IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER
Before: Judge Antonio Cassese, Presiding
Judge Richard May
Judge Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba
Registrar: Mrs. Dorothee de Sampayo Garrido-Nijgh
Decision of: 11 March 1998
PROSECUTOR
v.
MILE MRKSIC
MIROSLAV RADIC
VESELIN SLJIVANCANIN
SLAVKO DOKMANOVIC
______________________________________
DECISION ON THE PROSECUTORS MOTION FOR DEPOSITION EVIDENCE
______________________________________
The Office of the Prosecutor:
Mr. Grant Niemann
Mr. Stefan Wäspi
Mr. Clint Williamson
Ms. Ann Sutherland
Counsel for the Accused:
Mr. Toma Fila and Mr. Vladimir Petrovic, for Slavko Dokmanovic
THE TRIAL CHAMBER
NOTING the Motion for Deposition Evidence filed by the Office of the Prosecutor ("Prosecution") on 10 February 1998 seeking permission for the evidence of a witness, identified as Witness D, to be taken by way of deposition ("the Motion for Deposition Evidence"), pursuant to Rule 71 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Tribunal ("the Rules"),
NOTING that the Prosecution also seeks protective measures for this witness pursuant to Rule 79 of the Rules,
HAVING HEARD oral argument on the Motion for Deposition Evidence on 11 February 1998
CONSIDERING that the Prosecution has established that the testimony of this witness is sufficiently important as to make it unfair to proceed without it and that the witness is unable or unwilling for good reason to come to the International Tribunal,
CONSIDERING that the Trial Chamber prefers that witnesses be heard directly whenever possible or by video-conference link if that is not possible,
CONSIDERING that guidelines for the giving of evidence by video-conference link have been laid down in the Decision on the Defence Motions to Summons and Protect Defence Witnesses, and on the Giving of Evidence by Video-Link, dated 25 June 1996, issued by Trial Chamber II in Prosecutor v. Dusko Tadic ("the Tadic Decision"),
CONSIDERING that the Defence has no objection to the protective measures sought or to the testimony of witness D being given in this fashion,
AFTER CONSULTING with the Registry,
PURSUANT TO RULES 75 and 79
AND WITH THE AGREEMENT OF THE PARTIES
HEREBY ORDERS as follows:
HEREBY DIRECTS the Registrar to take all reasonable steps in the circumstances of the present case to ensure that the guidelines established in the Tadic Decision are followed.
Done in English and French, the English text being authoritative.
_____________________
Antonio Cassese
Presiding Judge
Dated this eleventh day of March 1998
At The Hague
The Netherlands
[Seal of the Tribunal]