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1 Wednesday, 11 December 2013
2 [Status Conference]
3 [Open session]
4 [The Appellant Stanisic entered court]
5 [The Appellant Zupljanin not present]
6 --- Upon commencing at 3.30 p.m.
7 JUDGE MERON: Registrar, will you please call the case.
8 THE REGISTRAR: Good afternoon, Your Honour. This is case number
9 IT-08-91-A, the Prosecutor versus Mico Stanisic and Stojan Zupljanin.
10 JUDGE MERON: Before starting, can -- before starting, can I make
11 sure -- I would like to make sure that all parties hear the proceedings
12 in a language that they understand.
13 Mr. Stanisic -- oh, you had no translation. I'm sorry.
14 Interpreter, could you repeat the question to -- and if not, I
15 will repeat it.
16 Yes, I can. I will repeat the question.
17 Mr. Stanisic, can you -- are you able to follow the proceedings
18 in a language you understand? Can you hear me in a language you
19 understand?
20 THE APPELLANT STANISIC: [Interpretation] I can, yes, and I can
21 follow.
22 JUDGE MERON: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Stanisic.
23 As we know, in any event I will note it for the record,
24 Mr. Zupljanin waived his right to attend this Status Conference.
25 I will now ask for the appearances of the parties. Since we
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1 already have gone through the two principal parties, Mr. Stanisic and
2 Mr. Zupljanin, I will turn to the representatives -- their
3 representatives for the Defence of Mr. Stanisic, please.
4 MR. ZECEVIC: Good afternoon, Your Honour. Slobodan Zecevic and
5 Stefan Bourgon appearing for Stanisic Defence this afternoon. Thank you
6 very much.
7 JUDGE MERON: Thank you, Mr. Zecevic. It's nice to see
8 Mr. Bourgon again.
9 The Defence for Mr. Zupljanin, please.
10 MS. CMERIC: Good afternoon, Mr. President. Tatjana Cmeric
11 appearing today on behalf of Mr. Zupljanin. Thank you.
12 JUDGE MERON: Thank you, Ms. Cmeric.
13 The Prosecution.
14 MS. BASSETT: Good afternoon, Your Honour. I'm Marisa Bassett
15 for the Prosecution with my colleague, senior appeals counsel,
16 Helen Brady; and our case manager, Colin Nawrot.
17 JUDGE MERON: Thank you very much, Ms. Bassett.
18 This Status Conference is called in accordance with Rule 65 bis
19 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. Rule 65 bis (B) requires a
20 Status Conference to be convened within 120 days after the filing of a
21 Notice of Appeal and, thereafter, within 120 days after the last
22 Status Conference to allow any person in custody pending appeal the
23 opportunity to raise issues in relation thereto, including the mental and
24 physical condition of that person.
25 In the present case, parties filed their Notices of Appeal on
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1 13 May 2013 and the first Status Conference was held on 4 September 2013.
2 Today's Status Conference is the second in this case and was scheduled by
3 an order issued on 2 December 2013.
4 I turn to detention conditions and health of Mr. Stanisic and
5 Mr. Zupljanin. First I would like to inquire into the status of the
6 detention conditions and health conditions. If you have any concerns,
7 Mr. Stanisic and the counsel for Mr. Zupljanin, in relation to the
8 detention conditions or your state of health, I would invite you to raise
9 them now. If you wish, this discussion can take place in private
10 session.
11 Is there any request for a private session?
12 MR. ZECEVIC: No, Your Honour. There is no request for private
13 session.
14 JUDGE MERON: I see that both -- neither Mr. Stanisic nor the
15 counsel for Mr. Zupljanin is --
16 MS. CMERIC: That's correct, Your Honour.
17 JUDGE MERON: -- is requesting a private session, so we will
18 continue in an open session.
19 Let me turn to recent procedural history since the last
20 Status Conference.
21 With regard to the briefing of the case, on 8 October 2013, the
22 Appeals Chamber granted Mr. Zupljanin's request for leave to amend his
23 Notice of Appeal dated 12 August 2013. Mr. Zupljanin filed the amended
24 version of his Notice of Appeal on 9 October 2013, in which he included
25 an additional ground of appeal and an additional subground of appeal.
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1 Mr. Zupljanin had already included his arguments on these grounds in his
2 appeal brief dated 19 August 2013.
3 All parties filed their response briefs on 21 October 2013. The
4 Prosecution's response included arguments on Mr. Zupljanin's additional
5 grounds. All parties filed their reply briefs on 11 November 2013.
6 I will now continue with an overview of the pending motions and
7 the decisions rendered in this case. On 2 July 2013, Mr. Stanisic filed
8 two motions: One motion seeking admission of additional evidence
9 pursuant to Rule 115 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence and one
10 motion seeking leave to amend his Notice of Appeal. On 23 July 2013, I
11 assigned Judge Agius to consider both motions. On 24 July 2013,
12 Judge Agius assigned Judge Sekule to replace me on the Bench for the
13 purpose of considering these two motions.
14 On 9 September 2013, Mr. Zupljanin filed a second request to
15 amend his Notice of Appeal and to supplement his appeal brief. On
16 10 September 2013, I assigned Judge Agius to consider the motion. On
17 28 November 2013, Judge Agius assigned Judge Sekule to replace me on the
18 Bench for the purpose of considering this motion.
19 On 21 October 2013, Mr. Zupljanin filed a motion to vacate the
20 trial judgement as well as a motion requesting the recusal of Judge Liu
21 from deciding on this motion. On 22 October 2013, I referred both
22 motions to Judge Agius for appropriate action. On 28 November 2013,
23 Judge Agius assigned Judge Sekule to replace me on the Bench for the
24 purpose of considering these motions. On 3 December 2013, Judge Agius,
25 as acting President, rendered the decision denying the request for
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1 recusal of Judge Liu, treating it as a motion for disqualification.
2 On 22 October 2013, Mr. Zupljanin filed a request for provisional
3 release pending resolution of his motion to vacate the trial judgement.
4 On 23 October 2013, I referred the motion to Judge Agius for appropriate
5 action. On 28 November 2013, Judge Agius assigned Judge Sekule to
6 replace me on the Bench for the purpose of considering this motion.
7 On 23 October 2013, Mr. Stanisic filed two motions, one motion
8 requesting a declaration of mistrial and another motion requesting
9 provisional release until adjudication of the first motion. On
10 25 October 2013, I referred both motions to Judge Agius for appropriate
11 action. On 28 November 2013, Judge Agius assigned Judge Sekule to
12 replace me on the Bench for the purpose of considering these two motions.
13 With regard to the provisional release motions, Judge Agius has
14 informed me that these decisions will be issued this week or early next
15 week.
16 As for the other motions pending in this case that were mentioned
17 earlier, Judge Agius has informed me that they will be addressed either
18 before the judicial recess or shortly thereafter. In addition, there are
19 two motions pending in this case presided over by me on which I will now
20 render oral decisions.
21 First, on 3 December 2013, Mr. Zupljanin filed an application in
22 which he seeks leave to substitute the English translation of
23 Exhibit 2D00132 with a revised translation that he recently obtained
24 through the Conference and Languages Services Section. Mr. Zupljanin
25 argues that the existing translation omits a word that is clearly visible
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1 in the B/C/S original. Mr. Zupljanin adds that the translation was
2 submitted for revision and has been circulated to the parties. On
3 4 December 2013, the Prosecution responded that it does not oppose the
4 application.
5 I note that Exhibit 2D00132 was admitted by the Trial Chamber on
6 20 January 2011. Therefore, pursuant to Rules 54 and 107 of the
7 Rules of Procedure and Evidence, I, as pre-Appeal Judge, grant the
8 application and instruct the Registrar of the Tribunal to upload the
9 revised version of the English translation.
10 Second, a motion was filed on 9 December 2013 by
11 Mr. Radovan Karadzic, seeking access to the B/C/S audio recordings of the
12 testimony of Witness ST-245 in this case. Mr. Zupljanin responded on the
13 same day and does not oppose the motion. The Prosecution responded on
14 10 December 2013 and also does not oppose the motion.
15 I note that Mr. Stanisic has not yet responded and I give him the
16 opportunity to do so now.
17 Mr. Stanisic or his counsel, please.
18 MR. ZECEVIC: Thank you very much, Your Honour. Your Honour, we
19 intended to file a motion today, but since this is the opportunity, we
20 are sitting in a Status Conference, and Your Honour already said that it
21 will be the oral ruling, I can make my submissions now, with the leave of
22 the Court.
23 JUDGE MERON: Yes, please do.
24 MR. ZECEVIC: Your Honours, we do not oppose the motion by
25 Karadzic. Thank you very much.
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1 JUDGE MERON: Thank you very much.
2 Since there is no objection from the representative of
3 Mr. Stanisic, I note -- we will proceed. I note that on 30 June 2010,
4 the Trial Chamber ordered the disclosure on an ongoing basis to
5 Radovan Karadzic of all closed and private session testimony transcripts
6 not subject to Rule 70. As part of the disclosure, Mr. Karadzic was
7 granted access to the transcript of the testimony of Witness ST-245, who
8 testified in the trial proceedings in Stanisic and Zupljanin from
9 2 to 4 November 2010. In this circumstance, I find that Mr. Karadzic
10 already has access to the content of the testimony of Witness ST-245 in
11 the form of a transcript. Mr. Karadzic's request to be granted access to
12 the B/C/S audio recording of this testimony is consequently one of form
13 and not of substance. I therefore grant the application and order the
14 Registrar of the Tribunal to provide Mr. Karadzic with the B/C/S audio
15 recording of the testimony of Witness ST-245 and to inform Mr. Karadzic
16 and the Karadzic Chamber of this decision.
17 At this point I would like to ask the parties whether they have
18 any other issues that they would like to raise. Counsel for
19 Mr. Stanisic?
20 MR. ZECEVIC: We have no other issues at this point.
21 JUDGE MERON: You have no other issues.
22 MR. ZECEVIC: Thank you very much.
23 JUDGE MERON: Thank you counsel for Mr. Stanisic.
24 Counsel for Mr. Zupljanin.
25 MS. CMERIC: No other issues at this stage on behalf of
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1 Mr. Zupljanin either.
2 JUDGE MERON: Thank you very much.
3 Counsel for the Prosecution.
4 MS. BASSETT: No, Your Honour, we have no issues to raise.
5 JUDGE MERON: Thank you very much, counsel for the Prosecution.
6 I believe that this concludes today's Status Conference. I thank
7 the parties for their attendance. I thank the staff of the Registry and
8 I thank particularly the interpreters.
9 --- Whereupon the Status Conference
10 adjourned at 3.47 p.m.
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