Case: IT-98-29-T

IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER

Before:
Judge Alphons Orie, Presiding
Judge Amin El Mahdi
Judge Rafael Nieto-Navia

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Decision of:
22 July 2002

PROSECUTOR
v.
STANISLAV GALIC

_________________________________________

DECISION ON CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO RULE 73(B) REGARDING EXPERT WITNESSES EWA TABEAU AND RICHARD PHILIPPS

_________________________________________

Office of the Prosecutor:

Mr. Mark Ierace

Counsel for the Defence:

Ms. Mara Pilipovic
Mr. Stéphane Piletta-Zanin

 

TRIAL CHAMBER I, Section B ("the Trial 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 ("the Tribunal");

BEING SEISED of the request of the Defence for certification of interlocutory appeals pursuant to Rule 73 (B) filed on 10 July 2002 (the "Application for Certification");

NOTING the Trial Chamber’s decision dated 3 July 2002 granting leave to the Prosecution to call Ewa Tabeau and Richard Philipps as expert witnesses (the "Impugned Decision");

CONSIDERING that pursuant to Rule 73 (B), the Trial Chamber may certify that an interlocutory appeal during trial from a decision involving an issue that would significantly affect the fair and expeditious conduct of the proceedings or the outcome of the trial is appropriate for the continuation of the trial, or for which an immediate resolution by the Appeals Chamber may materially advance the proceedings;

CONSIDERING that the Defence submits that the Trial Chamber erred in admitting into evidence the testimony of experts who are staff members of the Office of the Prosecution because the independence between the role as a prosecutor and the role as a witness should be respected;

FINDING that the Impugned Decision does not involve an issue that would significantly affect the fair and expeditious conduct of the proceedings or the outcome of the trial nor for which, in the opinion of the Trial Chamber, an immediate resolution by the Appeals Chamber may materially advance the proceedings; that therefore an interlocutory appeal on the Impugned Decision is not appropriate;

PURSUANT to Rule 73 (B);

HEREBY DENIES the Application for Certification.

 

Done in English and French, the English version being authoritative.

______________________
Alphons Orie
Presiding Judge

Dated this 22th Day of July 2002
At The Hague,
The Netherlands.

[Seal of the Tribunal]