Case No. IT-95-13/1-PT

IN TRIAL CHAMBER II

Before:
Judge Wolfgang Schomburg, Presiding
Judge Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba
Judge Carmel Agius

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Decision of:
25 June 2003

PROSECUTOR
v.
MILE MRKSIC
MIROSLAV RADIC

____________________________________

DECISION DISMISSING MIROSLAV RADIC’S "DEFENCE PRELIMINARY MOTION"

____________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor:

Mr. Jan Wubben

Counsel for the Accused Mile Mrksic:

Mr. Miroslav Vasic

Counsel for the Accused Miroslav Radic:

Mr. Borivoje Borovic

 

TRIAL CHAMBER II ("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 ("Tribunal"):

BEING SEISED OF the "Defence Preliminary Motion" ("Motion") filed by counsel for the Accused Miroslav Radic ("Radic") on 17 June 2003, wherein Radic challenges the form of the Amended Indictment against him;1

NOTING the Amended Indictment against the Accused Mile Mrksic ("Mrksic"), Radic, Veselin Sljivancanin and Slavko Dokmanovic filed by the Office of the Prosecutor ("Prosecution") on 2 December 1997;2

NOTING further the Second Amended Indictment against Mrksic filed by the Prosecution on 29 August 2002;3

NOTING that the Prosecution indicated during Radic’s Initial Appearance that it would file a further amended indictment against Mrksic and Radic once the Trial Chamber had rendered its decision on the challenge to the form of the Second Amended Indictment against Mrksic;4

NOTING further the decision on the form of the Second Amended Indictment against Mrksic issued by the Trial Chamber on 19 June 2003;6

CONSIDERING that the Prosecution intends to file an application for leave to amend the Amended Indictment against Radic;

FOR THE FOREGOING REASONS,

PURSUANT TO Rule 54 of the Rules;

HEREBY DISMISSES the Motion and ORDERS that in the interests of justice and to avoid duplication of pre-trial motions, filings of motions and responses by all parties regarding the form of the Amended Indictment against Radic be held in abeyance pending the filing of the Prosecution’s motion for leave to amend it .

 

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

Dated this twenty-fifth day of June 2003,
At The Hague
The Netherlands

_______________
Wolfgang Schomburg
Presiding Judge

[Seal of the Tribunal]


1 - There has been some confusion as to the number of existing indictments in this case. The initial indictment against Mile Mrksic, Radic and Veselin Sljivancanin was confirmed by Judge Fouad Riad on 7 November 1995: Prosecutor v Mrksic, Radic and Sljivancanin, Case IT-95-13-I, Indictment, 7 Nov 1995. This indictment was amended to include Slavko Dokmanovic on 3 April 1996: Prosecutor v Mrksic, Radic, Sljivancanin and Dokmanovic (†), Case IT-95-13a-I, Indictment, 1 Apr 1996; see also Prosecutor v Mrksic, Radic, Sljivancanin and Dokmanovic (†), Case IT-95-13a-I, Amendement de l’acte d’accusation, 3 Apr 1996. A further amended indictment against all four was filed on 2 December 1997: Prosecutor v Mrksic, Radic, Sljivancanin and Dokmanovic (†), Case IT-95-13a-PT, Amended Indictment, 2 Dec 1997 ("Amended Indictment"). Finally, on 29 November 2002 the Prosecution filed a further amended indictment against Mile Mrksic alone. The Prosecution termed this indictment the "Second Amended Indictment": Prosecutor v Mrksic, Case IT-95-13/1, Second Amended Indictment, 29 Aug 2002 ("Second Amended Indictment"). Radic is correct in that the Amended Indictment inter alia against him dated 2 December 1997 is the second amended indictment (Motion, par 1), but for the sake of consistency and in order to avoid further confusion, this Decision will adopt this term to refer to the indictment against Mile Mrksic alone filed on 29 August 2002.
Footnote 2 - Amended Indictment, fn 1 supra.
Footnote 3 - Second Amended Indictment, fn 1 supra.
Footnote 4 - Transcript of the Initial Appearance, 21 May 2003, at page 66.
Footnote 5 - Prosecutor v Mrksic, Case IT-95-13/1-PT, Decision on Form of the Indictment, 19 June 2003.