Case No. IT-02-65-PT

IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER

Before:
Judge Patrick Robinson, Presiding
Judge O-Gon Kwon
Judge Bert Swart

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Decision of:
20 April 2004

PROSECUTOR

v.

ZELJKO MEJAKIC
MOMCILO GRUBAN
DUSAN FUSTAR
DUSKO KNEZEVIC

PUBLIC REDACTED VERSION

_______________________________________

DECISION ON MOTIONS TO REMOVE PHOTOGRAPHS OF ACCUSED FROM ICTY WEBSITE

_______________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor:

Ms. Joanna Korner
Ms. Ann Sutherland

Counsel for the Accused:

Mr. Jovan Simic, for Zeljko Mejakic
Ms. Sanja Turlakov, for Momcilo Gruban
Mr. Theodore Scudder and Mr. Dragan Ivetic, for Dusan Fustar
Ms. Slobodanka Nedic, for Dusko Knezevic

 

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 "Dusko Knezevic’s Request for Removing his Photograph from the ICTY Website" filed confidentially on 27 February 2004 and of "Zeljko Mejakić’s Request for Removing his Photograph from the ICTY Website, filed on 8 March 2004 (together "the Motions"), in which the two accused object to the publication of their photographs on the Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian language page of the internet website of the International Tribunal,

NOTING the responses of the Office of the Prosecutor ("Prosecution") to the Motions filed on 1 and 9 March 2004 respectively, in which the Prosecution raised no objection to the relief sought,

NOTING the comments of the Deputy Registrar of the International Tribunal filed on 25 March 2004 in response to an invitation issued by the Trial Chamber on 17 March 2004 to comment on the Motions, and the reply to the Deputy Registrar’s comments filed on behalf of Dusko Knezevic on 30 March 2004,

CONSIDERING the arguments put forward by the accused in support of the Motions, [REDACTED]

CONSIDERING that the potential impact of pre-trial media coverage is a factor to be taken into account in considering the reliability of witnesses in all trials before the International Tribunal and is therefore a matter for consideration at trial1 and not a matter for determination by the Trial Chamber at this stage of the proceedings,

CONSIDERING also that the matters raised in the Motions relate more properly to the functioning of the International Tribunal and are thus within the purview of the Bureau of the International Tribunal, pursuant to Rule 23 of the Rules of Procedure and evidence of the International Tribunal,

HEREBY DISMISSES the Motions.

 

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

________________
Patrick Robinson
Presiding

Dated this twentieth day of April 2004
At The Hague
The Netherlands

[Seal of the Tribunal]


1. Prosecutor v. Dusko Tadic, Case No. IT-94-1, Opinion and Judgment, 7 May 1997, paras 542-44, Prosecutor v. Simic et al., Case No. IT-95-5, Decision on Joint Defence Motion to Exclude Evidence, 1 Aug. 2002.