Case No. IT-99-36-A

IN THE APPEALS CHAMBER

Before:
Judge Theodor Meron, Presiding
Judge Mohamed Shahabuddeen
Judge Mehmet Güney
Judge Amin El Mahdi
Judge Inés Mónica Weinberg de Roca

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Decision:
31 January 2005

PROSECUTOR

v.

Radoslav BRDJANIN

_______________________________________________

DECISION ON APPELLANT’S MOTION TO STRIKE OR OTHERWISE SET ASIDE "CORRIGENDUM TO JUDGEMENT"

_______________________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor:

Mr. Mark J. McKeon

Counsel for the Accused:

Mr. John Ackerman

 

THE APPEALS CHAMBER of the International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991 ("International Tribunal"),

NOTING the Judgement rendered in this case by Trial Chamber II on 1 September 2004;

NOTING the "Prosecution’s Notice of Appeal" filed on 30 September 2004;

NOTING Radoslav Brdjanin’s "Notice of Appeal" filed on 1 October 2004 ("Appellant" and "Appellant’s Notice of Appeal" respectively);

NOTING the Corrigendum to Judgement ("Corrigendum") rendered in this case by Judge Carmel Agius on 10 December 2004 in which the following three alterations of the Judgement were ordered:

- footnote 426 which currently reads:

"[ …] The term ‘SAO (Serbian Autonomous District) Krajina’, which was on occasion employed interchangeably with ‘ARK’, will not be used because it might be confused with the Bosnian Croatian SAO Krajina adjacent to the ARK in BiH"

to be changed to:

"[ …] The term ‘SAO (Serbian Autonomous District) Krajina’, which was on occasion employed interchangeably with ‘ARK’, will not be used because it might be confused with the Croatian SAO Krajina adjacent to the ARK in BiH";

- footnote 466 which currently reads:

"[ …] The Trial Chamber interprets this decision in the context of events taking place in the break-away Republics of Slovenia and Bosnian Croatia, [ …] "

to be changed to:

"[ …] The Trial Chamber interprets this decision in the context of events taking place in the break-away Republics of Slovenia and Croatia, [ …] "

- and footnote 484 which currently reads:

"[ …] conferring on the issue of military mobilisation in Bosnian Krajina for the war in Bosnian Croatia [ …] "

to be changed to:

"[ …] conferring on the issue of military mobilisation in Bosnian Krajina for the war in Croatia [ …] "

NOTING that the Pre-Appeal Judge is seised of the "Motion to Strike or Otherwise Set Aside ‘Corrigendum to Judgement’" ("Motion"), filed by the Appellant on 13 December 2004, in which the Appellant requests that the Corrigendum be set aside and declared completely null and void for the following reasons:

  1. the aforementioned changes constitute a substantive change in the Judgement and cannot be seen as a mere correction of a clerical error,

  2. if this corrigendum is permitted to stand, it would represent the third version of the Judgement entered in the case,

  3. such modification cannot be done by a single Judge but requires the majority of the respective Trial Chamber, which, in this case, has ceased to exist,

  4. upon the filing of a Notice of Appeal, the Trial Chamber no longer has jurisdiction to enter orders or decisions in the matter unless specifically tasked to do so by the Appeals Chamber;

NOTING the "Prosecution’s Response to Brđanin’s Motion to Strike Corrigendum" ("Response") filed on 17 December 2004 in which the Prosecution requests that the Motion be dismissed as the Appellant failed to make any arguments regarding the substantive character of the corrections sought;

NOTING that the Appellant did not file a reply to the Prosecution’s Response;

CONSIDERING that the Pre-Appeal Judge has referred the motion to the full bench of the Appeals Chamber;

NOTING that Rule 107 and Rule 65 ter (M) of the Rules authorise the Appeals Chamber proprio motu to exercise any functions of the pre-Appeal Judge;

CONSIDERING that the full bench of the Appeals Chamber has decided to act;

CONSIDERING that the motion was filed in the course of the pending appeal;

CONSIDERING that the Appellant has not shown the relevance to the pending appeal of the issues which he is raising;

HEREBY ORDERS that the matters sought to be raised in the motion be deferred until the hearing of the appeal, when they will be heard to the extent that their relevance to the appeal can be demonstrated.

 

Done both in English and in French, the English text being authoritative.

_________
Judge Theodor Meron
Presiding

Dated this 31st day of January 2005
At The Hague,
The Netherlands.

[Seal of the Tribunal]