Tuta and Stela, Prosecutor v. Naletilic et al., Decision on the Admission of Exhibits Tendered Through Witness NV, IT-98-34 (ICTY TC, Oct. 04, 2002)

Case No.: IT-98-34-T

BEFORE TRIAL CHAMBER I SECTION A

Before:
Judge Liu Daqun, Presiding
Judge Maureen Harding Clark
Judge Fatoumata Diarra

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Decision of:
4 October 2002

PROSECUTOR
v.
MLADEN NALETILIC aka "TUTA"
and
VINKO MARTINOVIC aka "STELA"

___________________________________________________________

DECISION ON THE ADMISSION OF EXHIBITS TENDERED THROUGH WITNESS NV

___________________________________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor:

Mr. Kenneth Scott

Counsel for the Accused:

Mr. Kresimir Krsnik, for Mladen Naletilic
Mr. Branko Seric, for Vinko Martinovic

TRIAL CHAMBER I, SECTION A ("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"),

BEING SEISED OF the following submissions:

"Prosecutor’s Submission of Cross-examination Exhibits Concerning Witness NV", filed confidentially on 2 September 2002 ("the Submission");

"Accused Naletilic’s Submission Concerning Documents Tendered Through Cross-examination of ‘NV’", filed on 9 September 2002;

NOTING that the Prosecution put forward the list of the exhibits submitted through the testimony of Witness NV that it seeks to have admitted; that the Naletilic Defence has filed its objections to the said exhibits;

CONSIDERING that in principle, exhibits should be submitted through a witness;

CONSIDERING that, pursuant to Rule 89 (C) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence ("the Rules"), "[a] Chamber may admit any relevant evidence which it deems to have probative value";

CONSIDERING that the Appeals Chamber has held that "[t]here is no legal basis … that proof of authenticity is a separate threshold requirement for the admissibility of documentary evidence";¹

CONSIDERING, however, that in accordance with the jurisprudence of the Tribunal, it is required that the evidence presents "sufficient indicia of reliability";²

CONSIDERING that the party conducting the direct examination of a witness must lay the source of the document it wishes to submit through the witness, in order for that document to meet the required degree of reliability;

CONSIDERING that the party conducting the cross-examination of a witness must lay the background and the source of the documents it wishes to submit through the witness, in order to allow the witness to recognise or reject the document;

CONSIDERING furthermore that the mere admission of a document does not necessarily mean that the document gives an accurate portrayal of the facts;³

RECALLING that the decision to authorise the admission of a document is without prejudice to the value or weight which will be accorded to the document at the final stage of the trial;

NOTING that Exhibits P559.2; P587.2 and P670 were previously admitted into evidence;

NOTING that Exhibits P497.1 and P566.3 were not submitted during the testimony of NV;

NOTING that another document previously admitted into evidence bears the identification number P524.3; that accordingly, the Registry has renumbered the exhibit listed under this number in the Submission as exhibit P524.03;

NOTING that another document previously admitted into evidence bears the identification number P565.3; that accordingly, the Registry has renumbered the exhibit listed under this number in the Submission as exhibit P565.003;

NOTING that exhibit P534.2 does not bear a translation into a language that the accused understands;⁴

FOR THE FOREGOING REASONS,

PURSUANT to Rules 54 and 89 of the Rules,

HEREBY ORDERS, in respect to the exhibits submitted in the course of the testimony of Witness NV,

1. that the following exhibits are admitted:

P157.5; P200.001; P213.1; P216.6; P223.1; P227.1; P297.1; P301.4; P301.5; P302.1; P302.2; P431.2; P492.1; P493.01; P493.02; P493.2; P493.3; P498.1; P498.2; P498.3; P509.3; P524.03; P559.7; P564.3; P565.03; P565.003; P565.6; P566.11; P571.1; P573.2; P583.2; P596.1; P607.11; P607.12; P611.12;

that the following exhibits are denied:

P497.1; P534.2; P566.3;

REMINDS the parties that, unless otherwise ordered, any objection to the list of exhibits submitted by the other party must be filed within seven (7) days of the date of the filing of the said list.

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

Dated this fourth day of October 2002,
At The Hague,
The Netherlands

______________
Judge Liu Daqun
Presiding Judge

[Seal of the Tribunal]

1 - Prosecutor v. Delalic et al., "Decision on Application of Defendant Zejnil Delalic for Leave to Appeal against the Decision of the Trial Chamber of 19 January 1998 for the Admissibility of Evidence", Case No. IT-96-21-AR73.2, 4 March 1998, at para. 25.
2 - Ibid., at para. 17; See also, Prosecutor v. Aleksovki, Decision on Prosecutor's Appeal on Admissibility of Evidence, Case No. IT-95-14/1-A, 16 February 1999; Prosecutor v. Kordic and Cerkez, Decision on Appeal Regarding Statement of a Deceased Witness, Case No. IT-95-14/2-A, 21 July 2000; Prosecutor v. Brdanin and Talic, Order on the Standards Governing the Admission of Evidence, Case No. IT-99-36-T, 15 February 2002, at para. 18.
3 - Ibid.
4 - See Prosecutor v. Martinovic and Naletilic, Decision on Defence's Motion Concerning Translation of All Documents, Case No. IT-98-34-T, 18 October 2001. This decision was clarified by an oral order of the Chamber dated 12 November 2001.

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