Case No. IT- 02-65-PT

CONSIDERING the Statute of the Tribunal as adopted by the Security Council under Resolution 827 (1993), and in particular Article 21 thereof;

CONSIDERING the Rules of Procedure and Evidence (hereinafter "the Rules") as adopted by the Tribunal on 11 February 1994, as subsequently amended, and in particular Rules 44 and 45 thereof;

CONSIDERING the Directive on Assignment of Defence Counsel (hereinafter "the Directive"), as adopted by the Tribunal on 28 July 1994, as subsequently amended, and in particular, Articles 6, 7, 8, 11 (A) and 14 (A) thereof;

CONSIDERING the Code of Professional Conduct for Defence Counsel Appearing before the International Tribunal (hereinafter "the Code of Conduct"), adopted by the Tribunal on 12 June 1997, as subsequently amended, and in particular Articles 10 and 23 thereof;

CONSIDERING that on 6 September 2002, upon request of Mr. Momcilo Gruban (hereinafter "the Accused"), the Registry assigned Ms. Sanja Turlakov as counsel to the Accused, and that Ms. Turlakov has served in this capacity until the day of this Decision;

CONSIDERING that, since October 2003, Ms. Turlakov repeatedly requested to be replaced as counsel for the Accused as she, due to her private circumstances, found it increasingly difficult to cope with her regular duties resulting from her assignment;

CONSIDERING that the Registry agreed to consider Ms. Turlakov’s request for withdrawal, provided that she could be replaced by a fully competent lawyer, capable of taking over the defence, so that the rights of the Accused to legal representation be upheld;

CONSIDERING the fact that Ms. Turlakov has proposed several lawyers who could possibly replace her as counsel for the Accused, but that none of them was on the Rule 45 list of counsel, and, moreover, none of them met the qualifications of Rule 45 and, therefore, could not be assigned counsel to the Accused;

CONSIDERING that on 14 May 2004, after consultations with the Accused, Ms. Turlakov suggested the assignment of Mr. Branko Lukic as counsel for the Accused;

CONSIDERING the statement of the Accused dated 3 July 2004, according to which he agreed to the replacement of Ms. Turlakov by Mr. Lukic;

CONSIDERING that Mr. Lukic is on the Rule 45 list and meets all requirements for assignment as set forth in Rule 45 of the Rules and in Article 14 of the Directive;

CONSIDERING that the Registry has ascertained that there is no conflict of interest resulting from the assignment of Mr. Lukic as counsel for the Accused;

NOTING that Mr. Lukic is currently assigned as co-counsel in the case against Mr. Dragan Jokic;

CONSIDERING, however, that due to the time schedule expected for the trial of Mr. Jokic on the one hand and Mr. Gruban on the other hand, an overlap between both proceedings can be excluded so that a proper representation of both Accused can be guaranteed;

CONSIDERING that based on the Accused’s declaration of means and the documentation provided in its support, the Registry has found the Accused unable to remunerate counsel and, therefore, entitled to legal aid, and that this finding has not changed to the detriment of the Accused;

DECIDES to withdraw the assignment of Ms. Sanja Turlakov and to assign Mr. Branko Lukic as counsel for the Accused as of the date of this Decision.

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David Tolbert,
Deputy Registrar