Case No. IT-03-67-PT

IN TRIAL CHAMBER II

Before:
Judge Carmel Agius, Presiding
Judge Jean-Claude Antonetti
Judge Kevin Parker

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Order of:
4 February 2004

PROSECUTOR

v.

VOJISLAV SESELJ

_________________________________

DECISION ON PROSECUTION’S REQUEST TO EXCEED THE TEN PAGE LIMIT FOR MOTIONS

_________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor:

Ms. Hildegaard Uertz-Retzlaff
Mr. Ulrich Mussemeyer
Mr. Daniel Saxon

The Accused:

Vojislav Seselj

Standby counsel:

Aleksandar Lazarevic

 

TRIAL CHAMBER II ("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 ("Tribunal"):

BEING SEIZED OF the "Prosecution’s Request to Exceed the Ten Page Limit for Responses to Motions" of 26 January 2004 ("Request");

NOTING the "Objection to the Indictment", submitted by the Accused in B/C/S on 31 December 2003 and officially filed together with the forty-four page English version on 15 January 2004 ("Motion");

NOTING that in the Request, the Prosecution requests the Trial Chamber to "issue an order granting permission to the Prosecution to file a response to the [M]otion not exceeding fifteen pages";

NOTING that paragraph 5 of the "Practice Direction on Length of Briefs and Motions"1 ("Practice Direction") provides that "[m]otions and replies and responses before a Chamber will not exceed 10 pages or 3,000 words, whichever is greater";

NOTING that the Prosecution filed its "Prosecution’s Response to the Accused’s ‘Objection to the Indictment’" comprising fifteen pages2 on 29 January 2004 ("Response") despite not having received a written decision by this Trial Chamber as the Response was due on that date;

CONSIDERING that, under paragraph 7 of the Practice Direction, the Trial Chamber may give authorization to a party to exceed the specified page limit if the party

  1. seeks authorization in advance, and

  2. provides an explanation of the exceptional circumstances that necessitate the oversized filing;

CONSIDERING that the Prosecution in its Request sought an extension of the page limit in advance on the basis that this extension is necessary to respond to the number of complex legal issues raised in the Motion, which itself exceeds the normal page limit as authorized by this Trial Chamber(3);

CONSIDERING that the volume and complexity of the Motion constitute exceptional circumstances that justify an extension of the page limit;

FINDING that there are exceptional circumstances for giving such authorization in this case;

EMPHASISING that this finding is in accordance with the rights of the Accused and the principle of equality of arms;

ACCEPTS the "Prosecution’s Response to the Accused’s ‘Objection to the Indictment’" as having been validly filed in respect of the Accused Vojsilav Seselj with the authorization of the Trial Chamber.

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

Dated this 4th day of February 2004,
At The Hague
The Netherlands

____________
Carmel Agius
Presiding Judge

[Seal of the Tribunal]


1. IT/184/Rev.1, issued on 5 March 2002.
2. The Response contains 6 Annexes, comprising thirty-three pages in total (including cover pages), which is in compliance with paragraph 6 of the Practice Direction: "Any appendix or book of authorities does not count towards the page limit. […] An appendix will be of reasonable length, which is normally three times the page limit for that class of motion or brief".
3. See "Decision on Certification to Appeal and to Extend the Deadline for Filing Certain Preliminary Motions", issued by this Trial Chamber on 18 November 2003 in which the Accused was granted permission "to file a single motion relating to challenges to jurisdiction and defects in the form of the indictment, which should not exceed fifty pages".
   

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