IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER

Before:
Judge Richard May, Presiding
Judge Mohamed Bennouna
Judge Patrick Robinson

Registrar:
Mrs. Dorothee de Sampayo Garrido-Nijgh

Decision of:
13 April 1999

PROSECUTOR

v.

DARIO KORDIC
MARIO CERKEZ

________________________________________________

DECISION ON PROSECUTION REQUEST TO PROCEED BY DEPOSITION

________________________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor:

Mr. Geoffrey Nice
Mr. Kenneth Scott
Ms. Susan Somers
Mr. Patrick Lopez-Terres

Counsel for the Accused:

Mr. Mitko Naumovski, Mr. Leo Andreis, Mr. David F. Geneson, Mr. Turner T. Smith, Jr., and Ms. Ksenija Turkovic, for Dario Kordic
Mr. Bozidar Kovacic, for Mario Cerkez

 

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 ("the International Tribunal"),

BEING SEISED of the "Prosecutor’s Application to proceed by Deposition" filed by the Office of the Prosecutor ("Prosecution") on 13 April 1999 ("the Request") for the taking of deposition evidence in accordance with Rule 71 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Tribunal ("Rules"), due to the temporary indisposition for medical reasons of Judge Mohamed Bennouna,

NOTING the agreement of the parties to the use of this procedure for direct- and cross-examination of Witness A, as reflected in the transcript of 13 April 1999,

CONSIDERING that the unavailability of one of the members of the Trial Chamber must not prejudice the right of the accused to be tried without undue delay, as provided in Article 21, paragraph 4(c), of the Statute of the International Tribunal (the "Statute"),

CONSIDERING that, pursuant to Rule 71(A) of the Rules, at the request of either party, the Trial Chamber may, in exceptional circumstances and in the interests of justice, order that deposition evidence be taken before a duly appointed Presiding Officer;

CONSIDERING FURTHER that the unavailability of one of the Judges constitutes an exceptional circumstance, and that it is in the interests of justice that the hearing of witnesses in this trial should not be stayed,

CONSIDERING that depositions will be taken as a temporary measure for the direct examination of Witness A on 13 April 1999, continuing, if necessary, on 14 April 1999,

CONSIDERING that the procedure of hearing the witness will be the same as in an ordinary hearing, and that pursuant to Rule 71(E), a record of the deposition shall be transmitted to the Trial Chamber,

CONSIDERING that protective measures pursuant to Rule 75 will continue to apply during the taking of deposition evidence,

FOR THE FOREGOING REASONS

PURSUANT to Article 21 of the Statute and Rules 54, 71 and 75 of the Rules,

GRANTS the Request and APPOINTS as Presiding Officers for that purpose Judge Richard May and Judge Patrick Robinson; and

ORDERS that during the hearings of 13 and 14 April 1999 depositions will be taken pursuant to Rule 71 and that the deposition procedure shall be as follows:

    1. The Presiding Officers and the parties shall be robed as usual;
    2. The hearings shall be public subject to any protective measures that may be ordered;
    3. The record shall be transmitted to the Trial Chamber, consisting of three Judges, pursuant to Rule 71(E).

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

 

___________________________

Richard May
Presiding

Dated this thirteenth day of April 1999
At The Hague
The Netherlands

[Seal of the Tribunal]