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1 Friday, 28 June 2002
2 [Status Conference]
3 [Open session]
4 [The appellants entered court]
5 --- Upon commencing at 9.30 a.m.
6 JUDGE HUNT: Call the case, please.
7 THE REGISTRAR: [Interpretation] [No translation]... The
8 Prosecutor versus Miroslav Kvocka, Zoran Zigic, Mladjo Radic, Dragoljub
9 Prcac, and Milojica Kos.
10 JUDGE HUNT: Before we start, I should apologise for the shortness
11 of the notice you received and for the somewhat peremptory setting of the
12 date. We do try, we certainly have in the past, tried to meet the
13 convenience of everybody concerned. However, with only three courtrooms
14 and six Trial Chambers sitting, they're sitting in two shifts and we can
15 no longer fit these Status Conferences in before or after a Trial Chamber
16 is sitting. So it was either today or sometime late in August. You will
17 understand, then, the troubles we've had.
18 Appearances for the Prosecution, Mr. Staker.
19 MR. STAKER: May it please Your Honour, my name is Christopher
20 Staker. I appear today on behalf of the Prosecution with my colleague
21 Miss Kelly Howick. Our case manager for today is Miss Diana Dicklich.
22 JUDGE HUNT: Thank you. Mr. Kvocka, can you hear these
23 proceedings in a language which you understand?
24 THE APPELLANT KVOCKA: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour.
25 JUDGE HUNT: We received a message from your counsel, Mr. Simic,
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1 apologising for his inability to attend today. He had a previous
2 engagement, actually on behalf of the Tribunal, in Banja Luka, and we
3 understand his inability to attend. He says in the message: "My Defence
4 has no issues to arise," that he plans to visit the Tribunal in the first
5 part of July regarding important matters for future proceedings in the
6 case before the Appeals Chamber. So you will no doubt hear from him when
7 he comes.
8 Counsel for Mr. Radic.
9 MR. JOVANOVIC: [Interpretation] Good day, Your Honour. My name is
10 Zoran Jovanovic on behalf of Mladjo Radic as legal advisor.
11 JUDGE HUNT: Thank you. For Mr. Zigic.
12 MR. STOJANOVIC: [Interpretation] Good morning, Your Honour. My
13 name is Slobodan Stojanovic. Today I will represent the Defence of
14 Mr. Zigic.
15 JUDGE HUNT: And for Mr. Prcac.
16 MR. J. SIMIC: [Interpretation] Good morning, Your Honour. My name
17 is Jovan Simic, attorney from Belgrade, and I will represent the Defence
18 of Mr. Prcac.
19 JUDGE HUNT: Thank you. Now, for each of the other three
20 appellants, are you able to hear the proceedings in a language which you
21 can understand? Mr. Radic?
22 THE APPELLANT RADIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour.
23 JUDGE HUNT: Mr. Zigic?
24 THE APPELLANT ZIGIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour.
25 JUDGE HUNT: Thank you. Mr. Prcac?
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1 THE APPELLANT PRCAC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour.
2 JUDGE HUNT: Thank you. Well, this is Status Conference held in
3 accordance with Rule 65 bis. Are there any matters which the Prosecution
4 wants to raise, first of all?
5 MR. STAKER: Your Honour, none other than one perhaps very minor
6 technical matter. We note simply the withdrawal of the appeal by the
7 appellant Kos. My reading of the Rules doesn't indicate to me clearly
8 whether a notice of withdrawal is to be regarded as ipso facto effective
9 or whether some kind of order or formal taking of note by the Chamber is
10 required but perhaps this might be an opportunity simply to formalise
11 that.
12 JUDGE HUNT: Well, that's been a matter of some discussion. The
13 Registry, as you can imagine, being the Registry, suggested that we should
14 grant leave to withdraw, and I said, "What? Do you mean we can refuse to
15 allow him to withdraw?" There was no answer to that.
16 Another Judge suggested that we should perhaps file a document
17 accepting his withdrawal, but then a minor matter as to whether that was
18 an order or a decision, which apparently is the only things we have power
19 to do, caused that suggestion to go to one side, so we have simply
20 accepted the withdrawal as ipso facto a withdrawal of the appeal, and we
21 have proceeded, you will notice, without any reference to that particular
22 appellant any longer.
23 MR. STAKER: I thank you, Your Honour.
24 JUDGE HUNT: If you'd got any better suggestions, I'd be grateful
25 for them, but so far, nobody's been able to suggest one.
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1 MR. STAKER: If we can proceed on the basis that Mr. Kos is no
2 longer a party to these proceedings.
3 JUDGE HUNT: Oh, most certainly, yes. You need not give him
4 notice about anything. The one thing that caused me some concern was in
5 relation to all of these applications by the Prosecution to disclose the
6 material in other proceedings. It may be as well, if you have any further
7 ones - you no doubt will have some further ones - if there was some
8 communication perhaps with his former counsel about it. I would myself
9 feel easier if there was some such record that he had been consulted or
10 someone on his behalf had been consulted, that's all.
11 MR. STAKER: Thank you, Your Honour.
12 JUDGE HUNT: Anything else?
13 MR. STAKER: That's all, Your Honour.
14 JUDGE HUNT: Thank you. Is there anything that any of the
15 appellants wish to raise?
16 MR. JOVANOVIC: [Interpretation] No, Your Honour. There are no
17 issues that the Defence of Mladjo Radic would like to raise at this
18 moment. Thank you.
19 JUDGE HUNT: Well, now, this appeal is somewhat unusual in that it
20 is sailing smoothly ahead without the usual problems about fresh evidence
21 and Rule 68 discovery and things, and it seems that if everything goes
22 well, we should have all of the pre-appeal pleadings completed by the end
23 of July.
24 Now, the prospect of a date is something which is starting to be
25 considered. It looks as if there will be available a slot at the end of
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1 October or sometime early in November. It will depend, to a very large
2 extent, as to what happens in the appeal of Mr. Blaskic, which has
3 priority in timing, but the position in relation to that appeal will not
4 be resolved for another week or so. You will be consulted in relation to
5 dates. The Appeals Chamber is able to have some clout in relation to
6 getting hold of a courtroom for the actual hearing of an appeal so that we
7 will have a little bit more flexibility. But with even the reduced number
8 of appellants, it's difficult to satisfy everybody, but we will certainly
9 attempt to do so.
10 Now, Mr. Stojanovic, that list of your grounds of appeal hopefully
11 will not be ten pages long, as you have suggested in your application. A
12 notice of appeal should be succinct, to say the least of it, but we hope
13 that you will get that on now within the time you have been granted
14 because the Prosecution is justifiably entitled to await that document
15 before it finalises its brief in reply, and everything is depending upon
16 you doing that properly.
17 Thank you very much for attending. I will now adjourn.
18 -- Whereupon the Status Conference adjourned
19 at 9.41 a.m.
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