Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia, Prosecutor v. Milosevic, Provisional Order on Prosecution Application Concerning Disclosure of a Book Pursuant to Rule 66 (A) (I), IT-02-54 (ICTY TC, Feb. 07, 2002)

IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER

Before:
Judge Richard May, Presiding
Judge Patrick Robinson
Judge O-Gon Kwon

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Order of:
7 February 2002

PROSECUTOR

SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC

_________________________________________________

PROVISIONAL ORDER ON PROSECUTION APPLICATION CONCERNING DISCLOSURE OF A BOOK PURSUANT TO RULE 66 (A)(i)

_________________________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor

Ms. Carla Del Ponte
Ms. Hildegard Uertz-Retzlaff
Mr. Geoffrey Nice
Mr. Dermot Groome

The Accused

Slobodan Milosevic

Amici Curiae

Mr. Steven Kay, QC
Mr. Branislav Tapuskovic
Prof. Mischa Wladimiroff

I, RICHARD MAY, PRE-TRIAL JUDGE IN THE PROCEEDINGS BEFORE 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 "Prosecution Motion for Permission to Disclose Material Discoverable Pursuant to Rule 66(A)(i) in English", filed by the Office of the Prosecutor ("Prosecution") on 4 February 2002 ("the Motion"), in which the Prosecution seeks to be deemed to have complied with its obligation to disclose a book¹ which formed part of the Confirmation Materials for indictment number IT-01-51-PT² by disclosing the book to the accused in English,

CONSIDERING that the Prosecution is required under Rule 66 (A)(i) to make available to the accused in a language he understands, within 30 days of the initial appearance, copies of the supporting material that accompanied the indictment, which material included the book,

NOTING that the date for such disclosure was 10 January 2002 and that the Prosecution disclosed to the accused a copy of the book on 9 January 2002 in English,

NOTING that the Prosecution accepts that the order sought would be an exception not in any way reducing the translation requirements born by the Prosecution, but argues that the order sought should be granted because:

(1) the book is not available in the BCS language and the task of translating the book would require the Conference and Languages Services Section of the International Tribunal to expend considerable resources and expense;

(2) the book is comprised largely of captions, place names and pictures (rather than continuous text) which the accused is able to understand; and

(3) the accused has repeatedly demonstrated his command of the English language and not disclosing the book to the accused in the BCS language will not impede the right and full opportunity for him to prepare his defence,

CONSIDERING that the Trial Chamber is not in a position to determine the substance of the assertions made by the Prosecution with respect to the contents of the book and the extent to which the accused might be in a position to prepare a defence to the material contained in the book without reviewing its contents,

PURSUANT TO RULES 54 and 66 (A)(i) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Tribunal

HEREBY ORDER that the Prosecution provides to the Trial Chamber as soon as practicable a copy of the book and remains seized of the Motion.

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

__________________
Richard May
Pre-Trial Judge

Dated this Seventh day of February 2002

At The Hague
The Netherlands

[Seal of the Tribunal]

1. The book, from the Croatia Information Centre, is entitled "Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina - Sacral Institutions on Target; Deliberate Military Destruction of the Sacral Institutions in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina" (hereafter "the book").
2. This case number is now merged with the other Prosecutor v. Milosevic cases to be Case No. IT-02-54-PT.