Case No. IT-04-82-PT

IN TRIAL CHAMBER II

Before:
Judge Carmel Agius, Presiding
Judge Hans Henrik Brydensholt
Judge Albin Eser

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Decision of:
14 June 2005

PROSECUTOR

v.

Ljube BOSKOVSKI
Johan TARCULOVSKI

___________________________________________

DECISION ON LJUBE BOSKOVSKI’S MOTION CHALLENGING JURISDICTION

___________________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor:

Mr. Kenneth Scott

Counsel for the Accused:

Mr. Dragan Godzo for Ljube Boskoski
Mr. Antonio Apostolski for Johan Tarculovski

 

TRIAL CHAMBER II ("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"),

BEING SEISED OF the "Defence Motion of Ljube Boskoski Challenging the Jurisdiction of the Tribunal" filed by the defence for the accused Ljube Boskoski ("Defence") on 23 May 2005 ("Motion"), pursuant to Rule 72(A)(i) and (D) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the Tribunal ("Rules") challenging the jurisdiction of the Tribunal;

NOTING that in its Motion, the Defence submits essentially the following three grounds: (i) the temporal jurisdiction of the Tribunal ceased in 1999 at the latest and thus the Tribunal has no jurisdiction to adjudicate crimes allegedly occurred in 2001 since neither the wars in Bosnia and Croatia and the crises in Kosovo, nor the two agreements pertaining to the process of dissolution of the SFRY, i.e., the 1995 Dayton agreement and the 1999 Kumanovo Agreement have any factual or legal connection with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia ("FYROM") at that time;1 (ii) no armed conflict existed in the FYROM when the Tribunal was established in 1993 by the UN Security Council Resolution 827 and there was a clear territorial division between the FYROM and the Yugoslav Federation which, at that time, was composed of Serbia and Montenegro;2 and (iii) the Indictment does not relate to any of the violations of Article 3 of the Statute due to the fact that there existed military necessity and the armed persons who were referred to in paragraphs 62, 68, 70 of the Indictment cannot be regarded as being protected in the spirit of international humanitarian law;3

NOTING the "Prosecution’s Response to Ljube Boskoski’s Motion Challenging the Jurisdiction of the Tribunal" filed by the Prosecution on 6 June 2005 ("Response")4 in which the Prosecution submits that the issues raised in the Motion are in substance the same as those raised in Tarculovski’s Preliminary Motions including the addendum5 and that the Decision of the Chamber on 1 June 2005 ("Decision of 1 June 2005")6 is fully dispositive of the Motion and thus the Motion should be denied7;

CONSIDERING that, as submitted in the Response, the Trial Chamber regards the arguments in the Motion as being substantially identical to those submitted by the co-accused Johan Tarculovski8 and that the reasoning and the findings of this Trial Chamber in the Decision of 1 June 2005 applies to the arguments raised in the Motion;

FOR THE FOREGOING REASONS

PURSUANT TO Rule 72 of the Rules;

HEREBY DISMISSES the Motion.

 

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

Dated this fourteenth day of June 2005,
At The Hague,
The Netherlands.

____________________________
Carmel Agius
Presiding Judge

[Seal of the Tribunal]

1. Motion, para. 24; see also paras 12-14, 18, 19.
2. Motion, para. 23; see also paras 13, 14, 18.
3. Motion, paras 31-35.
4. The Prosecutor v. Ljube Boskoski and Johan Tarculovski, Case No. IT-04-82-PT, Prosecution’s Response to Ljube Boskoski, 6 June 2005 ("Response").
5. The Prosecutor v. Ljube Boskoski and Johan Tarculovski, Case No. IT-04-82-PT, Preliminary Motion from accused Johan Tarculovski and his Defence attorney Antonio Apostolski, 31 March 2005; The Prosecutor v. Ljube Boskoski and Johan Tarculovski, Case No. IT-04-82-PT, Addendum to the Preliminary Motion, by Mr. Antonio Apostolski, Defence Counsel for Mr. Johan Tarculovski, 24 May 2005; The Prosecutor v. Ljube Boskoski and Johan Tarculovski, Case No. IT-04-82-PT, Motion Filed by the Defence of Johan Tarculovski Challenging: the Territorial, Temporal & Subject Matter Jurisdiction of the Tribunal, 27 May 2005 ("Tarculovski’s Preliminary Motions").
6. The Prosecutor v. Ljube Boskoski and Johan Tarculovski, Case No. IT-04-82-PT, Decision on Johan Tarculovski’s Motion Challenging Jurisdiction, 1 June 2005.
7. Response, para. 5.
8. Supra fn. 5.