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1 Thursday, 17 February 2005
2 [Further Appearance]
3 [Open session]
4 --- Upon commencing at 1.03 p.m.
5 [The accused entered court]
6 JUDGE AGIUS: Yes, Mr. Registrar, could you call the case, please.
7 THE REGISTRAR: Good afternoon, Your Honours. Case number
8 IT-97-25/1-PT, the Prosecutor versus Sava Todovic.
9 JUDGE AGIUS: Good afternoon to you, Mr. Todovic.
10 His microphone, please.
11 Mr. Todovic, I want to make sure that you are receiving
12 interpretation in your own language.
13 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I am, Your Honour.
14 JUDGE AGIUS: I thank you, and good afternoon to you. You may sit
15 down.
16 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Thank you.
17 JUDGE AGIUS: Appearances for the Prosecution.
18 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: Good afternoon, Your Honours. My name is
19 Hildegard Uertz-Retzlaff. I appear today with trial attorney Christina
20 Moeller, and case manager, Sebastian van Hooydonk.
21 JUDGE AGIUS: I thank you, and good afternoon to you and your
22 team.
23 Appearances for the accused.
24 MR. LAZAREVIC: Good afternoon, Your Honour. Aleksandar Lazarevic,
25 counsel for the accused.
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1 JUDGE AGIUS: Thank you, and good afternoon to you too.
2 We had the Initial Appearance a few weeks ago, on the 19th of
3 January - correct me if I'm wrong - and that Initial Appearance could not
4 be concluded in a complete manner because, pursuant to a right that the
5 accused has in terms of our Rules, he chose to postpone entering his plea
6 to the charges brought against him in this indictment within the term of
7 30 days that are allowed to him, a right which, of course, this Trial
8 Chamber needed to respect.
9 The 30 days are coming to an end, so it is my responsibility now,
10 as the Pre-Trial Judge in charge of the Initial Appearance, to inquire
11 whether your client, Mr. Lazarevic, wishes to enter a plea today, in which
12 case we will proceed according to the Rules. If he doesn't wish to enter
13 a plea, there is a provision that I am sure you are aware of and your
14 client is also, I assume, aware of that I will enter a plea on his behalf,
15 of not guilty.
16 So have you discussed with your client what the position is?
17 MR. LAZAREVIC: Yes, thank you, Your Honour. And I am pleased to
18 inform the Court on his behalf that, according to Rule 62, paragraph 4, he
19 will not enter a plea today again, so he decided not to plead today, and
20 the Trial Chamber will consequently decide that he pleaded not guilty on
21 his behalf.
22 JUDGE AGIUS: Yes, but is that -- can I have a calendar, please?
23 Can I have -- do you have a calendar available? I need to count the dates
24 from the 19th of January until today.
25 MR. LAZAREVIC: Unfortunately, I don't have it with me, but I
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1 believe that the Registry has.
2 JUDGE AGIUS: Because I know that the 30 days are at an end, but I
3 want to make sure whether they will lapse today or whether there is still
4 time. I think we're talking of 28 today.
5 THE REGISTRAR: Twenty-nine.
6 JUDGE AGIUS: Twenty-nine today, 29 today.
7 So there is an extra, an additional day, which he can -- he is
8 entitled to make use of. I cannot ask him, I cannot force him to tell me
9 whether his decision basically means that even tomorrow he will not enter
10 a plea. But I think that the right way to go about it is that I can only
11 enter a plea on his behalf after the 30 days have lapsed and he has not
12 entered a plea or if he confirms to me today that, although there is a day
13 or two left, he will not be entering a plea in the remaining time period,
14 in which case, then I will enter a plea on his behalf. I think I will not
15 ask him directly. I'm asking you and you ask him, and then you can tell
16 me, and then I will ask him to confirm.
17 MR. LAZAREVIC: Yes, Your Honour, I will have a very brief
18 discussion with him in a second.
19 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay.
20 [Defence counsel and accused confer]
21 MR. LAZAREVIC: Well, Your Honour, I have had a discussion with
22 the client and he is ready to confirm that he will not enter a plea in any
23 way, I mean tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
24 JUDGE AGIUS: All right. Yes, Mr. Todovic, do you confirm what
25 your counsel, Mr. Lazarevic, has just stated? In other words, that it is
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1 not your intention to enter a plea, neither today, nor tomorrow?
2 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I can confirm what
3 Mr. Lazarevic said, meaning that I have no intention of pleading over the
4 following two days. I will use this opportunity that the Rules provide
5 for.
6 JUDGE AGIUS: All right. I thank you, Mr. Todovic. You may sit
7 down.
8 In view of this, the Pre-Trial Judge, having seen Rule 62(A)(iv),
9 namely, that if the -- "If the accused fails to enter a plea at the
10 Initial or any Further Appearance, the Trial Chamber or the Judge shall
11 enter a plea of not guilty on the accused's behalf." And since the
12 accused has stated open -- in open session today that it is not his
13 intention to enter a plea, neither today, nor tomorrow, which will be the
14 -- when the 30 days will expire, the Judge in charge of the -- as Judge
15 in charge of the Initial Appearance, I am hereby entering a plea of not
16 guilty to each and every one of the 18 counts that are brought against the
17 accused by the relative indictment.
18 I will go through the counts one by one for formality.
19 In the first count, the accused is being charged with persecution
20 on political, racial, and/or religious grounds, this being a crime against
21 humanity. I am entering a plea of not guilty for -- on behalf of the
22 accused in relation to this first count.
23 In relation to the second count, which is a charge of torture as a
24 crime against humanity, I am also entering a plea of not guilty on behalf
25 of the accused.
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1 The third count is one of torture, being a grave breach of the
2 Geneva Conventions of 1949. As the Judge in charge of the Initial
3 Appearance, and in terms of the Rule mentioned earlier, I am entering a
4 plea of not guilty on behalf of the accused in relation to this third
5 count.
6 I am also entering a plea of not guilty on behalf of the accused
7 in relation to the fourth count, which is a charge of torture as a
8 violation of the laws or customs of war.
9 In relation to the fifth count, which is one of inhumane acts as a
10 crime against humanity, I, as the Judge in charge of the pre-trial -- of
11 the Initial Appearance, I am entering a plea of not guilty on behalf of
12 the accused.
13 The same applies to the sixth count, to which I am entering a plea
14 of not guilty on behalf of the accused, this count being one consisting of
15 a charge of wilfully causing serious injury to body or health, this being
16 a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions of 1949.
17 I am also entering a plea of not guilty to the seventh count on
18 behalf of the accused, this being a charge of cruel treatment as a
19 violation of the laws or customs of war.
20 As regards the eighth count, I am also entering a plea of not
21 guilty on behalf of the accused, this being a charge of murder, being a
22 crime against humanity.
23 I am also entering a plea of not guilty to the ninth count, on
24 behalf of the accused, this being a charge of wilful killing as a grave
25 breach of the Geneva Conventions of 1949.
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1 The same applies to Count 10. I am entering a plea of not guilty
2 to Count 10, this being a charge of murder as a violation of the laws or
3 customs of war.
4 As regards the eleventh count, which contains a charge of
5 imprisonment as a crime against humanity, I, as the Judge in charge of the
6 Initial Appearance, am entering a plea of not guilty on behalf of the
7 accused.
8 The same applies to the twelfth count, which consists of a charge
9 of unlawful confinement of a civilian as a grave breach of the Geneva
10 Conventions of 1949. On behalf of the accused, and in terms of the
11 sub-Rule mentioned earlier, I enter a plea of --
12 THE INTERPRETER: Your Honour, would you please read a bit slower.
13 I thank you very much.
14 JUDGE AGIUS: I apologise to the interpreters for going so fast.
15 The same applies to the thirteenth count, which comprises a charge
16 of inhumane acts, these being a crime against humanity. As the Judge in
17 charge of the Initial Appearance, and as charged by the sub-Rule mentioned
18 earlier, I am entering a plea of not guilty to this count on behalf of the
19 accused.
20 We come to the fourteenth count. To this count, I am entering
21 also a plea of not guilty on behalf of the accused. This count consists
22 of a charge of wilfully causing great suffering, this being a grave breach
23 of the Geneva Conventions of 1949.
24 I am further entering a plea of not guilty to the fifteenth count
25 of the indictment, which is a charge of cruel treatment as a violation of
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1 the laws or customs of war. I am entering this plea on behalf of the
2 accused and pursuant to what I am charged with doing by the sub-Rule
3 mentioned earlier.
4 I am also entering a plea of not guilty to the sixteenth count,
5 which is a charge of enslavement, this being a crime against humanity.
6 Again, I am entering this plea of not guilty on behalf of the accused as
7 empowered and directed by the said sub-Rule.
8 As regards the seventeenth count, which is a charge of inhumane
9 treatment, this being a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, I
10 am, on behalf of the accused, entering a plea of not guilty.
11 And finally, as regard the eighteenth count, which is a charge of
12 slavery, this being a violation of the laws or customs of war, I am
13 entering a plea of not guilty on behalf of the accused as empowered by the
14 sub-Rule mentioned by me earlier on.
15 Before I adjourn, I would like to ask the Prosecution if there is
16 any matter that they would like to raise.
17 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: No, Your Honour, thank you.
18 JUDGE AGIUS: And the Defence?
19 MR. LAZAREVIC: Nothing, Your Honour, thank you.
20 JUDGE AGIUS: All right. And the accused himself, now that you
21 have been here for almost a month, or a month, do you -- would you like to
22 address me on any complaint that you might have in relation to your status
23 at the Detention Unit?
24 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] No, Your Honours, I have no
25 complaints. I have been treated fairly, and I have no further objections
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1 or remarks to make.
2 JUDGE AGIUS: Okay. I thank you. You may sit down.
3 I bring to an end this continued Initial Appearance, and of course
4 I will, in the coming weeks, appoint a Pre-Trial Judge to be seized with
5 the pre-trial proceedings. You will, of course, be informed in due
6 course, Mr. Lazarevic. And there will be a Status Conference which will
7 be convened within the 120 days from January the 19th, which was the date
8 of the Initial Appearance, okay?
9 Thank you, and good afternoon to everyone.
10 --- Whereupon the Further Appearance
11 adjourned at 1.20 p.m.
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