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
Decision of:
14 March 2005
PROSECUTOR
v.
VOJISLAV SESELJ
_________________________________________
DECISION ON REQUEST FOR ORDER TO THE REGISTRY
(Submission Number 74)
_________________________________________
Counsel for the Prosecutor:
Ms. Hildegard Uertz-Retzlaff
Mr. Ulrich Mussemeyer
Mr. Daniel Saxon
The Accused:
Mr. Vojislav Seselj
Standby counsel:
Mr. Tjarda Eduard van der Spoel
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 SEISED OF the "Request of the Accused for the Trial Chamber to Issue an Order to Bar the Registry From Preventing or Obstructing Dr Vojislav Seselj in the Preparation of his Defence"1 ("Motion"), filed by Vojislav Šešelj ("Accused") on 21 February 2005, wherein he requests an order to the Registrar and the Commander of the United Nations Detention Unit to give authorisation allowing the Accused "to be visited by Aleksandar Vucic, a member of the Expert Team assisting him in the preparation of his defence, on the premises of the Detention Unit to provide conditions free of any official monitoring to allow Dr Vojislav Seselj and Aleksandar Vucic to speak to each other, to allow the conveyance of all the necessary instructions pertaining to the preparation and production of the film that Dr Vojislav Seselj intends to use as part of the defence he will present";
NOTING the "Prosecution’s Response to ‘Request of the Accused for the Trial Chamber to Issue an Order to Bar the Registry From Preventing or Obstructing Dr Vojislav Seselj in the Preparation of his Defence’ filed confidentially and ex parte on 1 March 2005 ("Response");
NOTING the letter dated 7 December 2004 addressed to the Accused from the Office of Legal Aid and Detention Matters ("OLAD"), a section of the Registry ("Letter of 7 December"), in which the Accused is informed that he may have up to three persons as legal associates who would be granted privileged communication, similar to that an accused has with counsel, provided that these legal associates meet certain minimum requirements2;
NOTING the letter dated 15 January 2005 addressed to the Accused from OLAD ("Letter of 15 January"), which denied the visit of Mr. Aleksandar Vucic and held that Aleksandar Vucic is firstly not recognised as his legal associate and secondly that he is not among the two representatives from the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) which the Accused has chosen to receive and in addition, the Accused was further reminded of the content of the Letter of 7 December;
NOTING that no reason has been given by the Accused why the preparation and production of the film that he intends to use as part of his defence cannot be equally carried out using the services of someone else than Mr. Vucic;
CONSIDERING that according to Regulation 35 of "Regulations to Govern the Supervision of Visits to and Communications With Detainees" ("Regulations")3, a detainee may request the President of the Tribunal to reverse any decision of the Registrar taken under paragraphs A and B of Regulation 33 of the Regulations, which includes the decision of the Registrar to refuse a visit;
CONSIDERING HOWEVER that the issue before the Trial Chamber is not that regulated by Regulation 35, but the issue of whether the Accused’s rights to prepare his defence are being respected or not;
CONSIDERING that the Registry in the Letter of 7 December
2004 and again in the Letter of
15 January 2005 explicitly informed the Accused that he may
have up to three persons with whom he may have privileged communication;
FINDING that the Accused has not been barred from preparing his defence and that it rests upon him to arrange the practicalities and submit the necessary documentation in order to have the three persons he wishes and who can be accepted by the Registry to assist him granted privileged communication;
FOR THE FOREGOING REASONS
PURSUANT TO Rule 73 of the Rules, HEREBY DENIES the Motion, and
INVITES the Accused to submit the necessary documentation to the Registry.
Done in English and French, the English version being authoritative.
Dated this fourteenth day of March 2005,
At The Hague,
The Netherlands
____________________
Judge Carmel Agius
Presiding
[Seal of the Tribunal]
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