¹²⁷²⁷

Friday 1 November 2002

[Open session]

--- Upon commencing at 9.09 a.m.

JUDGE MAY: Mr. Nice, the accused is not present in court. We have heard from the Detention Unit that he has complained of exhaustion. He is being seen by the doctor this morning and a report will be obtained. That being so, it would seem that there is nothing further to be done this morning, unless the parties want to raise any matter. But there is one matter which the Trial Chamber wants to raise in the light of this development, and it's this: In the light of the state of the accused's health and the length and complexity of the case, the Trial Chamber is concerned about completion of the trial, and therefore, we wish to have submission from the parties on the future conduct of the case in order to ensure its expeditious conclusion. We would wish to have those submissions within seven days.

MR. NICE: We will comply.

JUDGE MAY: Thank you. And Ms. Higgins, I would be grateful if you would pass that on to Mr. Kay and say we'd be grateful for submissions from him and Mr. Tapuskovic on the matter.

MS. HIGGINS: Yes, Your Honour.

JUDGE MAY: Now, are there any matters which we can deal with in the circumstances?

MR. NICE: I don't think so. There may be one or two outstanding topics for either resolution or argument before resolution, but none of them can be dealt with in the absence of the accused. ¹²⁷²⁸

JUDGE MAY: One matter I was reminded of is that we invited you to find a suitable time for argument about the Torkildsen matter.

MR. NICE: Yes. Mr. McKeon has just reminded me of that. But again, I don't see how we can do that, particularly without the accused present, plus the fact that we haven't prepared for it this morning in any event.

JUDGE MAY: Yes. We ought to identify a time for it.

MR. NICE: Next week? Well, the problem next week is that we've only got three days and Wednesday we'll be rising at 2.00 in any event, I think, so it won't be a longer day, even if the other two may be longer days. Once we conclude this witness and start on C-036, he is a very substantial witness and it might be thought undesirable to break into the flow of his evidence.

JUDGE MAY: Yes.

MR. NICE: Simply looking at it from the accused's point of view, he's going to have a lot to deal with with that witness. So may I respectfully suggest that we think in terms of the conclusion of C-036's evidence at a time when we might review the Torkildsen position.

JUDGE MAY: Perhaps you might review, as I invited Mr. Groome yesterday, C-036 to see if we can't pare down some of that evidence.

MR. NICE: Well, I know that a great deal of work has been done overnight, since the decision was made by the Chamber, to reduce the quantity of evidence that may be presented to the Chamber in the form it was previously to be presented. That will lead to, in some ways, inevitably a smaller weight of evidence, but that follows from the ^{12729 BLANK PAGE 12730} Chamber's decision, and the preparatory steps in respect of exhibit binders have been taken. The enforced adjournment may in some ways, I think, enable further work to be done in paring down the volume of material the Chamber will have to deal with.

We'll make the submissions in writing about the conclusion of our case within seven days, as the Chamber requires, but --

JUDGE MAY: Not just the conclusion of your case; the case as a whole.

MR. NICE: Very well. It would be foolish of me not to take this opportunity to make this observation: Of course, resolution of the approach we will be taking in relation to 92 bis is one of the principal factors affecting the length of the Prosecution's case. We've indicated already what our general intentions are, but I forecast that a very important factor to determine the length of the case is what's going to happen about crime base evidence. Crime base evidence has to be before the Chamber. We simply don't know what the accused's attitude is going to be in relation to this, but the provisions of 92 bis, in part or full, do exist for the abbreviation of court time. But perhaps we'll deal with that more fully in writing.

JUDGE MAY: Thank you. Yes, Mr. Tapuskovic.

MR. TAPUSKOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honours, I would just like to say a couple of words. Of course, we, the amici, will comply and give our opinion about this whole affair. However, we all know well that Slobodan Milosevic has decided to defend himself, so this entire ¹²⁷³¹ discussion about how we will all assist to make this trial as expeditious as possible cannot be conducted in his absence, despite all of our efforts to find the best solution. So I really believe that until he returns to the courtroom, the positions that we will express to you in a very short time will not do much good. That's all I wanted to say.

JUDGE MAY: We make it plain that the instructions we give apply to the accused too. He's one of the parties. If he wishes to file submissions, of course we'll consider them. We'll adjourn now. Monday morning.

--- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at 9.18 a.m. to be reconvened on Monday, the 4th day of

November 2002, at 9.30 a.m.