Case No.: IT-04-83-PT

IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER

Before:
Judge O-Gon Kwon, Pre-trial Judge

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Decision of:
29 September 2005

PROSECUTOR

v.

RASIM DELIC

__________________________________________

DECISION ON PROSECUTION’S REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL TIME TO SEEK LEAVE TO AMEND THE INDICTMENT

__________________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor:

Mr. Daryl A. Mundis
Ms. Tecla Henry-Benjamin
Ms. Marie Tuma

Counsel for Rasim Delic:

Ms. Vasvija Vidovic

 

I, O-GON KWON, 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 ("International Tribunal"),

HAVING BEEN APPOINTED as pre-trial Judge in this case by virtue of the Order of Trial Chamber III dated 7 March 2005,

BEING SEIZED of a "Prosecution’s Request for Additional Time to Seek Leave to Amend the Indictment" filed on 14 September 2005 ("Motion") by the Office of the Prosecutor ("Prosecution") requesting an extension of time until 1 December 2005 to file its motion seeking leave to amend the Indictment ("Amendment Motion"),

NOTING a "Defence Response to Prosecution’s Request for Additional Time to Seek Leave to Amend the Indictment" filed on 27 September 2005 ("Response") by the Defence of Rasim Delic opposing the Motion and requesting, inter alia, that the Prosecution be given no more than 30 days to file the Amendment Motion in the event that the request for an extension of time is granted,

NOTING that, in June of 2005, the Prosecution raised the possibility of filing the Amendment Motion by adding three additional crime bases to the Indictment, and anticipated that it would be in a position to do so "no later than the end of October 2005",1

NOTING that the pre-trial Judge shall ensure that the proceedings are not unduly delayed and shall take any measure necessary to prepare the case for a fair and expeditious trial pursuant to Rule 65ter of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Tribunal ("Rules"), and that I, as the pre-trial Judge in this case, ordered the Prosecution to file the Amendment Motion no later than Friday, 30 September 2005,2

NOTING that the Prosecution requests the extension of time as it is "engaged in analysing a large quantity of evidence that has recently come into its possession" and that "[u]ntil this material is translated, analysed and reviewed, it is not possible to determine whether further particularisation of the existing Indictment may be possible; whether the material might form the basis for additional charges; whether the material constitutes Rule 68; or even whether it might be necessary to withdraw one or more counts in the Indictment",3

CONSIDERING that the Prosecution has shown good cause to be granted an extension of time to file the Amendment Motion, but has not demonstrated the need for an additional 2 months,4

PURSUANT TO Rules 65ter of the Rules,

HEREBY GRANT the Motion in part and ORDER the Prosecution to file the Amendment Motion no later than Monday, 31 October 2005.

 

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

________________
O-Gon Kwon
Pre-trial Judge

Dated this twenty-ninth day of September 2005
At The Hague
The Netherlands

[Seal of the Tribunal]

1. , Status Conference of 29 June 2005, T. 33-34.
2. "Order of Pre-Trial Judge Arising from Status Conference," 8 July 2005.
3. Motion, paras 4, 6.
4. In making its submissions, the Prosecution writes in footnote 10 of the Motion: The Prosecution will continue to work expeditiously towards the goal of filing its motion seeking leave to amend as soon as possible. Consequently, in the event the Trial Chamber grants this request for an extension of time until 1 December 2005, this does not necessarily mean that the Prosecution will not file its motion earlier than that date if possible.