Case No.: IT-01-48-PT

IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER

Before:
Judge Patrick Robinson, Presiding
Judge O-Gon Kwon
Judge Iain Bonomy

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Order of:
14 January 2005

PROSECUTOR

v.

SEFER HALILOVIC

________________________________________

ORDER ON DEFENCE MOTION FOR VARIATION OF COURT ORDER

________________________________________

Office of the Prosecutor:

Mr. Philip Weiner
Ms. Sureta Chana

Counsel for the Accused:

Mr. Peter Morrissey
Mr. Guénaël Mettraux

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 a "Motion for Variation of Court Order", filed by the Defence of Sefer Halilovic ("Accused") on 12 January 2005 ("Motion"), requesting the Trial Chamber to vary the Order of 8 December 2005 ("Order")¹ so as to permit the Accused to return to The Hague on 21 January 2005 or, at the earliest, on 20 January 2005, in order for the Accused to be able to spend the Muslim feast of Bajram with his family in Sarajevo²,

NOTING that the Office of the Prosecutor indicated in the Status Conference, held on 11 January 2005, that it would not be filing a response to the Motion³,

NOTING that the Deputy Registrar of the International Tribunal submitted that "a return of the Accused on a non working day of the Tribunal may not be the most efficient considering the various formalities that must be completed" and that "in the event the Trial Chamber grants the Motion, the date of 20 January 2005 be considered for the return of Mr. Halilovic in preference to Friday 21 January 2005”⁴,

NOTING that the Order fixed Monday 24 January 2005, as the date for commencement of trial, and stated that "subject to further Order the accused shall return to the United Nations Detention Unit no later than Monday 17 January 2005",⁵

NOTING that Rule 54 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Tribunal ("Rules") provides, inter alia, that a Trial Chamber may issue orders as may be necessary for the preparation or conduct of trial,

CONSIDERING that the arrangements for the return of the Accused to the United Nations Detention Unit require coordination between, inter alia, the Registry of the International Tribunal, the United Nations Detention Unit, and the Host State,

CONSIDERING that the Accused’s preferred return date of Friday 21 January 2005 is an official holiday of the International Tribunal, and that Monday 24 January 2005 is the date fixed for commencement of trial,

PURSUANT TO Rule 54 of the Rules,

HEREBY GRANTS THE MOTION IN PART and ORDERS that the Accused shall return to the United Nations Detention Unit no later than Thursday, 20 January 2005.

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

___________________________
Patrick Robinson
Presiding

Dated this fourteenth day of January 2005
At The Hague
The Netherlands

[Seal of the Tribunal]