IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER

Before: Judge Antonio Cassese, Presiding

Judge Richard May

Judge Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba

Registrar: Mrs. Dorothee de Sampayo Garrido-Nijgh

Decision of: 22 April 1998

 

PROSECUTOR

v.

MILE MRKSIC
MIROSLAV RADIC
VESELIN SLJIVANCANIN
SLAVKO DOKMANOVIC

___________________________________

DECISION ON DEFENCE MOTIONS FOR SAFE CONDUCT

___________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor:

Mr. Grant Niemann
Mr. Stefan Wäspi
Mr. Clint Williamson
Ms. Ann Sutherland

Counsel for the Accused:

Mr. Toma Fila and Mr. Vladimir Petrovic, for Slavko Dokmanovic

 

THE TRIAL CHAMBER

NOTING the Defence Motion To Enable To Call Witnesses By Means Of Safe Conduct And Video Conference Link, the Defence Motion For Safe Conduct Of Defence Witness Mr. Miomir Crnogorac, and the Defence Additional Motion For Safe Conduct, filed on 6 January, 8 April and 22 April 1998 respectively (together referred to as "the Motions"), requesting that safe conduct be granted to protect four witnesses who will testify on behalf of the Defence,

NOTING THAT the Office of the Prosecutor ("Prosecution") has no objection to the grant of safe conduct for these four witnesses,

NOTING FURTHER the Decision on the Defence Motions to Summon and Protect Defence Witnesses, and on the Giving of Evidence by Video-Link, rendered on 25 June 1996 by Trial Chamber II in Prosecutor v. Dusko Tadic, Case No. IT-94-1-T (the "Tadic Decision"), which established that safe conduct, although not provided for in the Statute of the International Tribunal, can be ordered under the general power of Rule 54 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Tribunal (the "Rules"),

NOTING that "an order for safe conduct grants only a very limited immunity from prosecution" and only "with respect to crimes within the jurisdiction of the International Tribunal committed before coming to the International Tribunal and only for the time during which the witness is present at the seat of the International Tribunal for the purpose of giving testimony" (Tadic Decision at paragraph 12),

NOTING that the physical presence of witnesses before the International Tribunal is of fundamental importance to the administration of justice,

PURSUANT TO Rule 54 of the Rules

AND WITH THE AGREEMENT OF THE PARTIES

HEREBY GRANTS the Motions in the terms set out below and DECIDES as follows:

(1) the four witnesses named in the Motions shall not be prosecuted, detained or subjected to any other restriction on his or her personal liberty while in the Netherlands, or in transit, for the purpose of testifying before the International Tribunal, by or on behalf of the Prosecution, in respect of acts within the jurisdiction of the International Tribunal and allegedly committed prior to his or her departure from his or her home country;

(2) the safe conduct shall be limited in time to seven days prior to and seven days after the giving of testimony, subject to the witness no longer being required by the International Tribunal. In case of illness which prevents the witness from leaving the Netherlands, the witness will retain the safe conduct until he or she is able to travel again and for a period of seven days thereafter, which is required for his or her return to his home country;

(3) the witnesses shall be restricted to travelling between the port of entry or of exit and his or her lodgings, limited movements around the vicinity of the place of lodging, and between the lodgings and the International Tribunal.

 

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

__________________

Antonio Cassese

Presiding Judge

Dated this twenty-second day of April 1998

At The Hague

The Netherlands

[Seal of the Tribunal]