Tribunal Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Page 11

1 Wednesday, 28 July 2004

2 [Status Conference]

3 [Open session]

4 [The appellant entered court]

5 --- Upon commencing at 8.31 a.m.

6 JUDGE MUMBA: Good morning. Madam Registrar, please call the

7 case.

8 THE REGISTRAR: Good morning, Your Honour. Case Number

9 IT-98-29-A, the Prosecutor versus Stanislav Galic.

10 JUDGE MUMBA: Thank you.

11 May I have the parties, please. The Prosecution.

12 MR. FARRELL: Good morning, Your Honour. Appearing for the

13 Prosecution is Norman Farrell, Ms. Helen Brady, and Ms. Susan Grogan.

14 Thank you.

15 JUDGE MUMBA: Thank you.

16 May I have the appearances for the Defence, please.

17 THE INTERPRETER: Microphone, please.

18 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] One forgets to put the

19 microphone on.

20 Good morning to everyone. My name is Mr. Piletta-Zanin. I

21 represent Mr. Galic, and my assistant is present. Thank you.

22 JUDGE MUMBA: This is a Status Conference according to Rule 65

23 bis. And the purpose of a Status Conference is really to find out the

24 status of the proceedings and also to find out from the appellant his

25 status of detention and whether there are any matters he wishes to raise

Page 12

1 with the Bench, bearing in mind of course the administrative procedures

2 with the office of the registrar on any matters that fall within the Rules

3 of Detention.

4 This is the second Status Conference in this appeal. We had the

5 first one on 31st March this year. And as the parties are in the process

6 of exchanging procedural stages of the appeal, I have noted from the

7 record that all the processes appear to be on time. In this appeal we

8 also have a Rule 115 motion which is under consideration and the parties

9 so far are complying within the deadlines. I wanted to find out from the

10 parties whether there are any matters they wish to raise. On my way of --

11 the motion on record, which I deal with later. Is there any other matter

12 besides the motion from the Prosecution?

13 MR. FARRELL: No. Thank you, Your Honour.

14 JUDGE MUMBA: And the Defence? Any other matter other than the

15 motion that is on record that they wish to raise?

16 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I think that a

17 while ago in order to save time the Trial Chamber wanted us to respond

18 orally and not in writing. Is that correct?

19 JUDGE MUMBA: Yes.

20 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] If that is the case, I will

21 respond immediately. Therefore, Your Honour, would you grant me two or

22 three minutes?

23 JUDGE MUMBA: Yes. Two or three minutes to look at the motion?

24 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Yes. I can do it if you like.

25 JUDGE MUMBA: Yes. I'll give the party -- the Defence three

Page 13

1 minutes, but before I do that I would like to raise this very motion with

2 the Prosecution. I noticed that according to the Rules the respondent's

3 brief, that is your response from the appellant's appeal is supposed to be

4 filed on 30th of August this year. And your motion is applying for an

5 extension of two weeks so that you file it on the 13th of September, 2004.

6 Besides what you have stated in this motion as your reasons, what else is

7 there? What else is there?

8 MR. FARRELL: If you'd like me to address that issue, the matters

9 that are stated in the motion are pretty much comprehensive. The only

10 other matter which was not places on the record, if you wish, is that some

11 of the staff in the appeals section will be absent in the month of August,

12 myself included. Presently I'm scheduled to be away the last two weeks of

13 August. And those are the only matters that I can bring to your

14 attention.

15 JUDGE MUMBA: I see. The Prosecution is aware that when the court

16 is in recess, that does not mean recess for procedural matters in criminal

17 trials and appeals.

18 MR. FARRELL: Of course not, and the Prosecution has complied for

19 the last four summers with the filing --

20 JUDGE MUMBA: Especially since the parties know that the Judges do

21 not go on recess in the sense that there is always a duty Judge to attend

22 to matters. That shows that the Appeals Chamber, as well as Trial

23 Chambers expect that procedural matters must continue because these are

24 criminal trials and criminal appeals and nobody in their right senses

25 would like to delay the proceedings simply because of a vacation.

Page 14

1 MR. FARRELL: Absolutely not, Your Honour. If you'll note in

2 paragraph 5, the primary basis for the extension is the one, two, three,

3 four, five other filings, four of them during the recess and all of them

4 the Prosecution is going to attempt to comply with in relation to those.

5 We're not asking that there be a vacation of all filing deadlines for the

6 whole summer.

7 JUDGE MUMBA: Yes, Mr. Farrell, but you know all these cases have

8 to go on and that all persons are equal before the Tribunal and so is this

9 appellant and his appeal. So he cannot be delayed simply because the

10 Prosecution's office has several other cases, just like the Appeals

11 Chamber's Judges have several other cases. And all of us are doing our

12 level best to beat, if not meet the deadlines. So you are equally bound

13 by the Rules. There is nothing in the Rules to say that if the

14 Prosecution's office is overloaded, then the extensions of time are right.

15 No.

16 MR. FARRELL: No doubt about that. And there are other reasons as

17 well. First of all, the appellants had seven months in which to draft

18 their brief. We're asking for two weeks.

19 JUDGE MUMBA: Because of the translation --

20 MR. FARRELL: Sure enough, and the 145 pages, the extra 45 pages

21 was -- certainly no other reason than volume.

22 JUDGE MUMBA: Yes, Mr. Farrell, if the other party is a little

23 weak procedurally, that doesn't mean -- that doesn't give the other party

24 the right to be equally weak. The parties are asking to be diligent

25 because we are quite loaded at the Tribunal. Anyway, I've understood your

Page 15

1 reasons.

2 MR. FARRELL: Thank you very much.

3 JUDGE MUMBA: I think the Defence has had enough time to look at

4 the motion and also have understood the Bench's concerns in this regard.

5 So you are through.

6 MR. FARRELL: Yes, I am, Your Honour. Thank you.

7 JUDGE MUMBA: Is the Defence ready? The Bench is willing to give

8 you time if you need it.

9 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Yes.

10 Thank you, Your Honour. First of all, I'm not sure that the

11 additional time we might have had would have resulted from -- the

12 Defence's access is a result of the Tribunal's procedure. This procedure

13 is organised in a way that the two texts, the English text and the French

14 texts, were not drafted at the same time -- [In English] to do anything

15 against this and this is a matter. Against what we have -- I mean, we

16 must accept it.

17 [Interpretation] Having raised that issue, as far as the motion

18 itself is concerned we would like to say -- I would like to say the

19 following. Firstly, there is a number of areas of the motion because I'm

20 also aware of a decision of your Chamber dated the 21 July, 2004. And I'm

21 not aware of an authorisation consisting of 143 [as interpreted] pages.

22 But the reasons for the appeal have been known by the Prosecution for a

23 long time. This was made known in our notice of appeal and the

24 Prosecution was aware of all the items, all this as we had raised. We

25 haven't added anything.

Page 16

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12 Blank page inserted to ensure the pagination between the English and

13 French transcripts correspond

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

Page 17

1 I would like to thank the Chamber for having granted us additional

2 pages and I would like apologise to -- on behalf of the entire Defence

3 because we drafted the new text, 145 pages of new text. We did so very

4 rapidly and as a result of certain errors, typing errors, layout errors,

5 and we would like to apologise for that. We have listed the errors made

6 and provided it to the Chamber and it will soon be provided to the

7 Prosecution. When we have to work rapidly, the Defence doubts -- and the

8 Defence team is not as numerous as the Prosecution's team. We also had to

9 work over the summer. All the members of the Defence had to find time to

10 work and we don't see why we should accept that the Prosecution should

11 have additional time because they want to have a nice summer period. That

12 is all the more the case because when we asked the Prosecution whether we

13 could ask -- make a joint request for additional pages, this request was

14 refused for the same reasons. So equality of arms means that this motion

15 should be refused. I thank you in advance.

16 JUDGE MUMBA: Thank you counsel for the Defence. I've noted your

17 concerns, and all I can say is that Defence counsel are expected to work

18 outright once they accept a brief, either at trial or on appeal. This is

19 expected of lawyers in practice. They cannot hold their client's liberty

20 to ransom simply because they have no time or they are too busy if that

21 were the case. Nobody who has a busy schedule should accept a brief in

22 this Tribunal. It's no excuse saying that there is no time for that,

23 there is no time for that. Because when the practice directions were

24 issued, they were very well thought out and that the Appeals Chamber does

25 expect that parties that will accept appeal briefs are committed to duty

Page 18

1 and will comply with the times, subject of course to translation

2 difficulties which we are all aware of and which the Appeals Chamber

3 almost always does give deference to because the Tribunal cannot meet the

4 weight load on time in the translation unit.

5 Having heard the Defence and with my prior remarks on the request

6 by the Prosecution, I will deal with the matter right away. I accept the

7 concerns raised by the Prosecution, but like I said the practice

8 directions must not be undermined by lame excuses as a busy work schedule.

9 This Tribunal has had a busy work schedule right from day one and it is

10 expected of all of us to meet our deadlines and targets. I also note what

11 the Defence have said, but I believe that in the interests of justice and

12 also to state that during the pre-trial -- pre-appeal proceedings, the

13 Appeals Chamber does try very hard to allow the parties sufficient time so

14 that they can file in the best pleadings possible and this does assist the

15 Appeals Chamber itself in dealing with the appeals before it. So I will

16 grant -- the Prosecution have the time they've asked for.

17 And the Defence filing their respondent's brief on the 10th, they

18 should file it by the 6th of September. That is extra working days which

19 are granted in view of their plea. The written decision will be filed in

20 due course. I would like now to turn to the appellant, Mr. Galic, and

21 find out his status.

22 Mr. Galic, are there any matters you wish to raise regarding your

23 health, regarding your detention facilities, or any other matter

24 concerning this appeal?

25 THE APPELLANT: [Interpretation] Good morning, Your Honour. Thank

Page 19

1 you for giving me this opportunity to address you. Very briefly, since

2 the last Status Conference my spine was x-rayed or scanned on the 16th of

3 June in the Bronovo Hospital. And when they compared the 2001 x-ray and

4 the present x-ray, the conclusion they came to was that the condition my

5 spine is in is gradually deteriorating. We'll see what will happen in the

6 future. But apart from that, everything is quite normal. Thank you.

7 JUDGE MUMBA: Thank you, Mr. Galic. You may be seated. The Bench

8 is glad to note that the necessary medical attention is being received by

9 yourself, and we can only hope that your health does not deteriorate and

10 that should be another factor to urge the parties to comply with the

11 deadlines, so that as much as possible this appeal can be heard before the

12 end of this year so that the appellant can have the final decision on this

13 case and that will I'm sure be a positive factor as far as his health is

14 concerned.

15 Any other matters? The Prosecution?

16 MR. FARRELL: No, thank you.

17 JUDGE MUMBA: The Defence, any matters you wish to raise?

18 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] No, thank you.

19 JUDGE MUMBA: There being no other matters, this Status Conference

20 has come to an end and the court will rise.

21 ---Whereupon the Status Conference

22 adjourned at 8.47 a.m.

23

24

25