Case No. IT-04-74-PT

Before:
Judge Alphons Orie

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Order of:
5 October 2004

PROSECUTOR

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ORDER TO RESCIND PROTECTIVE MEASURES

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The Office of the Prosecutor:

Mr. Kenneth Scott

Counsel for the Accused:

Mr. Camil Salahovic and Mr. Zelimir Par for the accused Mr. Jadranko Prlic
Mr. Zeljko Olujic for the accused Mr. Bruno Stojic
Mr. Bozidar Kovacic and Ms. Nika Pinter for the accused Mr. Slobodan Praljak
Ms. Vesna Alaburic for the accused Mr. Milivoj Petkovic
Mr. Tomislav Jonjic for the accused Mr. Valentin Coric
Mr. Marinko Skobic for the accused Mr. Berislav Pusic

I, ALPHONS ORIE, 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 decision dated 5 April 2004 of the Presiding Judge of the Chamber to appoint me as the Pre-Trial Judge in this case;¹

BEING SEIZED of "[t]he Accused Milivoj Petkovic’s Motion to Rescind Protective Measures in Respect of his Testimony as a Witness in the Case Prosecutor v. Tihomir Blaskic (No. IT-95-14)", filed on 20 September 2004 (the "Motion");

NOTING that Milivoj Petkovic (the "Accused") requests the Chamber to lift the protective measures imposed by the Trial Chamber seised of the Blaskic case (the "Blaskic Trial Chamber") on the testimony given by the Accused in that case;

NOTING the "Prosecution Response to the Accused Milivoj Petkovic’s Motion to Rescind Protective Measures in Respect of His Testimony as a Witness in the Case Titled The Prosecutor v. Tihomir Blaskic", filed on 1 October 2004, whereby the Prosecution indicates that it does not oppose the Motion;

NOTING that, in its "Decision of Trial Chamber I in respect of protective measures for General Milivoj Petkovic" dated 22 June 1999, the Blaskic Trial Chamber ordered that (i) the testimony of Milivoj Petkovic "be given in closed session", and that (ii) "neither the Prosecution nor the Defence disclose to a third party, whosoever they may be, any element whatsoever of the testimony" of Milivoj Petkovic;

NOTING that Rule 75(G) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence (the "Rules") provides that "[a] party to the second proceedings seeking to rescind, vary or augment protective measures ordered in the first proceedings must apply (ii) if no Chamber remains seised of the first proceedings, to the Chamber seized of the second proceedings";

CONSIDERING that the protective measures were ordered by the Blaskic Trial Chamber at the request of the Government of the Republic of Croatia; that the authorities of the Republic of Croatia, at the request of the Accused, informed the Blaskic Trial Chamber, by a letter dated 5 September 2000,² that the reasons why the Government of the Republic of Croatia requested the abovementioned protective measures had ceased to exist; that the Blaskic Trial Chamber did not issue a decision on this matter;

CONSIDERING that the Accused expresses interest in having his testimony opened to public access; that nothing now prevents the protective measures then ordered by the Blaskic Trial Chamber from being lifted;

PURSUANT to Rule 75(G)(ii) of the Rules,

GRANT the Motion and RESCIND the protective measures ordered by the Blaskic Trial Chamber with respect to the testimony given by Milivoj Petkovic in the Blaskic case.

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

Dated this Fifth Day of October 2004.
At The Hague,
The Netherlands.

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Judge Alphons Orie
Pre-Trial Judge

[Seal of the Tribunal]