WorldCourts: International Case Law Database   International Case Law Database
50,000+ decisions · 50+ institutions
 
     
 
" " Brcko, Prosecutor v. Jelisic, Decision on the Prosecutor's Motion for Leave to Amend the Indictment, IT-95-10 (ICTY TC, May. 12, 1998)

IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER

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

Registrar:
Mrs. Dorothee de Sampayo Garrido-Nijgh

Decision of:
12 May 1998

THE PROSECUTOR

v.

GORAN JELISIC
RANKO CESIC

_________________________________________________

DECISION ON THE PROSECUTION MOTION FOR LEAVE TO AMEND THE INDICTMENT

_________________________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor:

Justice Louise Arbour
Mr. Terree Bowers
Mr. Vladimir Tochilovsky

Defence Counsel:

Mr. Igor Pantelic

 

THE TRIAL CHAMBER,

CONSIDERING the Motion for leave to amend the indictment (hereinafter "the Motion") filed by the Prosecution on 3 March 1998 to which is attached a draft amended indictment,

PURSUANT to Article 21 of the Statute of the Tribunal,

PURSUANT to Rules 47, 50, 53 bis and 73 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence (hereinafter "the Rules"),

PURSUANT to Article 9(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966,

CONSIDERING the need for the proper administration of justice and the requirement of a fair and expeditious trial,

CONSIDERING the possibility of amending indictments generally granted to the Prosecution in national legal systems following civil and common law traditions,

CONSIDERING the fact that the amendment requested by the Prosecutor is the withdrawal of the counts relating to the classification of crimes under Article 2 of the Statue of the Tribunal; that, at the initial appearance, the Prosecutor indicated that, in order to expedite the conduct of the trial, she did not intend to provide proof relating to the international character of the conflict (Transcript of the hearing of 26 January 1998, provisional French version, page 35, lines 8 to 10),

CONSIDERING therefore that the right of the accused to be informed as quickly as possible of the charges brought against him at the date of his arrest would not be affected insofar as there will be no additional charges,

CONSIDERING that the burden of proof falls on the Prosecution, under the supervision of the Trial Chamber; that, in the case in point, given the fact that the Prosecutor is maintaining the counts of crimes against humanity and genocide for all the same acts ascribed to the accused, it is possible to grant the Motion without prejudicing the prosecution of the crimes allegedly committed under the circumstances described in the indictment,

FOR THE FOREGOING REASONS,

AUTHORISES the Prosecutor to amend the indictment within the limits specified in the Motion,

DECIDES to admit the draft amended indictment as presented by the Prosecution in the annex of its Motion,

REQUESTS that the Registrar serve the amended indictment on the accused in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Rules,

STATES that since the amendment involves only the withdrawal of some of the counts, the proceedings initiated thus far must follow their normal course with no need to grant additional time for the preparation of the defence of the accused.

 

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

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

Done this twelfth day of May 1998
At The Hague
The Netherlands

   

Home | Terms & Conditions | About

Copyright © 1999- WorldCourts. All rights reserved.