IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER

Before:
Judge Richard May, Presiding
Judge Mohamed Bennouna
Judge Patrick Robinson

Registrar:
Mrs. Dorothee de Sampayo Garrido-Nijgh

Decision of:
22 September 2000

PROSECUTOR

v.

DUSKO SIKIRICA
DAMIR DOSEN
DRAGAN KOLUNDŽIJA

___________________________________________________________

DECISION ON DEFENCE MOTION
FOR PRODUCTION OF MATERIALS BY WITNESS

____________________________________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor:

Mr. Dirk Ryneveld
Mr. Daryl Mundis
Ms. Julia Baly

Counsel for the Accused:

Mr. Veselin Londrovic, for Dusko Sikirica
Mr. Vladimir Petrovic, for Damir Dosen
Mr. Dušan Vucicevic, for Dragan Kolundžija

 

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"),

BEING SEISED of a "Defence Motion for Production of all Statemetns, Reports, Summaries, Articles and Books Witness Greve Used to Rely in Expert Testimony" filed on 7 August 2000 ("the Motion") and the response filed by the Office of the Prosecutor ("Prosecution") on 18 August 2000,

NOTING THAT the Defence seeks (a) production of an up to date curriculum vitae for the Prosecution witness Sophie Hanne Greve; (b) English-language translations of the witness’s publications; (c) reports of humanitarian missions of the United Nations in which the witness participated; (d) notes and transcripts of conferences with other members of the United Nations Commission of Experts established pursuant to resolution 780 (1992) ("the Commission of Experts"); and (e) the unredacted statements of witnesses interviewed by the witness in preparation of the Report of the Commission of Experts,

NOTING THAT the Prosecution objects to the production of such materials,

NOTING THAT the Prosecution has listed Sophie Hanne Greve as a proposed expert witness and has agreed that, if the witness is called to testify, the witness shall bring with her any English-language versions of her publications which she may have,

CONSIDERING THAT a number of similar issues were raised by the same defence counsel in respect of the same witness in the case of Prosecutor v. Milan Kovacevic,

CONSIDERING THAT the publications of expert witnesses are to be considered as public property and need not be disclosed, but that it seems desirable for a recent curriculum vitae to be provided in respect of an expert witness by the party wishing to call the expert,

CONSIDERING FURTHER THAT, as noted by the Trial Chamber in Prosecutor v. Milan Kovacevic, "the report of the witness and the evidentiary value of the underlying witness statements upon which such report is based is analogous to the report of a historian reviewing and commenting upon supporting materials, and that the statements are, consequently, irrelevant",

CONSIDERING THAT, without prejudice to any right to confidentiality that may attach to such materials, the same reasoning applies to the reports of humanitarian missions of the United Nations in which the witness participated; and to the notes and transcripts of conferences with other members of the Commission of Experts,

PURSUANT TO Rule 54 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Tribunal ("the Rules")

HEREBY GRANTS the Request in part, REJECTS it in part and ORDERS as follows:

  1. the Prosecution shall immediately provide the Defence for each accused with a current curriculum vitae for the expert witness Sophie Hanne Greve;

  2. if the expert witness Sophie Hanne Greve testifies in this case, the Prosecution shall provide to the Defence for each accused copies of such of her publications in the English language as she may be able to locate and produce at the time she testifies;

  3. the expert is not required to disclose reports of humanitarian missions of the United Nations in which the witness participated;

  4. the expert is not required to disclose notes and transcripts of conferences with other members of the United Nations Commission of Experts; and

  5. the expert is not required to disclose the statements of witnesses interviewed in preparation of the report of the Commission of Experts.

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

 

_________________________________
Richard May
Presiding

Dated this twenty-second day of September 2000
At The Hague
The Netherlands

[Seal of the Tribunal]