Case No. IT-03-67-PT

IN TRIAL CHAMBER II

Before:
Judge Carmel Agius, Pre-Trial Judge

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Decision of:
9 December 2004

VOJISLAV SESELJ

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DECISION ON THE ACCUSED’S SUBMISSIONS NUMBER 60 AND 61 FOR REQUEST FOR LEAVE TO REPLY AND FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO REPLY

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The Office of the Prosecutor:

Ms. Hildegard Uertz-Retzlaff
Mr. Ulrich Mussemeyer
Mr. Daniel Saxon

The Accused:

Mr. Vojislav Seselj

Standby counsel:

Mr. Tjarda Eduard van der Spoel

I, Carmel Agius, Judge 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") and Pre-Trial Judge in these proceedings:

BEING SEISED OF the "Submission Number 60" and of the "Submission Number 61" (collectively: "Requests for Leave and for Extension of Time to Reply"), filed on 8 December 2004 on behalf of the Accused Vojislav Seselj ("Accused"), wherein he requests leave to reply and an extension of time to file a reply to the "Prosecution’s Response to Accused’s Request for Disclosure of Materials in Written Form and in Serbian" and to the "Prosecution’s Response to Re-examine the Decision to Assign Standby Counsel" (collectively: "Prosecution’s Responses") respectively, filed on behalf of the Office of the Prosecutor ("Prosecution") on 29 and 30  November 2004;

NOTING that the "Prosecution’s Response to Accused’s Request for Disclosure of Materials in Written Form and in Serbian" arises out of the Accused’s own "Request of the Accused to Disclose Materials of the Prosecution in Written Form and in Serbian", wherein he repeats the same submissions he has made time and again in the course of a series of Status Conferences;¹

CONSIDERING therefore that the Trial Chamber is appraised of all the relevant arguments, and any reply from the Accused would further delay proceedings and thus run contrary to the interests of justice by vitiating the Accused’s right to an expeditious trial and, moreover, would amount to a vexatious filing;

NOTING that the "Prosecution’s Response to Re-examine the Decision to Assign Standby Counsel" arises out of the Accused’s own "Request by the Accused to the Trial Chamber to Re-examine Decision to Assign Standby-Counsel to the Accused", and that on that same issue the Accused has already produced an additional "Submission Number 57", filed on his behalf also on 8 December 2004;

CONSIDERING therefore that the Trial Chamber is appraised of all the relevant arguments, and any reply from the Accused would further delay proceedings and thus run contrary to the interests of justice by vitiating the Accused’s right to an expeditious trial and, moreover, would amount to a vexatious filing;

CONSIDERING that Rule 126 bis of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence ("Rules"),² provides, inter alia, that a reply to the response shall be filed with the leave of the relevant Chamber;

CONSIDERING that, pursuant to Rule 65 ter, the Pre-Trial Judge shall ensure that proceedings are not unduly delayed, and shall be entrusted with all or part of the functions in Rule 73, which deals with the ability of either party to file motions, and which thus implies the power of the Pre-Trial Judge to consider requests for leave to reply to responses to such motions;

NOTING that, in his Requests for Leave and for Extension of Time to Reply, the Accused also requests that the translation into the Bosnian, Croat or Serb language ("B/C/S") of a number of documents cited by the Prosecution in the Prosecution’s Responses be provided to him;

RECALLING that in the Decision on Request for Leave to Reply and for Extension of Time to Reply, filed on 6 December 2004, the Pre-Trial Judge already advised the Accused that the Registry is the official custodian of the records of the Tribunal, and that it is for the Accused to ask the Registry directly for the B/C/S translation of any of the decisions or orders issued by the Tribunal that he may require, and that the Accused should not address the Trial Chamber or the Pre-Trial Judge at every juncture when he requires something from the Registry;³

PURSUANT TO Rule 65 ter, 73 and 126 bis of the Rules, HEREBY

DENY the Requests for Leave and for Extension of Time to Reply.

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

Dated this ninth day of December 2004,
At The Hague,
The Netherlands

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Carmel Agius
Pre-Trial Judge