IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER
Before:
Judge Richard May, Presiding
Judge Mohamed Bennouna
Judge Patrick Robinson
Registrar:
Mrs. Dorothee de Sampayo Garrido-Nijgh
Order of:
2 May 2000
PROSECUTOR
v.
DARIO KORDIC
MARIO CERKEZ
_________________________________________
ORDER ON "NOVI TRAVNIK" AFFIDAVITS
_________________________________________
The Office of the Prosecutor
Mr. Geoffrey Nice
Ms. Susan Somers
Mr. Patrick Lopez-Terres
Mr. Kenneth Scott
Mr. Fabricio Guarglia
Counsel for the Accused
Mr. Mitko Naumovski, Mr. Turner Smith Jr., Mr. Robert A. Stein, Mr.
Stephen M. Sayers, and Mr. Christopher G. Browning, Jr., for Dario Kordic
Mr. Bozidar Kovacic and Mr. Goran Mikulicic, for Mario Cerkez
THIS 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 ("International Tribunal"),
NOTING that the Office of the Prosecutor ("the Prosecution") submitted five affidavits relating to Novi Travnik ("the Novi Travnik Affidavits") for entry into evidence on 24 March 2000,
NOTING "Dario Kordics Objections to the "Novi Travnik Affidavits" Submitted by the Prosecution on 24 March 2000", filed by the Defence for Dario Kordic on 30 March 2000, and the "Accused Mario Cerkezs Notice of Joinder in Accused Dario Kordics Objections to the Novi Travnik Affidavits Submitted by the Prosecution on 24 March 2000, filed by the Defence for Mario Cerkez on 3 April 2000,
NOTING ALSO the "Prosecutors Response to Dario Kordics Objections to Affidavits from Novi Travnik", filed on 5 April 2000,
NOTING that the Prosecution argues that four of the five Novi Travnik Affidavits serve the purpose of authenticating documents entered through the testimony of Witness Q, and that the fifth affidavit corroborates the testimony given by another witness,
NOTING that Witness Q testified before the Trial Chamber on 28 and 29 September 1999,
NOTING that the Prosecution closed its case against Dario Kordic and Mario Cerkez on 10 March 2000, having called 114 witnesses, amounting to 16448 pages of transcripts, and having submitted thousands of pages of exhibits, including transcripts from related cases and affidavits,
CONSIDERING that Rule 85 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Tribunal provides for the presentation of evidence, and that evidence should be presented within this framework,
CONSIDERING that the Prosecution has not formally sought leave to submit evidence out of time, and that the submission of these affidavits was out of time,
CONSIDERING that, as stated by Trial Chamber II in Prosecutor v. Delalic et al., "there should be a point where accusation ends and answering the allegations begins [ . . . ] It is, therefore, consistent with justice not to interfere with the Defence answering the allegations made by continuing with further accusations",
CONSIDERING that the Prosecution retains the right to call evidence in rebuttal,
FOR THE FOREGOING REASONS
PURSUANT TO Rule 85 of the Rules,
HEREBY DENIES the Prosecution request to submit the Novi Travnik Affidavits into evidence.
Done in English and French, the English text being authoritative.
________________________________
Richard May
Presiding Judge
Dated this second day of May 2000
At The Hague
The Netherlands
[Seal of the Tribunal]