Tribunal Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

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1 Wednesday, 9 November 2005

2 [Status Conference]

3 [Open session]

4 [The appellant entered court]

5 --- Upon commencing at 10.00 a.m.

6 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Good morning to you all.

7 Mr. Registrar, will you please call the case?

8 THE REGISTRAR: Good morning, Your Honour. This is case number

9 IT-99-36-A, the Prosecutor versus Radoslav Brdjanin.

10 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: The audio equipment is clearly working. So I

11 would merely ask whether the parties can hear me.

12 Mr. Brdjanin, can you hear me in a language that you understand?

13 THE APPELLANT: [Interpretation] Good morning, Your Honour. Yes, I

14 can hear you in a language that I can understand.

15 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: And the parties can hear me as well? Yes.

16 Now, then, may we have the appearances? Whose appeal is first,

17 the Prosecution's appeal or the Defence's appeal? The Prosecution?

18 MS. MARGETTS: Good morning, Your Honour, my name is Katharina

19 Margetts. I'm appearing for the Prosecution together with senior appeals

20 counsel, Mark McKeon, and our case manager, Lourdes Galicia.

21 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: The appearance for the Defence?

22 MR. ACKERMAN: Good morning, Your Honour. I'm John Ackerman. I'm

23 here with Aleksandar Vujic.

24 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Well, then, Ms. Margetts, yes, thank you very

25 much.

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1 Then, as you know, this is the third Status Conference to be held.

2 The first was, I think, held on the 3rd of February this year. The second

3 was held on the 6th of June this year. And this is a third one. We had a

4 problem over the fixture. As you know, under Rule 65 bis, a Status

5 Conference has to be held at intervals no longer than 120 days, but there

6 was a problem in Mr. Ackerman's jurisdiction, with the consent of

7 Mr. Brdjanin, the third Status Conference was not held within the due time

8 but is now being held. I hope everything is all right down your way,

9 Mr. Ackerman.

10 MR. ACKERMAN: Yes, Your Honour. Thank you very much. I

11 appreciate your indulgence with my hurricane confrontation.

12 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Now, we have read out the Rule in Rule 65 bis

13 before. The parties will be aware of the Rule. The Rule provides two

14 purposes. One, it allows the Appellant to express any -- Mr. Brdjanin to

15 express any concerns relating to the appeal and to detention conditions,

16 and it affords the parties an opportunity to express themselves as to the

17 status of the appeals.

18 Now, I will begin with the second of these objectives, namely the

19 giving of an update. The case involves, as you know, appeals by both the

20 Prosecution and Mr. Brdjanin. The judgement was rendered, I think, on the

21 1st of September 2004. The Prosecution's notice of appeal was filed on

22 the 30th of September of that year, and Mr. Brdjanin's appeal was filed a

23 day after that, namely on the 1st of October 2004.

24 The briefing of both parties' appeals is now complete. The

25 briefing of the Prosecution appeal was completed on 25 May. That is to

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1 say, with the exception of an amicus curiae brief filed by the association

2 for Defence counsel on 5 July, and, to that, a reply was filed by the

3 Prosecution on 20 July 2005. Meanwhile, the briefing of Mr. Brdjanin's

4 appeal was completed on 18th October 2005, last month, with the filing of

5 his reply brief. This will make possible an appeal hearing to be

6 scheduled by the Tribunal as soon as reasonably possible.

7 There is one matter pending. There is a Rule 115 motion for the

8 admission of additional evidence. It is filed by Mr. Brdjanin on 17th

9 October, last month. The Prosecution filed a response on 26th October,

10 and Mr. Brdjanin has not filed a reply. The Appeals Chamber will decide

11 the matter in due course.

12 Now, I return to the filing of a brief by the association for

13 Defence counsel on 7th November. The Defence association was granted

14 permission to present an oral argument, limited to the question that its

15 brief addressed, namely whether a joint criminal enterprise must include

16 the physical perpetrator of the crime amongst its members. Now, the

17 Prosecution says that this issue, which it recognises does not affect the

18 outcome of the case, and which the Defence acknowledges is of no interest

19 to itself except that it has an academic interest in the matter, will be

20 dealt with and has been dealt with by the order issued on the 7th of this

21 month by the President of the Tribunal.

22 So that is a matter which will be determined in due

23 course. I think the position was that the Prosecution first opposed the

24 application, took the position that the Defence association might be

25 allowed to make an oral argument provided the time came out of the time

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1 allotted to Defence. But it was pointed out that Defence, in fact, had no

2 practical interest in this case and so the arrangement was, or at least

3 the Ruling of the President was that the association would be permitted 15

4 minutes to present its argument and the Prosecution would be permitted an

5 additional 15 minutes to reply.

6 Now, that is the position here.

7 Mr. Ackerman, does your client have anything to say about the

8 conditions of detention?

9 MR. ACKERMAN: Not that I'm aware of, Your Honour.

10 No, he does not.

11 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: No. Mr. Prosecutor, do you have -- Madam?

12 MS. MARGETTS: No, Your Honour, no issues to raise.

13 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Are there any other points of interest which

14 can properly be raised?

15 MR. ACKERMAN: Not from us, Your Honour.

16 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: Then we will bring the proceedings -- on that

17 note -- I take it Ms. Margetts, you have no other matters to raise?

18 MS. MARGETTS: No, thank you, Your Honour.

19 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEEN: We will, on that note, adjourn the

20 proceedings and look forward to the hearing of the appeal in due course.

21 Thank you.

22 --- Whereupon the Status Conference adjourned at

23 10.13 a.m.

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