Case No. IT-95-11-PT

IN TRIAL CHAMBER I

Before:
Joaquím Martín Canivell, Pre-trial Judge

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Decision of:
5 May 2004

PROSECUTOR

v.

Milan MARTIC

______________________________

DECISION ON PROSECUTION’S MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE PRE-TRIAL BRIEF OF SIXTY PAGES

______________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor:

Ms. Hildegard Uertz-Retzlaff

Counsel for the Accused:

Mr. Predrag Milovancevic

 

I, Joaquín Martín Canivell, Judge in Trial Chamber I ("the 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");

NOTING the "Prosecution’s Motion for Leave to File Pre-Trial Brief of Sixty Pages" filed on 28 April 2004, whereby the Prosecution seeks leave to exceed the number of pages stipulated by the "Practice Direction on the Length of Briefs and Motions"(1) that is fifty pages (the "Motion");

NOTING that the Prosecution submits that such leave is requested on the grounds that the "Indictment in this case is complex and broad. It charges the Accused with participating in a joint criminal enterprise that was far-reaching in purpose and in its participants. Further, it alleges that the Accused committed crimes during the course of two separate wars, in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, over a five-year period.";

NOTING further that the Prosecution consulted the Defence of Milan Martic which does not object to this Motion;

CONSIDERING that the reasons advanced by the Prosecution are not exceptional in the context of the crimes adjudicated by the International Tribunal;

FINDING that the Prosecution does not show exceptional circumstances necessitating an oversized filing;

PURSUANT to Rule 54 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence;

HEREBY DENIES the Motion.

 

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

Dated this fifth day of May 2004
At The Hague,
The Netherlands.

______________
Joaquím Martín Canivell,
Pre-Trial Judge

[Seal of the Tribunal]


1. Document IT/184/Rev.1, 5 March 2002, stipulates that pre-trial briefs shall not exceed fifty pages in length.