IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER

Before:
Judge Lal Chand Vohrah

Registrar:
Mrs. Dorothee de Sampayo Garrido-Nijgh

Decision:
19 August 1998

PROSECUTOR

v.

DRAGOLJUB KUNARAC

______________________________________________________

ORDER
GRANTING LEAVE TO FILE AN AMENDED INDICTMENT AND
CONFIRMING THE AMENDED INDICTMENT

______________________________________________________

Office of the Prosecutor:

Mr. Franck Terrier
Ms. Hildegard Uertz-Retzlaff
Ms. Patricia Sellers-Viseur

Defence Counsel:

Mr. Slavica Prodanovic

I, Lal Chand Vohrah, Judge 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"), in Chambers,

NOTING that the original indictment against Dragoljub Kunarac, confirmed on 26 June 1996, charges the accused and seven other defendants with Crimes Against Humanity, Grave Breaches of the Geneva Conventions and Violations of the Laws and Customs of War, committed against a particular group of victims, detained in several localities in the municipality of Foca,

NOTING that on 4 March 1998, the accused Dragoljub Kunarac surrendered himself to the International Tribunal,

NOTING the initial appearance of the accused on 9 March 1998,

CONSIDERING the Prosecutor’s motion for the granting of leave to amend the indictment in the subject-case filed on 14 July 1998,

CONSIDERING that, instead of a joint trial against all eight accused named in the indictment, it is expected that a separate trial against the accused Dragoljub Kunarac will be conducted,

CONSIDERING the new evidence about additional sexual assaults allegedly committed by the accused or soldiers under his command obtained by the Office of the Prosecution during the weeks following the initial appearance,

CONSIDERING that the amended indictment consolidates the charges against the accused Dragoljub Kunarac and avoids filing a second indictment on a later date and conducting a separate trial against the accused,

CONSIDERING the withdrawal of the charges based upon Article 2 of the Statute of the International Tribunal ("the Statute") and the adding of charges based upon Article 3 of the Statute,

CONSIDERING the need for the proper administration of justice and the requirement of a fair and expeditious trial,

CONSIDERING that leave to amend the indictment does not prejudice the rights of the accused,

PURSUANT to Article 19 of the Statute and pursuant to Rules 47 and 50(A) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Tribunal,

HEREBY GRANT THE MOTION BY

1. Authorising the Prosecutor to amend the indictment within the limits specified in the Motion, and

2. Confirming the amended indictment in respect of each and every count therein.

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

_______________________
Judge Lal Chand Vohrah

Dated this nineteenth day of August 1998
At The Hague
The Netherlands

[Seal of the Tribunal]