IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER

 Before:
Judge Claude Jorda, Presiding
Judge Fouad Riad
Judge Almiro Simões Rodrigues

Registrar:
Mr. Jean-Jacques Heintz, Deputy Registrar

Decision of:
21 May 1998

THE PROSECUTOR

v.

DARIO KORDIC
MARIO CERKEZ


DECISION ON THE APPLICATION OF THE ACCUSED
FOR DISQUALIFICATION OF JUDGES JORDA AND RIAD


The Office of the Prosecutor:

Mr. Mark Harmon
Ms. Susan Somers
Mr. Patrick-Lopez-Terres
Mr. Kenneth Scott

Defence Counsel:

Mr. Mitko Naumovski
Mr. Bozidar Kovacic

 

TRIAL CHAMBER I of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991 (hereinafter "the Tribunal"),

CONSIDERING the application of the accused requesting the disqualification of Judges Jorda and Riad filed on 20 February 1998 (hereinafter "the application"),

CONSIDERING the response of the Prosecutor (hereinafter "the response") filed on 3 March 1998,

CONSIDERING the decision of the Bureau of the Tribunal on the application of the accused requesting the disqualification of Judges Jorda and Riad rendered on 4 May 1998,

PURSUANT to Articles 20 and 21(4) of the Statute of the Tribunal,

PURSUANT to Rule 15 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence (hereinafter "the Rules"),

NOTING that the Defence has requested the disqualification of Judges Jorda and Riad either voluntarily or by order of the Bureau,

NOTING that the Defence claims first that the fact that Judges Jorda and Riad are currently sitting in the Trial Chamber seized of the case The Prosecutor v. Tihomir Blaskic (Case no. IT-95-14-T, "the Blaskic case") will cause undue delay of the trial of Mr. Kordic and Mr. Cerkez; and second, that the fact that these two judges are hearing many witnesses and much evidence in the Blaskic case might jeopardise their ability to hear impartially the witnesses and evidence presented in the case of Mr. Kordic and Mr. Cerkez which involves many of the same events with which the Blaskic case is concerned,

IN RESPECT OF POINT ONE:

NOTING that the Rules contain no provision which would link disqualification of the Judges to a delay in the proceedings,

NOTING further that the proceedings have not been unduly or excessively delayed,

NOTING, in fact, that the accused Dario Kordic and Mario Cerkez surrendered to the Tribunal and appeared for the first time on 8 October 1997,

NOTING that the accused Dario Kordic and Mario Cerkez filed their last preliminary motions on 11 December 1997,

NOTING that a status conference was held on 27 January 1998 during which the Prosecutor stated her intention to request leave to amend the indictment,

NOTING that the Prosecutor filed an application for leave to amend the indictment on 11 February 1998 and that the Defence filed its application requesting disqualification on 20 February 1998, an application on which the Bureau ruled on 4 May 1998,

NOTING that, until 5 May 1998, the Tribunal had only one courtroom and, further, that the Tribunal has only a limited number of Judges all of whom are involved in current cases and that number of cases has continued to grow,

NOTING lastly that, pursuant to Article 12 of the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the Judges sitting on the Appeals Chamber of the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia also sit on the Appeals Chamber of the ICTR,

NOTING that the disqualification of Judges Jorda and Riad would not resolve the problems of availability of courtrooms and the limited number of Judges,

IN RESPECT OF POINT TWO:

NOTING that, in its decision of 4 May 1998, the Bureau stated "as is shown by the jurisprudence on the subject, it does not follow that a judge is disqualified from hearing two or more criminal trials arising out of the same series of events, where he is exposed to evidence relating to these events in both cases"; that, consequently, the Bureau decided unanimously that the provisions of Sub-rule 15(A) do not preclude Judges Jorda and Riad from hearing of the case The Prosecutor v. Dario Kordic and Mario Cerkez (IT-95-14/2-PT).

FOR THE FOREGOING REASONS,

RULING inter partes and unanimously,

DISMISSES the application of the accused requesting the disqualification of Judges Jorda and Riad.

 

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

Done this twenty-first day of May 1998
At The Hague
The Netherlands

(signed)
__________________________
Judge Claude Jorda
Presiding Judge, Trial Chamber I

(Seal of the Tribunal)