Case: IT-98-29-T

TRIAL CHAMBER I Section B ("the 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 Tribunal");

NOTING the Motion for Judgement of Acquittal dated 2 September 2002 ("the Motion");

CONSIDERING that, having the Prosecution case been completed on 2 August 2002, it is consistent with a proper administration of justice to prepare the potential Defence case, without prejudice to the final decision of the Chamber on the Motion;

NOTING that the Defence submitted a provisional list of witnesses and exhibits on 2 August 2002; that another list of witnesses was filed on a strictly confidential basis on 27 August 2002 where, as requested by the Chamber, the names, status of potential witnesses as well as a rough indication of the object of their testimony was provided ("the Provisional List of Witnesses");

NOTING that, according to the Provisional List of Witnesses, the Defence would need more than 300 hours to examine all the witnesses it intends to call;

NOTING that the Chamber indicated in court that it will not grant to the Defence more than 170 hours, which was the time used by the Prosecution for the presentation of its case;

CONSIDERING that it belongs to the inherent power of the Chamber to control proceedings, to set out a time limit for the presentation of the Defence case; that such time limit might later be reconsidered in case of unforeseen circumstances, or should the Defence show that it causes an injustice;

CONSIDERING that it appears from the Provisional List of Witnesses that the Defence intends to seek protective measures for some witnesses; that no application has yet been filed on the matter;

NOTING that part of the documents presented by the Defence as potential exhibits have not yet been disclosed to the Prosecution; that the Defence triggered the reciprocal disclosure enshrined in Rule 66 (B) and Rule 67(C) ; that the Chamber should be kept informed of the parties’ compliance with their disclosure obligations;

NOTING that an index that lists all potential exhibits into ten categories is attached to the provisional exhibits list;

CONSIDERING that all documents to be tendered should be translated into one of the official languages of the Tribunal; that the Chamber needs to be informed of the status of the translation of the documents that the Defence intends to tender and the efforts made to obtain timely translation;

FOR THE FOREGOING REASONS,

PURSUANT to Rule 54, 65 ter, 73 ter and 84 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence ("the Rules");

REQUIRES the Defence to submit a second provisional list of witnesses by 19 September 2002, in which the following information would appear:

1. the name of each witness;
2. a summary of the facts on which each witness will testify; the summary should indicate, among others, the status/ function of each witness, his/her rank if a military and, when applicable, the neighbourhoods of Sarajevo, time periods and specific incident(s) or combat(s) he/she will testify about; the summary should also indicate if the testimony is supposed to corroborate (an)other witness(es)’ testimony and if so, specify the witness(es) concerned;
3. the points of the indictment as to which each witness will testify;
4. the total number of witnesses;
5. an indication of whether the witness will testify in person and in court, via video link, or pursuant to Rule 92 bis by way of written statement ;
6. the estimated length of time required for each witness and the total time estimated for the presentation of the defence case, which may not exceed 170 hours;
7. The witnesses should be listed in different categories such as those used by the Defence in the Provisional List of Witnesses and listed, within each category, by order of importance for the Defence case;
8. the List of Witnesses should be filed on a confidential basis if the Defence intends to later seek protective measures for some witnesses.

REQUIRES the Defence to file requests for protective measures by 25 September 2002;

REQUIRES the Defence to file a second provisional list of exhibits by 19 September 2002, stating, where possible, whether the Prosecution has objections as to authenticity, and in which each of the ten categories listed in the index would clearly appear as separate headings in the exhibit list;

REQUIRES the Defence to submit a detailed written report of the efforts made to obtain timely translation of the documents and, in case the Defence would foresee difficulty in obtaining all the translations on time, to submit a list of exhibits that need to be translated in priority, notably in view of the date they’re expected to be tendered;

INVITES the Defence to contact the Registry in order to pre-number the potential exhibits;

SET the Chamber’s schedule as follows:

1. Hearing, on 20 September, at 14:15 hours in Courtroom III, in order to hear the parties’ respective summary arguments regarding the Motion for judgement of acquittal; as a guidance for the parties, the Chamber hereby informs them that it intends to grant one hour to the Defence to present its arguments and 30 minutes to the Prosecution to respond;

II) Status Conference, the same date and immediately following the hearing, where, among others, the parties should stand ready to address the following matters:

1. time for the presentation of the Defence case;
2. translation of exhibits;
3. disclosure matters;
4. date when the expert reports will be ready for submission;
5. whether the Defence will make an opening statement and if so, its approximate length.

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

Done this twelfth day of September 2002
At The Hague,
The Netherlands.

______________________
Alphons Orie
Presiding Judge, Trial Chamber

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