Case No.: IT-95-9-T

IN TRIAL CHAMBER II B

Before:
Judge Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba, Presiding
Judge Armajeet Singh
Judge Sharon Williams

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Decision of:
11 September 2001

PROSECUTOR

v.

BLAGOJE SIMIC
MILAN SIMIC
MIROSLAV TADIC
SIMO ZARIC

______________________________________________

DECISION ON BLAGOJE SIMIC’S MOTION TO EXCLUDE EVIDENCE RELATING TO ACTS COMMITTED BY STEVAN TODOROVIC

______________________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor

Mr. Gramsci Di Fazio
Mr. Phillip Weiner
Ms. Aisleen Reidy

Counsel for the accused

Mr. Igor Pantelic and Mr. Srdjan Vukovic for Blagoje Simic
Mr. Slobodan Zecevic and Ms. Catherine Baen for Milan Simic
Mr. Novak Lukic and Mr. Dragan Krgovic for Miroslav Tadic
Mr. Borislav Pisarevic and Mr. Aleksandar Lazarevic for Simo Zaric

 

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 (the "International Tribunal"),

BEING SEISED of a "Motion of Blagoje Simic to exclude evidence relating to acts committed by Stevan Todorovic" (the "Motion"), filed by counsel for Blagoje Simic (the "Defence") on 3 September 2001, in which the Defence seeks the exclusion of "detailed evidence" of witnesses in relation to acts committed by Stevan Todorovic, as irrelevant and inadmissible,

NOTING the Defence’s arguments in its Motion that (1) evidence of acts perpetrated by Stevan Todorovic is irrelevant in light of his guilty plea which resulted in a Plea Agreement, jointly presented by Todorovic and the Prosecutor, and because Stevan Todorovic is no longer a co-accused in the present trial, (2) the minimal probative value of this sort of evidence is outweighed by the need to secure a fair trial because the admission of evidence of acts of Todorovic could prejudice the Defence, (3) the Trial Chamber could receive relevant evidence by admitting the Plea Agreement and its accompanying document, the Factual Basis,

NOTING the response to the Motion filed by the Office of the Prosecutor (the "Prosecution") on 6 September 2001, which opposes the Motion on the grounds that (1) evidence of the acts committed by Stevan Todorovic is relevant, in that all accused are charged with count 1, persecutions, to which Todorovic pleaded guilty, (2) evidence of the acts committed by Stevan Todorovic is of significant probative value, (3) the Defence has failed to particularise the evidence of Todorovic that should be excluded, and (4) the Defence has failed to demonstrate how the admission of such evidence is substantially outweighed by the requirements of a fair trial,

HAVING HEARD additional oral arguments of the Defence and the Prosecution on 10 September 2001,

NOTING that counsel for the other accused orally joined in the Defence Motion on 10 September 2001,

CONSIDERING that the Motion is concerned with evidence of witnesses in relation to the acts of Stevan Todorovic, and not with the evidence of Stevan Todorovic himself,

CONSIDERING that the Motion fails to identify specific evidence that is sought to be excluded,

CONSIDERING that evidence in relation to acts committed by Stevan Todorovic may be relevant to the charges against the accused in this case, and, therefore, admissible,

PURSUANT TO Rules 73 and 89 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Tribunal,

HEREBY DENIES THE MOTION.

 

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

_____________________________
Judge Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba
Presiding Judge

Dated this eleventh day of September 2001
At The Hague
The Netherlands

[Seal of the Tribunal]

   

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