1 Monday, 10 May 2004

2 [Status Conference – Open Session]

3 MR. JOVANOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, the Defence doesn't

4 have any particular matter to raise. At the previous Status Conference,

5 you set a deadline when the Prosecution should disclose all the material

6 under the Rules and file the pre-trial brief. The Defence was asked to

7 say how much time it would need for its brief.

8 As for the tempo of disclosure, I feel that we still haven't

9 received sufficient material to be able to indicate how much time the

10 Defence will need to process all this and to file its own brief.

11 JUDGE KWON: So you are not in the position to say how much time

12 to prepare once you receive the pre-trial brief from the Prosecution.

13 MR. JOVANOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, if I had any

14 indication of the volume of documents; I must point out that the

15 indictment covers a five-year period. It includes Bosnia-Herzegovina and

16 Croatia. So I expect quite a lot of material. Mr. Groome suggested to

17 disclose revised or edited witness statements. I said that I would be

18 grateful to Mr. Groome if he gives me any material that he has. And I

19 will consider the disclosure to be completed once I have all the relevant

20 information. Mr. Groome said that this will involve certain delays. He

21 will probably tell you about that. I think all the transcripts under

22 66(A) have not been translated. So there are quite a number of things

23 that the Prosecution has still not done. And if we were to see the end

24 of this process, then the Defence would be able to take a position about it.

25 JUDGE KWON: Thank you. We'll come to the issue after all the

1 disclosure is completed and the pre-trial brief from the Prosecution is

2 filed.

3 Now I will turn to Mr. Groome, then. How are the cases going on

4 the part of the Prosecution?

5 MR. GROOME: Your Honour, I have prepared an oral report. If it

6 please the Court, I'll give the Court my report on the state of the

7 disclosure for both Rule 66 and 68, as well as --

8 JUDGE KWON: Yes, please.

9 MR. GROOME: -- to the other issues.

10 As an overview of disclosure, as approved by the Court in the

11 last Status Conference, the Prosecution has been meeting its disclosure

12 obligation by making monthly instalments of both Rule 68 and Rule 66

13 material. So far to date the Prosecution has disclosed a total of 65

14 compact disks containing both Rule ^23 68 material and Rule 66 material.

15 The Rule 68 material is in fully searchable format so that both Defence

16 counsel are able to search through those documents for material that they

17 believe may be relevant for their defence.

18 We are on track to complete our disclosure requirement of both

19 66(A)(2) and Rule 68 by the 19th of July this year. And that disclosure

20 will be complete with respect to translations as well.

21 With respect to the current status of 66 A (ii), to date the

22 Prosecution has disclosed 86 statements of witnesses that it intends to

23 call. Most of those are the primary statement that was taken by the

24 Office of the Prosecutor. We are still, however, in the process of

25 conducting all of the searches required to identify any other material

1 that may be discoverable under that same Rule, and we are still in the

2 process of getting all of those statements translated so that we can

3 meet, fully meet our obligation.

4 JUDGE KWON: Pausing there. What do you mean by primary

5 statement? The Prosecution is planning to make another statement,

6 revised form, and disclose it at a later stage?

7 MR. GROOME: No, Your Honour. What I mean by that is what we've

8 been able to locate now and disclose now are the primary statements taken

9 by the Office of the Prosecutor. We are currently searching our document

10 database to identify are there other notes or are there other materials

11 which would be discloseable under Rule 66 (A)(ii).

12 JUDGE KWON: Very well.

13 MR. GROOME: Later this week we will be disclosing 16 redacted

14 documents, and these are the documents that Mr. Jovanovic referred to.

15 The Prosecution will be filing an application seeking delayed disclosure

16 for some of the witnesses that have particular security concerns. In

17 order to facilitate the Defence completing their preparation, I have

18 agreed to, in advance of filing that application or the Chamber ruling on

19 it, providing copies of the statements with the identifying information

20 redacted. Once the Chamber makes a ruling on what protective measures

21 are appropriate for each of those witnesses, I will then take whatever

22 steps are necessary to fully comply with the Chamber's order. I expect

23 that that will be that some statements will have to be provided in fully

24 unredacted form, and I expect that perhaps some of those applications

25 will be granted and we will be allowed to delay disclosure of identifying

1 information to a later period of time.

2 With respect to Rule 68, to date, 30.308 documents have been

3 disclosed, again, in a searchable format, so that both Defence counsel

4 can search those documents using a Word text to identify any material

5 that they feel may be relevant to their particular defence. These are

6 documents that staff of the Office of the Prosecutor have identified

7 through computer searches and have reviewed and have determined may be

8 material that's covered under Rule 68.

9 We had offered earlier on in the case to include with our

10 computer searches any terms or phrases that both Defence counsel would

11 like us to search for in order to pull out additional documents. I would

12 just inform them here at this Status Conference that from the end of this

13 week, unless we receive those terms it may not be possible to complete

14 those searches and to complete that disclosure by July 19th. We will, of

15 course, always accommodate them and search our records for the terms that

16 they request us to search our records for, and that will be disclosed to

17 them as soon as possible.

18 With respect to expert reports, Your Honour, the Prosecution will

19 -- we are already having an expert look at some of the documents in this

20 case. I anticipate by the end of this month, a primary portion of that

21 report will be able to be disclosed. The second part of that report, a

22 supplement to that report, may be a month later. It may even be the 19th

23 of July before we can disclose that final report.

24 The last expert's work will build upon the analytical work of

25 this expert I've just been referring to. It is my hope that he will have

1 completed his work as well, but if not, what I would be tendering or

2 providing on the 19th of July would be that expert report in its most

3 current state. And of course I will do everything I can to try to

4 expedite the final completion of that report.

5 Now, with respect to taking or offering evidence in written form

6 under Rule 92 bis, we are still in the process of reviewing those

7 witnesses to see if such treatment of that evidence is appropriate. As a

8 principle, we will be using 92 bis wherever we believe it is legally

9 appropriate and we hope to file a motion with respect to that in the

10 fall. I'd like to say a few things about that.

11 To date, 49 witnesses have been identified as being appropriate

12 for treatment under 92 bis (A), some of those -- with cross-examination,

13 we would make the argument that cross-examination is not required. I

14 have the breakdown here, if the Court wishes me to go into how many of 92

15 bis (A), (C), and (D).

16 Your Honour, what I would propose is when the Prosecution makes

17 its 65 ter filing on the 19th of July, I would ask my colleagues at the

18 Defence bar to review what we have identified as witnesses that can be

19 taken under 92 bis. I would ask that when we resume in the fall, that if

20 they could identify to the Prosecution which, if any, of those witnesses

21 they would consent to be taken as 92 bis. Obviously, it is still for the

22 Court to make the final determination, but at least in our application to

23 the Court for the 92 bis we would be able to inform the Chamber which

24 witnesses have been agreed to and which witnesses are being contested.

25 With respect to adjudicated facts: We have had our first

1 meeting. All parties undertook certain commitments to do some additional

2 work and have additional discussions with their respective clients. We

3 will meet sometime later this week and continue our discussions with

4 respect to that.

5 With respect to the pre-trial brief, Your Honour, it is still our

6 intention to file that as per the Court's order. It is my intention,

7 unless the Court would direct otherwise, to also file the following: As

8 an appendix to that pre-trial brief, a list of facts from the CaseMap

9 programme. The case should be fully CaseMapped by that stage and it is

10 our intention to list for the benefit of the Defence counsel and for the

11 Court a list of all the facts that we intend to introduce proof of at

12 trial.

13 In addition to that, an appendix of what we would call the

14 Prosecution's trial plan, it will contain all of the information we are

15 required to provide the Court pursuant to Rule 65 ter, plus some

16 additional details, so that the Chamber can see precisely the case in the

17 exact form that we intend to prove it.

18 I'm available, Your Honour. That's all I have. I'm available to

19 answer any questions by the Chamber.

20 JUDGE KWON: Thank you. Having heard that, I would very much

21 encourage the Prosecution to meet the deadline, at least, and to expedite

22 the procedure, so complete its disclosure well before the deadline. But

23 that -- we'll see.

24 MR. GROOME: I will, Your Honour.

25 JUDGE KWON: If there's any comment from Mr. Jovanovic.

1 MR. JOVANOVIC: [Interpretation] No. Thank you, Your Honour.

2 JUDGE KWON: Then that concludes our Status Conference for

3 Mr. Simatovic.

4 --- Whereupon the Status Conference adjourned,

5 to resume the Motion Hearing

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