Case No.: IT-02-54-T
IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER
Before:
Judge Richard May, Presiding
Judge Patrick Robinson
Judge O-Gon Kwon
Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis
Order of:
10 October 2003
PROSECUTOR
v.
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC
_________________________________________________
DECISION ON PROSECUTION MOTION FOR THE ADMISSION OF WITNESS STATEMENTS RELEVANT TO EVENTS IN BRCKO, FOCA, BIJELJINA AND BOSANSKA KRUPA MUNICIPALITIES IN LIEU OF VIVA VOCE TESTIMONY PURSUANT TO RULES 54, 75 and 92BIS
__________________________________________________
The Office of the Prosecutor
Mr. Geoffrey Nice
The Accused
Slobodan Milosevic
Amicus Curiae
Mr. Steven Kay
Mr. Branislav Tapuskovic
Mr. Timothy McCormack
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 a Partially Confidential Prosecution Motion for the Admission of Witness Statements Relevant to Events in Brcko, Foca, Bijeljina and Bosanska Krupa Municipalities in Lieu of Viva Voce Testimony Pursuant to Rules 54, 75 and 92bis, filed on 4 September 2003 ("Motion"), by the Office of the Prosecutor ("Prosecution") seeking, inter alia, the admission of the written statements and associated exhibits of witnesses B-1448, B-1011, B1018 and B-1351 without cross-examination, and conceding that the written statements and associated exhibits of witnesses B-1412, B-1453, B-1531 and B-1353 should be admitted with cross-examination,
NOTING the Amici Curiae Reply to Partially Confidential Prosecution Motion for the Admission of Witness Statements Relevant to Events in Brcko, Foca, Bijeljina and Bosanska Krupa Municipalities in Lieu of Viva Voce Testimony Pursuant to Rules 54, 75 and 92bis, Dated 4 September 2003, filed on 12 September 2003 ("Amici Reply"), filed by the Amici Curiae ("Amici"), submitting, inter alia, that witnesses B-1353, B-1011, B-1018 and B-1351 should be heard viva voce, and that witness B-1448 should be heard viva voce on the provenance and authenticity of the documents referred to the statement,
NOTING that Rule 92bis(A) provides:
A Trial Chamber may admit, in whole or in part, the evidence of a witness in the form of a written statement in lieu of oral testimony which goes to proof of a matter other than the acts and conduct of the accused as charged in the indictment.
NOTING Articles 20 and 21 of the Statute,
CONSIDERING the Accused’s general opposition to the admission of Rule 92bis evidence and assuming the same in regard to the present motions,
CONSIDERING that the evidence presented in the motion does not go to proof of the acts and conduct of the Accused and is chiefly crime base, and is therefore admissible under Rule 92bis,
CONSIDERING that the cumulative nature of the testimony is only one factor in favour of admitting a statement under Rule 92bis(A),
PURSUANT TO Rules 54, 75(A) and 92bis of the Rules,
HEREBY ORDERS as follows:
Done in English and French, the English text being authoritative.
_______________
Richard May
Presiding
Dated this tenth day of October 2003
At The Hague
The Netherlands
[Seal of the Tribunal]