080901SE

Page 143

1 Monday, 1 September 2008

2 [Status Conference]

3 [Open session]

4 [The accused not present]

5 --- Upon commencing at 3.02 p.m.

6 JUDGE STOLE: Good afternoon to everyone in the courtroom.

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

8 THE REGISTRAR: Thank you and good afternoon, Your Honour. This

9 is case number IT-04-79-PT, the Prosecutor versus Mico Stanisic.

10 JUDGE STOLE: Thank you.

11 And may I have the appearances first for the Prosecution.

12 MS. RICHTEROVA: Good afternoon, Your Honour. My name is

13 Anna Richterova, and I'm here with senior trial attorney Tom Hannis, and

14 with Crispian Smith, our case manager.

15 JUDGE STOLE: Thank you. And Defence.

16 MR. ZECEVIC: Good afternoon, Your Honours. My name is

17 Slobodan Zecevic. I'm counsel for Mr. Stanisic. Thank you.

18 JUDGE STOLE: Thank you.

19 The last status conference was held on 6 May 2008, and meanwhile

20 on 10 July of this year the case was assigned to another Bench composed

21 of Judges Kwon, Prost and myself. This status conference is now, then,

22 held according to Rule 65 bis (A) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence,

23 and I need not go into, with the parties, what is the purpose of a status

24 conference.

25 In preparation for this status conference, a meeting, pursuant to

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1 Rule 65 ter, was held between the parties and the senior legal officer,

2 John Cubbon, today, and the Trial Chamber and myself is then familiar

3 with the transcript of this meeting.

4 I also note that since the last status conference, new counsel

5 has been appointed by the accused, Mr. Zecevic, and I am familiar with

6 the information about the material -- or the process of getting the

7 material from the previous counsel, the material necessary for

8 preparation of trial, and also, in broad terms, the information about the

9 disclosure between the parties. But, of course, I'd be interested to

10 hear if the parties have any more information on this that the

11 Trial Chamber should be made aware of, and I would then first give the

12 floor to counsel for the accused.

13 I should also mention for the record that the accused is not

14 present in this status conference, and the reason being that he is on

15 provisional release.

16 So, first, Mr. Zecevic, if there would be anything in particular

17 that you want to address me, when it comes to the process of documents

18 being handed over from your predecessor.

19 MR. ZECEVIC: Thank you for the opportunity, Your Honour.

20 As I informed the senior legal officer of the Chamber this

21 morning, I believe the process has started, and at this point I really

22 don't see any particular reason why I would request or expect the help of

23 the Trial Chamber in that respect. I believe that in a very short while

24 I will be able to confirm that the case file from the previous counsel

25 has been forwarded to me and the Defence team. That is the situation. I

Page 145

1 don't have any reason to doubt that this will happen in a short -- a very

2 short period, and I have the assurances from the previous counsel that it

3 would be so. Therefore --

4 JUDGE STOLE: Thank you for that, Mr. Zecevic. And as for

5 disclosure between the parties, the Prosecution has, I guess quite some

6 time ago, done their disclosure under Rule 66, 66(B), and as it also was

7 noted in the conference earlier today or this morning, the obligation for

8 the Prosecution to make disclosure under Rule 68 is an ongoing process.

9 But again, Mr. Zecevic, is there anything in particular you want to

10 address the Trial Chamber on when it comes to the disclosure process

11 between the parties?

12 MR. ZECEVIC: Well, Your Honour, we discussed the issue of

13 disclosure at length this morning also. The situation is, I would say,

14 normal for a situation where a new counsel is assigned to a case, and we

15 are -- we are still in a process of identifying some flaws in the data

16 which are missing in the disclosure which has been forwarded to us by the

17 previous counsel. I believe that, and I don't have any reasons to doubt,

18 that the OTP has done everything in accordance with the Rule 66, and

19 according to disclosure, and we are cooperating on a daily basis with the

20 Office of the Prosecutor in order that we -- that we complete the

21 disclosure process as soon as possible.

22 As regarding the Rule 68 disclosure, it is -- it is my

23 understanding, and I don't have the reason to doubt, that the OTP have

24 reviewed all their records diligently and professionally in their

25 archives and that they have disclosed all the material which is relevant

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1 to our case, and it is under the Rule 68.

2 Thank you.

3 JUDGE STOLE: Thank you for that.

4 And the Prosecution, any comments?

5 MS. RICHTEROVA: I have nothing much to add, apart from Rule 68.

6 I only want to add that we -- disclosure according to Rule 68 is an

7 ongoing process. Of course, we haven't -- we are disclosing Rule 68

8 material as we are reviewing all the material, so even in future there

9 will be still Rule 68 disclosure. So I cannot say we have disclosed

10 Rule 68 completely. We are in the process of disclosing it.

11 JUDGE STOLE: Thank you.

12 Another theme that was the subject of information this morning

13 was the motions that are pending before the Trial Chamber, and the same

14 goes for this theme; it is not necessary to go into details. I know this

15 has been gone through with the parties, and we have, hopefully, a common

16 understanding of what these pending motions are. And I will confirm, on

17 behalf of the Trial Chamber, that the motion for joinder will now be

18 given our full attention, and we will focus on that one and give priority

19 to that motion.

20 Also, there are motions to amend the indictment, and the same

21 goes for those issues. They will be given close attention by the

22 Trial Chamber in the very near future.

23 If there would be no specific comments from the parties on this,

24 my intention was now to dwell for a moment on the very recent

25 development, a modification -- or a motion from the Defence for a

Page 147

1 modification of the conditions of Mr. Stanisic's provisional release, as

2 was filed today, and which is, of course, very fresh information both for

3 the parties and -- for the Prosecution, I should say, and for the

4 Trial Chamber. But before we go to this, would there be anything from

5 the Prosecution to --

6 MS. RICHTEROVA: No. Thank you, Your Honour. There is nothing

7 else.

8 JUDGE STOLE: Having read this motion, this urgent motion, Mr. --

9 [Pre-Trial Judge and Registrar confer]

10 JUDGE STOLE: Thank you for reminding me. For this part, we

11 should go into private session. We should go into private session for

12 this part.

13 [Private session]

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11 Pages 148-149 redacted. Private session.

Page 150

1 [Open session]

2 THE REGISTRAR: Your Honour, we are back in open session.

3 JUDGE STOLE: Thank you.

4 It is usual, on these status conferences, to ask whether there

5 would be any issues concerning the physical and mental state of the

6 accused. Of course, the situation now being that he is on provisional

7 release is a rather special one, but if there would be anything, I would

8 ask the Defence counsel to speak to that.

9 MR. ZECEVIC: As regards to his mental and health situation,

10 Your Honour, I -- as far as I know, my client is in perfect shape. Thank

11 you very much.

12 JUDGE STOLE: Thank you for that.

13 Would there be any other business to attend to today?

14 MS. RICHTEROVA: No, we do not have any other issue to raise.

15 MR. ZECEVIC: The Defence also doesn't have. Thank you.

16 JUDGE STOLE: Thank you.

17 This meeting is then adjourned. Thank you.

18 --- Whereupon the Status Conference adjourned

19 at 3.22 p.m.