Case No. IT-98-29-A

Before:
Judge Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Decision of:
19 May 2004

PROSECUTOR

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Counsel for the Prosecutor:

Mr. Norman Farell
Mr. Mathias Marcussen

Counsel for the Appellant:

Ms. Mara Pilipovic
Mr. Stephane Piletta-Zanin

I, JUDGE FLORENCE NDEPELE MWACHANDE MUMBA, a Judge of 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 "Order Assigning Judges to a Case Before the Appeals Chamber and Designating a Pre-Appeal Judge", filed on 18 December 2003, which, inter alia, designates me as the Pre-Appeal Judge in this case;

BEING SEISED OF the "Defence Request for Leave to Exceed Page Limit in Defence’s Appellant’s Brief" filed on 10 May 2004 by counsel for Stanislav Galic ("Motion" and "Appellant", respectively);

NOTING the "Prosecution Response to Defence Request for Leave to Exceed Page Limit for the Defence Appeal Brief" filed on 12 May 2004 ("Response");

NOTING that no reply was filed by the Appellant;

NOTING that paragraph (C) 1 (a) of the Practice Direction on the Length of Briefs and Motions(1) provide that "[ t] he brief of an appellant on appeal from a final judgement of a Trial Chamber will not exceed 100 pages or 30,000 words which ever is greater" ("Practice Direction");

NOTING that paragraph (C) 7 of the Practice Direction, states that a party seeking authorisation to exceed the prescribed page limits "must provide an explanation of the exceptional circumstances that necessitate the oversized filing";

NOTING that the Appellant in the Motion seeks an extension of the page limit to file an appellant’s brief of 300 pages, arguing, inter alia, that the length of the Trial Judgement and the attached separate opinion of Judge Nieto-Navia, and the fact that he intents to challenge every factual finding in the Trial Judgement justifies the requested extension;

NOTING that the Prosecution in the Response opposes the extension of the page limit;

CONSIDERING that the circumstances in the present case and even as submitted by the Appellant, do not amount to exceptional circumstances within the meaning of the Practice Direction and in light of the case-law of this Tribunal;

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

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Judge Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba
Pre-Appeal Judge

Dated this nineteenth day of May 2004,
At The Hague,
The Netherlands.

[Seal of the Tribunal]