Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia, Prosecutor v. Milosevic, Decision on Third Prosecution Motion for Protective Measures for Sensitive Sourse Witnesses Testifying During the Croatia Phase of the Trial, IT-02-54 (ICTY TC, Sep. 30, 2002)

Case No.: IT-02-54-T

IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER

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

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Order of:
30 September 2002

PROSECUTOR
v.
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC

_________________________________________________

DECISION ON THIRD PROSECUTION MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE MEASURES FOR SENSITIVE SOURCE WITNESSES TESTIFYING DURING THE CROATIA PHASE OF THE TRIAL

_________________________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor

Ms. Carla Del Ponte
Mr. Geoffrey Nice
Mr. Dermot Groome

The Accused

Slobodan Milosevic

Amici Curiae

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

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 confidential and ex parte "Third Prosecution’s Motion for Protective Measures for Sensitive Source Witnesses Testifying During the Croatia Phase of the Trial " filed on 17 September 2002 ("the Third Motion"), in which the Prosecution seeks the protective measure of closed session testimony for two witnesses, C-028 and C-039, and attaches reasons for the request as well as declarations by a Prosecution investigator,

NOTING the confidential "Decision on Prosecution Motion for Protective Measures for Sensitive Source Witnesses Testifying During the Croatia Phase of the Trial " issued by the Trial Chamber on 17 September 2002 ("the Decision"), in which the Trial Chamber granted the protective measure of facial distortion to six Prosecution witnesses (C-001, C-031, C-032, C-034, C-035 and C-043) and denied the protective measure of closed session testimony for two Prosecution witnesses (C-037 and C-060),

NOTING that the legal basis upon which a decision will be made concerning trial related protective measures, and in particular the protective measure of closed session testimony, is set out in the Decision and before that in the Trial Chamber’s "Decision on Prosecution Motion for Protective Measures for Sensitive Source Witnesses Testifying During the Croatia Phase of the Trial " issued on 30 July 2002,

NOTING that the two witnesses identified in the Third Motion will give crucial evidence concerning high level members of the alleged joint criminal enterprise and the conflict in Croatia,

CONSIDERING that the witness identified as C-028 has been the subject of attempts to physically harm or murder that witness and that the witness’s circumstances render the individual particularly vulnerable,

CONSIDERING HOWEVER that the circumstances of the witness identified as C-039 do not, in the Trial Chamber’s view, justify the extraordinary protective measure of closed session testimony,

PURSUANT TO Rules 75 and 79 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence

HEREBY ORDERS:

That the witness identified in the Motion as C-028 will be permitted to testify in closed session;

Edited records and transcripts of the closed session testimony of C-028 may be released to the public and to the media by Order of the Trial Chamber after review by the Prosecution in consultation with the Victims and Witnesses Section; and

That the application by C-039 for the protective measure of closed session protection is rejected.

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

__________________
Richard May
Presiding

Dated this thirtieth day of September 2002
At The Hague
The Netherlands

[Seal of the Tribunal]

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