Case No. IT-00-41-PT
THE PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL
Before:
Judge Fausto Pocar, President
Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis
Decision of:
23 November 2005
THE PROSECUTOR
v.
PASKO LJUBICIC
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DECISION ON REQUEST FOR MODIFICATION OF CONDITIONS OF DETENTION
_______________________________________
Counsel for the Prosecutor
Mr. Mark Harmon
Counsel for the Accused
Mr. Tomislav Jonjic
Ms. Nika Pinter
1. Pasko Ljubicic (“Ljubicic”) has filed before me a request for modification of the conditions of his detention pursuant to Rule 64 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence ("Rules").1 In his Request, Ljubicic asks that I permit him to be detained under house arrest in his wife’s flat, at the address: Mostar. Vukovarska ulica 38, until the beginning of his trial at the Tribunal, "or until the validity of the decision on referral of the case to the national authorities".2 I understand this second request to mean that he be detained under house arrest at his wife’s flat unless a determination is made that his case should be referred to the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina pursuant to Rule 11bis.
2. Rule 64 is titled "Detention of Remand" and provides as follows:
Upon being transferred to the seat of the Tribunal, the accused shall be detained in facilities provided by the host country, or by another country. In exceptional circumstances, the accused may be held in facilities outside of the host country. The President may, on the application of a party, request modification of the conditions of detention of an accused.
3. As is clear from the wording of the Rule, the facilities in which an accused shall be detained upon transfer to the seat of the Tribunal are to be provided by the host country or another country. If an accused is to be housed in a facility other than the United Nations Detention Unit, then that other facility must be one provided by the host country, or the other country to which the accused seeks to be detained.3 The accused has failed to establish that the authorities of BiH have provided the facility as is required under the Rule. The Rule does not permit an accused to be detained in a private dwelling solely nominated by the accused himself.
4. As the Rule does not permit the modification of conditions of detention requested by Ljubicic, his Request is dismissed.
Done in English and French, the English text being authoritative.
Dated this 23rd day of November 2005,
At The Hague,
The Netherlands.
_____________________
Judge Fausto Pocar
President
[Seal of the Tribunal]