BEFORE A BENCH OF THE APPEALS CHAMBER

Before:
Judge Lal Chand Vohrah, Presiding
Judge Wang Tieya
Judge Rafael Nieto-Navia

Registrar:
Mrs. Dorothee de Sampayo Garrido-Nijgh

Decision of:
18 August 1999

PROSECUTOR

v.

DARIO KORDIC
MARIO CERKEZ

___________________________________________________________

DECISION ON APPLICATION FOR LEAVE TO APPEAL

___________________________________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor:

Mr. Geoffrey Nice
Mr. Kenneth Scott
Ms. Susan Sommers
Mr. Patrick Lopez-Terres

Counsel for the Accused Dario Kordic:

Mr. Mitko Naumovski
Mr. Turner T. Smith, Jr.
Mr. David Geneson
Mr. Ksenija Turkovic
Mr. Stephen M. Sayers
Mr. Robert A. Stein

Counsel for the Accused Mario Cerkez:

Mr. Bozidar Kovacic
Mr. Goran Mikulicic

 

This Bench of the Appeals 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 ("the International Tribunal"),

NOTING the "Prosecution’s Application for Leave to Appeal the Trial Chamber’s Oral Decision Rejecting the Prosecutor’s Application to Add Witnesses to the Witness List", filed on 10 June 1999, and the "Addendum to Prosecutor’s Application for Leave to Appeal the Trial Chamber’s Oral Decision Rejecting the Prosecutor’s Application to Add Witnesses to the Witness List of 10 June 1999", filed on 23 June 1999 (together "the Application for Leave to Appeal");

NOTING the oral decision of Trial Chamber III rendered on 3 June 1999, denying a request by the Office of the Prosecutor ("the Prosecution") to add four new witnesses to its witness list ("the Impugned Decision");

NOTING "Dario Kordic’s Opposition to Prosecution’s Application for Leave to Take an Interlocutory Appeal from the Trial Chamber’s 3 June 1999 Routine Procedural Ruling", and "Exhibits to be Considered with Mr. Dario Kordic’s Opposition to Prosecution’s Application for Leave to Take an Interlocutory Appeal of Trial Chamber’s June 3, 1999 Routine Procedural Ruling", both filed on 24 June 1999, and the "Response to the Prosecutor’s Application for Leave to Appeal", filed on 30 June 1999;

NOTING the "Prosecutor’s Reply to Defence’s Opposition to Prosecution’s Application for Leave to Take an Interlocutory Appeal to the Trial Chamber’s Oral Decision Rejecting the Application to Add Witnesses to the Witness List", filed on 6 July 1999;

CONSIDERING that the Application for Leave to Appeal is filed pursuant to Rule 73 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Tribunal which provides, inter alia, that applications "for leave to appeal shall be filed within seven days of the filing of the impugned decision" and allows for interlocutory appeals in the following two instances:

  1. if the decision impugned would cause such prejudice to the case of the party seeking leave as could not be cured by the final disposal of the trial including post-judgement appeal; or
  2. if the issue in the proposed appeal is of general importance to proceedings before the Tribunal or in international law generally;

CONSIDERING that the Application for Leave to Appeal was filed within time;

FINDING that the Prosecution has failed to establish that any alleged prejudice arising from the Impugned Decision could not be cured by the final disposal of the trial, including post-judgement appeal;

AND FINDING that the Application for Leave to Appeal does not present an issue of general importance to proceedings before the International Tribunal or in international law generally;

HEREBY DISMISSES the Application for Leave to Appeal.

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

________________________________
Lal Chand Vohrah
Presiding Judge

Dated this eighteenth day of August 1999
At The Hague,
The Netherlands.

[Seal of the Tribunal]