Tribunal Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

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 1                           Monday, 19 July 2010

 2                           [Open session]

 3                           [The accused entered court]

 4                           --- Upon commencing at 2.26 p.m.

 5             JUDGE ORIE:  Good afternoon to everyone in the courtroom.

 6             Madam Registrar, would you please call the case.

 7             THE REGISTRAR:  Good afternoon, Your Honours.  Good afternoon,

 8     everybody in and around the courtroom.  This is case IT-03-69-T, the

 9     Prosecutor versus Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic.

10             JUDGE ORIE:  Thank you, Madam Registrar.

11             I'd like to deal with a few procedural matters before we deal

12     with the testimony of the witness.  I am aware there is another matter

13     the Prosecution would like to raise.  I had it also on my agenda, but for

14     after the witness.  So if that would suit you, Ms. Marcus.

15             Then the first one.

16             MS. MARCUS:  Yes, thank you.

17             JUDGE ORIE:  I'd like to put on the record that these sessions

18     for the 15th and the 16th of July had, unfortunately, to be cancelled due

19     to the unavailability of witnesses.  That's the first.

20             The second is an oral decision.  The Chamber will now deliver its

21     decision on the Simatovic Defence motion requesting adjournment of

22     proceedings.

23             In its motion filed on the 25th of June, 2010, the

24     Simatovic Defence requests the Chamber to cancel the sessions currently

25     scheduled for the 23rd and 24th of August, 2010, and to reconvene after

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 1     the summer recess and no earlier than the 1st of September, 2010.  The

 2     Simatovic Defence argues that due to its recent appointment to this case,

 3     it needs -- it needs additional time to prepare for, and I quote, "key

 4     factual witnesses and cardinal expert witnesses" that are currently

 5     scheduled for after the summer recess.  The Prosecution responded to the

 6     motion on the 7th of July deferring to the Chamber's discretion on

 7     matters of scheduling.

 8             While having duly considered the Simatovic Defence's concerns,

 9     the Chamber notes that in the past weeks hearings in this case were

10     cancelled on a number of occasions, although for different reasons,

11     resulting in the loss of four court days.  The Chamber considers that

12     this presented an opportunity for the Simatovic Defence to use this extra

13     time to prepare for upcoming witnesses and accordingly denies the motion.

14             At the same time, in an effort to accommodate the

15     Simatovic Defence, the Chamber has decided to reschedule its sitting days

16     in the week of the 23rd of August by moving them to Thursday, the 26th

17     August, and Friday, the 27th of August, 2010.

18             And this concludes the Chamber's decision.

19             The Chamber further informs the parties that at least for the

20     first two sitting weeks after the summer recess it will continue to sit

21     two days a week.

22             Next item is a request by the Stanisic Defence to -- for an

23     extension of a deadline.  This was requested by the Stanisic Defence by

24     e-mail of the 15th of July, to extend the deadline for filing submissions

25     on an increased sitting schedule until three days after submissions by

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 1     the independent experts.  I'll read from that e-mail.

 2             "On the 8th of July, 2010, the Trial Chamber ordered the

 3     Stanisic Defence to file submissions on increased number of sitting days

 4     no later than the 23rd of July, 2010.  The independent experts have to

 5     file reports on this same matter by the 23rd July as well.  We would like

 6     to request the Chamber to extend our deadline for submissions until

 7     three days after the filing of the reports by the independent experts to

 8     enable us to rely on the information provided by the experts in our

 9     submissions."

10             And the Chamber would like to know if there's any objection

11     against an extension of the deadline.

12             MS. MARCUS:  No objections, Your Honour.

13             JUDGE ORIE:  Not from the Simatovic Defence?  No.  I see you're

14     nodding no.

15             MR. PETROVIC: [Interpretation] No, Your Honour.

16             JUDGE ORIE:  Then the request is granted.

17             Then is the Prosecution ready to call its next witness, the next

18     witness to be examined in closed session?

19             MS. MARCUS:  Yes, Your Honours.  The Prosecution is ready to call

20     JF-002, who will be examined by Ms. Friedman.

21             JUDGE ORIE:  Then we turn into closed session, and may the

22     witness be brought into the courtroom.

23                           [Closed session]

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16                           [Open session]

17             THE REGISTRAR:  We're in open session, Your Honours.

18             JUDGE ORIE:  Thank you, Madam Registrar.

19             The Chamber wishes to address the parties in relation to two

20     matters concerning the use of available court time.

21             The first matter relates to the scheduling of witnesses.  The

22     Chamber is concerned that it had lost several days of court sitting time

23     in recent weeks due to the unavailability of scheduled witnesses and the

24     lack of reserve witnesses.  The Chamber notes that in the last month, the

25     hearing of witness testimony was cancelled for this reason on five

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 1     scheduled sitting days, being the 21st of June, 22nd, 23rd, all of June,

 2     and the 14th and the 15th of July.  While a housekeeping session was held

 3     on the 22nd of June, the remaining four sitting days were lost.

 4             The Chamber understands that problems such as witnesses' sudden

 5     availability to testify or unexpected failure to co-operate are beyond

 6     the control of the calling party.  Further, the Chamber notes that the

 7     disruptive effects of scheduling problems are exacerbated in this case,

 8     which is currently limited to two sitting days per week.

 9             The Chamber envisages that a higher number of sitting days per

10     week may assist in resolving such problems.  However, it encourages the

11     Prosecution to communicate frequently with the Victims and Witnesses

12     Section in future in order to develop a system of witness scheduling

13     aimed at better avoiding the loss of sitting days.  The Chamber gives

14     this guidance after consulting with the Victims and Witness Section which

15     is ready to assist the Prosecution in finding an appropriate solution.

16     The same will, of course, be asked of the Defence teams, if and when the

17     Defence witness are called to give evidence in this case.

18             The second matter the Chamber wishes to address is the

19     availability of counsel during weeks in which court sessions are

20     scheduled.  The Chamber recalls the recent difficulties in scheduling an

21     extra sitting day due to the absence from The Hague of both counsel for

22     Mr. Simatovic.  The extra sitting day could only be arranged after the

23     Chamber exceptionally allowed counsel for Mr. Simatovic to appear via

24     video-conference link from Belgrade.

25             The Chamber considers it inappropriate for both counsel for one

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 1     accused to be unavailable during a week in which court sessions are

 2     scheduled given that court sessions may occasionally need to be

 3     rescheduled at short notice due to unforeseen reasons.  The Chamber

 4     therefore requests that at least one counsel for each accused be

 5     available to attend hearings in person on any day of a week in which

 6     court sessions are scheduled.

 7             And this concludes the Chamber's statement.

 8             We adjourn for the day, and we will resume tomorrow, the

 9     20th of July, quarter past 2.00 in the afternoon, in this same courtroom.

10                           --- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at 7.00 p.m.,

11                           to be reconvened on Tuesday, the 20th day

12                           of July, 2010, at 2.15 p.m.

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