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:
24 November 2003

PROSECUTOR

v.

SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC

_________________________________________________

DECISION ON CONFIDENTIAL PROSECUTION MOTION FOR THE ADMISSION OF TRANSCRIPTS PURSUANT TO 92BIS(D)

__________________________________________________

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 the confidential Prosecution Motion for the Admission of Transcripts Pursuant to 92bis(D) ("Motion"), filed on 2 October 2003 by the Office of the Prosecutor ("Prosecution"), in which the Prosecution requests the admission into evidence of the transcripts of testimony and associated exhibits of the following witnesses who testified in respect of events in Sanski Most municipality in the Brdjanin and Sikirica cases:1

  1. the transcripts of evidence and associated exhibits of witness B-1043, with cross-examination,2

  2. the transcripts of evidence and associated exhibits of witnesses B-1042, B-1044, B-1088, B-1377, B-1611, B-1630 and B-1684, without cross-examination,

NOTING that Rule 92bis(D) provides:

A Chamber may admit a transcript of evidence given by a witness in proceedings before the Tribunal which goes to proof of a matter other than the acts and conducts of the accused,

NOTING Articles 20 and 21 of the Statute,

CONSIDERING the Accused’s general opposition to the admission of Rule 92bis evidence,

CONSIDERING that all seven witnesses were subjected to cross-examination by counsel for the accused in both the Brdjanin and Sikirica cases,

CONSIDERING that the evidence does not go to proof of the acts and conduct of the Accused and is therefore admissible under Rule 92bis(D),

CONSIDERING that the evidence goes to matters which may be of critical importance to his defence and that the earlier cross-examination of witnesses B-1042, B-1044, B-1088, B-1377, B-1611, B-1630 and B-1684 adequately covers those matters,

PURSUANT TO Rules 54 and 92bis(D) and (E) of the Rules,

HEREBY ORDERS as follows:

  1. The transcripts and the accompanying exhibits of witness B-1043 shall be admitted, subject to the witnesses being made available for cross-examination by the Accused,

  2. The transcripts and the accompanying exhibits of witnesses B-1042, B-1044, B-1088, B-1377, B-1611, B-1630 and B-1684, shall be admitted without cross-examination, provided that (a) the passages of the transcripts referring to the JNA are excluded from the transcripts and (b) the Prosecution submit such transcripts seven days from the date of this decision, Judge Robinson dissenting to the decision: or the witnesses must be made available for cross-examination by the Accused.

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

____________
Richard May
Presiding

Dated this twenty-fourth day of November 2003
At The Hague
The Netherlands

[Seal of the Tribunal]


1. Prosecutor v. Radislav Brdjanin and Momir Talic, Case No. IT-99-36-T, and Prosecutor v. Dusko Sikirica et al., Case No. IT-95-8-T.
2. The Motion also included witness B-1046. However, the Prosecution subsequently indicated that this witness would not be called, see confidential and partly ex parte Fourth Omnibus Motion for Leave to Amend the Witness List and Request for Protective Measures for Witnesses Named Herein, filed on 31 October 2003, (Confidential Annex A).