Case No. IT-01-48-PT

IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER III

Before:
Judge Richard May, Presiding
Judge Patrick Robinson
Judge O-Gon Kwon

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Decision of:
28 July 2003

PROSECUTOR

v.

SEFER HALILOVIC

_____________________________

DECISION ON WITHDRAWAL OF THE DEFENCE COUNSEL APPOINTMENT

_____________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor:

Mr. Ekkehard Withopf
Ms. Maria Tuma

Counsel for the Accused:

Mr. Ahmet Hodzic

 

THIS 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 ("International Tribunal"),

BEING SEISED of the "Withdrawal of the Defence Counsel Appointment" filed on 7 July 2003 ("Motion") by the Defence Counsel of Sefer Halilovic (“Accused”), requesting additional time in preparation for trial and the postponement of the taking of deposition evidence scheduled for  8-11 July 2003 and of the pre-trial conference scheduled for 15 July 2003,

NOTING the Defence Counsel’s intention to withdraw as counsel for the Accused, if the requests in the Motion are not granted,

NOTING that the Office of the Prosecutor has indicted that it will not be filing a response to the Motion,1

NOTING that the deposition took place as scheduled between 8-11 July 2003, that Defence Counsel was present during the entire proceedings, and that Defence Counsel participated in those proceedings, including the cross examination of the witness being deposed,

NOTING that the pre-trial conference took place as scheduled on 15 July 2003 and that the Trial Chamber, after hearing the parties, granted Defence Counsel six months to prepare the case for trial and Defence Counsel accepted such allocation of time,2

CONSIDERING that the relevant matters of the Motion have been resolved,

PURSUANT TO Rule 54 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Tribunal,

HEREBY DISMISSES the MOTION.

 

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

___________________
Richard May
Presiding

Dated this twenty-eighth day of July 2003
At The Hague
The Netherlands


1. Rule 65ter Conference, 14 July 2003.
2. Pre Trial Conference, 15 July 2003.