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Friday, 11 November 2005

[Open session]

[The accused not present in court]

--- Upon commencing at 9.06 a.m.

JUDGE ROBINSON: As you can see, the accused is absent. The Chamber has been informed through the Registry, which itself was informed by the Detention Unit, that the accused is ill and not in a position to attend trial today. The Trial Chamber will instruct and so instructs the Registrar to ensure that a medical report is presented today by 2.00 setting out the medical condition of the accused and why he is unable to attend court.

In the circumstances, the next sitting day being Tuesday, the proceedings would have to be adjourned until Tuesday. Any comments from Mr. Kay or Mr. Nice?

MR. NICE: Only that there has been a certain amount of publicity given to comments made by the accused's legal advisor about his alleged state of health. I'm not sure if the Chamber is aware of that public dissemination of information which has been giving me some cause for concern, either because it reflects a medical condition or because it may be it reflects something else.

If the Chamber wants to find the material, there's one in Politika, the 9th of November, on page 8, which I can make available, but there have been other public references to his alleged ill health and to the alleged and inevitable consequences for the trial timetable of that ill health. And it's the possible integration of ill health issues with ^{46479 BLANK PAGE 46480} an overall Defence strategy that has been causing me concern.

JUDGE ROBINSON: The Trial Chamber will monitor, as it always does, the situation very, very carefully so as to ensure that as little time is lost as is possible in the circumstances.

MR. NICE: Yes. Perhaps I should just add this point: It's interesting and slightly disturbing to see that we are at the very point of evidence, or we're with the very type of evidence where if there were ever to be evidence more comfortably taken in the absence of the accused than other evidence, evidence of the crimes, is perhaps that category. We're now dealing, as I understand it, with the next few witnesses with, although I loathe the term, crime-base evidence. Evidence of crimes is what it is.

JUDGE ROBINSON: Yes. It's not my favourite term either.

MR. NICE: Perhaps we can use the break to think of a substitute.

JUDGE ROBINSON: Yes.

MR. KAY: Yes, Your Honours. We're monitoring the situation and await developments.

[Trial Chamber confers]

JUDGE ROBINSON: In the circumstances, we'll adjourn until Tuesday, 9.00 a.m., next week.

--- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at 9.11 a.m., to be reconvened on Tuesday, the 15th day

of November, 2005, at 9.00 a.m.