDGE KWON: Thank you. May I have the appearances.

11 MS. DEL PONTE: For the Prosecution, Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte,

12 senior trial attorney Susan Somers, trial attorney Camille Bibles, and the

13 case manager, Stephanie Wee. Thank you, Your Honour.

14 JUDGE KWON: Thank you, madam.

15 And for the Defence, please.

16 MR. V. VUKCEVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I am Vladan

17 Vukcevic, attorney at law. The colleague next to me is Slobodan Vukcevic,

18 attorney at law. And we are going to be the defence team for Mr.

19 Stanisic.

20 JUDGE KWON: Thank you, Mr. Vukcevic.

21 Mr. Stanisic, can you hear the proceeding in a language you

22 understand?

23 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Yes.

24 JUDGE KWON: If you don't feel well, you may sit down. Would you

25 please state your full name.

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1 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I am Jovica Stanisic.

2 JUDGE KWON: And for your identification, would you please state

3 your date and place of your birth.

4 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I was born on the 30th of July 1950,

5 in Ratkovo, in the Republic of Serbia.

6 JUDGE KWON: Is it in the region of Vojvodina?

7 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Yes.

8 JUDGE KWON: Thank you. This proceeding is the Initial Appearance

9 of Mr. Jovica Stanisic, pursuant to Rule 62 of the Rules of Procedure and

10 Evidence of the International Tribunal. The indictment against the

11 accused and Mr. Franko Simatovic was reviewed and confirmed by a permanent

12 judge of this Tribunal on the 1st of May, 2003. Subsequently,

13 Mr. Simatovic was transferred to this Tribunal on Friday, 30th of May,

14 2003, upon which the President of this Tribunal assigned the case to the

15 Trial Chamber III. And as one of his permanent Judges, I was designated

16 as the presiding Pre-Trial Judge. And the accused himself was transferred

17 to this Tribunal on Wednesday, 11th of June this year, and I scheduled the

18 present Initial Appearance as the Pre-Trial Judge.

19 First of all, as the Pre-Trial Judge, I have to make certain that

20 the accused understands the indictment against him.

21 Mr. Vukcevic, has your client received the indictment in his own

22 language?

23 MR. V. VUKCEVIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour, he has

24 received the indictment. We are familiar with its contents in detail, and

25 as far as the Defence is concerned, there is no need to have it read out.

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1 JUDGE KWON: Very well. Then the next step is then entry of a

2 plea to the charges of the indictment. The accused may either enter a

3 plea within 30 days of the Initial Appearance, but he may enter a plea at

4 the time of the Initial Appearance if he so wishes.

5 Mr. Vukcevic, does your client wish to enter a plea today or do it

6 later?

7 MR. V. VUKCEVIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour. Yes, he is

8 going to do it today.

9 JUDGE KWON: Then I will ask the Registrar to put each count of

10 the indictment to the accused and then the accused will plead. But

11 Mr. Stanisic, could you confine your answer either to guilty or not

12 guilty.

13 Yes, Registrar, please.

14 THE REGISTRAR: Count 1: Persecutions on political, racial, or

15 religious grounds, a crime against humanity, punishable under Articles

16 5(h) and 7(1) of the Statute of the Tribunal.

17 JUDGE KWON: Mr. Stanisic, do you plead to count 1 guilty or not

18 guilty?

19 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I'm convinced that I'm

20 not guilty.

21 JUDGE KWON: Very well. Count 2, please.

22 THE REGISTRAR: Count 2: Murder, a crime against humanity,

23 punishable under Articles 5(a) and 7(1) of the Statute of the Tribunal.

24 JUDGE KWON: How do you plead, Mr. Stanisic?

25 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I'm convinced that I'm

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1 not guilty.

2 JUDGE KWON: Very well. Count 3, please.

3 THE REGISTRAR: Count 3: Murder, a violation of the laws or

4 customs of war as recognised by Common Article 3(1)(a) of the Geneva

5 Conventions of 1949, punishable under Articles 3 and 7(1) of the Statute

6 of the Tribunal.

7 JUDGE KWON: Do you plead guilty or not guilty to count 3,

8 Mr. Stanisic?

9 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I'm convinced that I'm

10 not guilty.

11 JUDGE KWON: Count 4, please.

12 THE REGISTRAR: Count 4: Deportation, a crime against humanity,

13 punishable under Articles 5(d) and 7(1) of the Statute of the Tribunal.

14 JUDGE KWON: How do you plead, Mr. Stanisic?

15 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I'm convinced that I'm

16 not guilty.

17 JUDGE KWON: Yes. Then let's go to the last count.

18 THE REGISTRAR: Count 5: Inhumane acts (forcible transfer), a

19 crime against humanity, punishable under Articles 5(i) and 7(1) of the

20 Statute of the Tribunal.

21 JUDGE KWON: Mr. Stanisic, do you plead guilty or not guilty?

22 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I'm not guilty.

23 JUDGE KWON: Very well. Please sit down.

24 I would like to ask the Registrar to note that Mr. Stanisic has

25 pleaded not guilty to all of the counts of the indictment.

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1 Then I must now remind the Prosecutor that, pursuant to

2 Rule 66(A)(i), to make available within 30 days to the Defence, in a

3 language which the accused understands, all the supporting materials which

4 accompany the indictment, and also all prior statements obtained by the

5 Prosecution from the accused must be disclosed as well.

6 MS. DEL PONTE: Yes, Your Honour. We will be ready for the

7 disclosure of the supporting material.

8 JUDGE KWON: Thank you, madam.

9 Then let me now turn to the Defence, and also tell the Defence

10 that it will have a 30-day period for filing any preliminary motions that

11 it cares to do. Once it has received all of the supporting materials in

12 accordance to Rule 66. Those being said, are there any matters the

13 parties wish to raise at this stage? Nothing from the --

14 MS. DEL PONTE: Nothing, Your Honour.

15 JUDGE KWON: -- Prosecution?

16 How about Defence?

17 MR. V. VUKCEVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, not at this point

18 in time. Nothing special. Thank you.

19 JUDGE KWON: Mr. Stanisic, do you have anything in particular to

20 speak to the Chamber or raise anything, relating to your custody or

21 health, and anything else?

22 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I have nothing special to say.

23 Everything that was relevant is what I handed over to the Tribunal through

24 my defence counsel. I am referring to the documents related to my health,

25 and I'm referring to all other matters.

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1 JUDGE KWON: Thank you. I believe the Chamber will be able to --

2 THE INTERPRETER: Microphone for Judge Kwon, please.

3 JUDGE KWON: The Chamber will be able to see the document sooner

4 or later. Yes, please take your seat.

5 And pursuant to Rule 65 ter, the Pre-Trial Judge may be assisted

6 in the performance of his duty by one of the Senior Legal Officers

7 assigned to the Chambers. In this regard, Ms. Yvonne Featherstone, the

8 Senior Legal Officer of our Chamber, shall undertake this task. My

9 understanding is that Ms. Featherstone has already arranged a 65 ter

10 meeting to take place on the 21st of July, together with the Defence team

11 for Mr. Simatovic. Given that Defence has a month's time during which it

12 must receive the supporting material, so the timing seems all right to me.

13 I believe you will be contacted.

14 And then I will have a status conference for the accused and the

15 co-accused, Mr. Simatovic, within approximately four months' time from

16 today.

17 Then this proceeding is now adjourned.

18 --- Whereupon the Initial Appearance

19 adjourned at 2.46 p.m.

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