Case No.: IT-02-54-T

IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER

Before:
Judge Patrick Robinson, Presiding
Judge O-Gon Kwon
Judge Iain Bonomy

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Order of:
8 March 2006

PROSECUTOR

v.

SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC

_________________________________________________________________________

ORDER ON DOCUMENTS OR MATERIALS USED DURING THE TESTIMONY OF DEFENCE WITNESS MOMIR BULATOVIC

_________________________________________________________________________

Office of the Prosecutor:

Ms. Carla Del Ponte
Mr. Geoffrey Nice

The Accused:

Mr. Slobodan Milosevic

Court Assigned Counsel:

Mr. Steven Kay
Ms. Gillian Higgins

Amicus Curiae:

Prof. 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 ("Tribunal");

Proprio motu,

NOTING that on 1 March 2006, the Trial Chamber adjourned the proceedings until 14 March 2006 in order to allow the Accused additional time to prepare his next witness, Mr. Momir Bulatovic ("witness");1

NOTING that, according to the most recent witness list submitted by the Accused,2 the testimony of Mr. Bulatovic is scheduled to last for 16 hours, and will cover several subject matter areas in relation to all three indictments;

CONSIDERING that, given the Accused’s past practice in calling witnesses and the proposed breadth of Mr. Bulatovic’s testimony, the Trial Chamber expects that an extremely large number of documents or other materials will be prepared and provided to the Chamber, the Registry, and the Prosecution for possible use with the witness, and that many of these documents or materials will eventually be tendered for admission as exhibits in this case;

CONSIDERING that the Chamber’s past experience with witnesses called by the Accused has shown that dealing with the admission status of a large amount of material during the course of witness testimony can create confusion and cause unnecessary difficulties in the proper management of the trial;

CONSIDERING that, pursuant to Rules 54 and 90(F) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the Tribunal ("Rules"), Trial Chambers have the power to issue such orders as are "necessary for … the conduct of the trial" and should "exercise control over the mode and order of interrogating witnesses and presenting evidence so as to … make the interrogation and presentation effective for the ascertainment of the truth; and … avoid needless consumption of time";

PURSUANT TO Rules 54, 89, and 90 of the Rules,

HEREBY ORDERS AS FOLLOWS:

  1. The collection of documents or materials to be used with the witness shall be provided to the Prosecution, the Chamber, and the Registry Court Officer as far as possible in advance of the scheduled start of the witness’ testimony on Tuesday, 14 March 2006, and in any event, no later than Friday, 10 March 2006.

  2. The entire collection of documents or materials shall be marked for identification, with the date of assignment of such status to each item in the collection being the date on which the full collection is received by the Registry Court Officer.

  3. Neither party shall, during the testimony of the witness, seek the admission of any document or other form of material used with him.

  4. Within seven days of the conclusion of the witness’ testimony, each party shall file simultaneous written submissions on the admissibility of each item used with the witness; any responses to such submissions must be filed within fourteen days of the conclusion of the witness’ testimony.

 

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

_________________________
Judge Robinson
Presiding

Dated this eighth day of March 2006
At The Hague
The Netherlands

[Seal of the Tribunal]


1. See Prosecutor v. Milosevic, Case No. IT-02-54-T, Transcript, T. 49189–49190 (1 March 2006):
JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Kay, the Chamber will grant the application that you made not to sit next week. In doing so, we take note of the points that you made. Mr. Bulatovic will only be arriving in The Hague on Tuesday. Mr. Bulatovic is a witness of very great importance to Mr. Milosevic's case, and it is only due to his ill health -- or to health or to health matters relating to his family that he will only be able to attend on Tuesday. We also take note of the fact that there are other problems relating to -- to witnesses and their attendance. But I am to say that the situation is exceptional, and it is not to be taken as a -- as a precedent. The Chamber expects in the future that Mr. Milosevic will have his witnesses ready to testify at the dates and times that he has specified.
2. Milosevic, Milosevic’s list of witnesses for the next four weeks, filed on 27 February 2006 as an attachment to a confidential memorandum from the Deputy Pro Se Legal Liaison Officer.