Case No. IT-04-84-PT

IN TRIAL CHAMBER II

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

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Decision of:
6 December 2005

PROSECUTOR

v.

RAMUSH HARADINAJ
IDRIZ BALAJ
LAHI BRAHIMAJ

_______________________________________________

THIRD EXTENSION OF ORDER RELATING TO PROSECUTION MOTION TO STAY THE TRIAL CHAMBER’S DECISION OF 12 OCTOBER 2005 REGARDING CONDITIONS OF PROVISIONAL RELEASE OF RAMUSH HARADINAJ

_______________________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor:

Ms. Carla del Ponte
Mr. Stefan Waespi
Mr. Gilles Dutertre
Mr. Philippe Vallieres-Roland

Accused / Counsel for the Accused:

Ramush Haradinaj
Mr. Ben Emmerson
Mr. Rodney Dixon
Mr. Conor Gearty
Mr. Michael O’Reilly

Idriz Balaj
Mr. Gregor Guy-Smith

Lahi Brahimaj
Mr. Richard Harvey

 

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 "Prosecution Motion for Further Extension of the Stay of the Decision on Defence Motion of Ramush Haradinaj to Request Re-assessment of Conditions of Provisional Release Granted 6 June 2005" ("Motion"), filed by the Office of the Prosecutor ("Prosecution") on 2 December 2005;

NOTING the "Decision on Defence Motion of Ramush Haradinaj to Request Re-assessment of Conditions of Provisional Release Granted 6 June 2005" ("Variation Decision"), issued by this Trial Chamber on 12 October 2005, in which it ordered, by a majority,1 that

Notwithstanding any other condition in the Decision on Provisional Release, the Accused may appear in public and engage in public political activities to the extent which UNMIK finds would be important for a positive development of the political and security situation in Kosovo, subject to the prior approval by UNMIK of a request by the Accused regarding each individual activity concerned.

The Trial Chamber requires UNMIK to assume responsibility to authorise or deny the Accused’s above-referred activities on a case-by-case basis, and to include any such activity in the bi-weekly reports submitted to the Trial Chamber pursuant to the Decision on Provisional Release. UNMIK is also required to indicate any such future activity of the Accused in these reports, provided that there is a pending request by the Accused before UNMIK;

NOTING the "Prosecution’s Appeal Against ‘Decision on Defence Motion of Ramush Haradinaj to Request Re-assessment of Conditions of Provisional Release Granted 6 June 2005’" ("Appeal Motion"), filed by the Prosecution on 19 October 2005;

NOTING the "Prosecution Motion to Stay the Decision on Defence Motion of Ramush Haradinaj to Request Re-assessment of Conditions of Provisional Release Granted 6 June 2005" ("Motion to Stay"), filed by the Prosecution on 13 October 2005, in which the Prosecution requested that the Trial Chamber stay the Variation Decision until the conclusion of the appeal proceedings on this issue;2

NOTING the "Defence Response on Behalf of Ramush Haradinaj to Prosecution Motion to Stay the Decision on Defence Motion of Ramush Haradinaj to Request Re-Assessment of Conditions of Provisional Release Granted on 6 June 2005" ("Response to Motion to Stay"), filed by counsel for Ramush Haradinaj ("Defence") on 17 October 2005, in which the Defence submits that the Variation Decision should not be stayed, there being no procedural or substantive basis for such a stay;

NOTING the Trial Chamber’s "Extension of Order Relating to Prosecution Motion to Stay the Trial Chamber’s Decision of 12 October 2005 Regarding Conditions of Provisional Release of Ramush Haradinaj" ("Order to Stay") of 21 November 2005, in which the Trial Chamber ordered that an interim stay of the Variation Decision granted previously shall be extended until
6 November 2005, or until such date as the Appeals Chamber may render its decision, if this occurs prior to that date;

NOTING the "Prosecution’s Application Under Rule 115 to Present Additional Evidence in its Appeal Against ‘Decision on Defence Motion of Ramush Haradinaj to Request Re-Assessment of Conditions of Provisional Release Granted 6 June 2005’", filed publicly with partly confidential annexes by the Prosecution before the Appeals Chamber on 8 November 2005, consisting of 64 pages (excluding annexes);

NOTING that in the present Motion, the Prosecution maintains all arguments it has raised previously in connection with the stay, and requests that in view of the current circumstances, it would be practical that the stay of the Variation Decision be further extended until 21 December 2005;

NOTING the "Defence Response on Behalf of Ramush Haradinaj to Prosecution Motion for Further Extension of the Stay of the Decision on Defence Motion of Ramush Haradinaj to Request Re-assessment of Conditions of Provisional Release Granted 6 June 2005", filed by the Defence on
6 December 2005, in which the Defence, for practical reasons, does not oppose one last extension of the Order to Stay and as it concerns only a limited period of time, but otherwise, maintains all arguments raised previously in its Response to Motion to Stay of 17 October 2005;

CONSIDERING the magnitude of the new material presented to the Appeals Chamber by the Prosecution, and the need for the Defence to respond thereto, and that the Appeals Chamber has not yet rendered a decision on the Appeal Motion;

CONSIDERING that in light of the position taken by the Defence, it appears justified extending the Order to Stay for only one more limited period of time, after the expiry of which the Variation Decision will be applied;

PURSUANT TO Rules 54 and 65 of the Rules

ORDERS that the interim stay of the Trial Chamber’s Decision on Defence Motion of Ramush Haradinaj to Request Re-assessment of Conditions of Provisional Release Granted 6 June 2005, which is currently in place, shall be extended until 21 December 2005, or until such date as the Appeals Chamber may render its decision, if this occurs prior to that date. If the Appeals Chamber has not rendered its decision by 22 December 2005, the Trial Chamber’s Variation Decision shall be applied.

 

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

Dated this sixth day of December 2005
At The Hague
The Netherlands

____________________________
Carmel Agius
Presiding Judge

[Seal of the Tribunal]


1. The Presiding Judge, Carmel Agius, appended a Dissenting Opinion to the Variation Decision.
2. Motion to Stay, paras 3, 9.