Case No. IT-95-14-R77.3

IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER

Before:
Judge Daqun Liu
Judge Amin El Mahdi
Judge Alphons Orie

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Order of:
15 July 2005

PROSECUTOR

v.

STJEPAN SESELJ
DOMAGOJ MARGETIC

_____________________________________________

ORDER ON APPLICATION FOR THE ISSUANCE OF A PROTECTION ORDER FOR RULE 66(A)(i) DISCLOSURE

_____________________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor:

Mr. David Akerson
Mr. Jason Dominguez

Counsel for the defence:

Mr. Zeljko Olujic for Stjepan Seselj

 

TRIAL CHAMBER 1 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 an "Application for the Issuance of a Protection Order for Rule 66(A)(i) Disclosure" filed confidentially by the Office of the Prosecutor ("Prosecution") on 16 June 2005, in which the Prosecution, "out of an abundance of caution", seeks an Order that 1) specifically authorises the Prosecution to disclose the supporting material which "includes protected witness information", and 2) orders the Defence not to disclose any of the supporting material, including the identity of witnesses contained in the materials, to the public without prior application to this Chamber, on the basis that "the supporting materials contain verbatim statements and/or transcripts as well as witness identities that are still the subject to protection measures from previous ICTY proceedings" ("Application");

NOTING the Decision of 26 April 2005 confirming the Indictment charging Stjepan Seselj and Domagoj Margetic ("the Accused") with contempt of the Tribunal pursuant to Rule 77(A)(ii) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Tribunal ("Rules") whereby upon the Prosecution’s request that there be no public disclosure of the supporting material until further order of the Tribunal, the confirming judge ordered that the supporting material remain under seal until further order of the Tribunal;

CONSIDERING that it is not necessary under the Rules of the Tribunal to seek authorisation to disclose the supporting material accompanying the Indictment to the Accused or to apply before a Chamber for continuance of protective measures already granted in other cases before this Tribunal;

CONSIDERING that the whole of the supporting material is confidential and cannot be disclosed to the public; that however the Accused are entitled for the preparation of their defence to have the parts of the supporting material which are in the public domain, if any, identified from the parts of the supporting material which are confidential;

FOR THE FOREGOING REASONS,

PURSUANT TO Articles 21 and 22 of the Statute of the International Tribunal and Rules 54, 69, 75 and 79 of the Rules;

HEREBY ORDERS as follows:

  1. For the purposes of the present disposition:

    1. The term "public" shall be defined to include all persons, governments, organisations, entities, clients, associations, and groups other than the Judges of the Tribunal and the staff of the Registry (assigned to either Chambers or the Registry), the Prosecutor of the Tribunal and her staff, the accused Stjepan Seselj and Domagoj Margetic, their Defence counsel, legal advisers, legal assistants and other members of the Defence ("Defence"), their agents or representatives. The term "public" specifically includes, without limitation, families, friends and associates of the Accused before the Tribunal and their Defence counsel, and the media and journalists,

    2. The term "Defence" or "The Accused Defence" as designated above, means and includes only the accused Stjepan Seselj and Domagoj Margetic and counsel(s) and their immediate assistant(s) and staff, and others specifically assigned by the Tribunal to the accused’s trial defence teams and specifically identified in a list to be maintained by each lead counsel. Any and all additions and deletions to the initial list in respect of any of the above categories of persons who are necessarily identified and properly involved in the preparation of the defence shall be notified to the Trial Chamber in similar fashion within seven days of such additions or deletions,

    3. The term "media" shall be defined as all video, audio, and print media personnel, including journalists, authors, television and radio personnel, and their agents and representatives,

  2. Upon disclosing material to the Defence under Rules 66(A)(ii) and 68, the Prosecutor shall identify clearly which parts of the disclosed material are already in the public domain and which parts include statements from victims and witnesses that have not been used before in other proceedings of the Tribunal or have been subject to continuing protective measures and are therefore not in the public domain,

  3. Unless directly and specifically necessary for the preparation and presentation of the Defence case, the Defence or the Accused shall not disclose to the public any material disclosed pursuant to Rules 66(A)(i) and 68 (including material that previously covered by Rule 70), that has been identified by the Prosecutor as being in the public domain, including

    1. the identities and whereabouts of witnesses to the extent that these are known to the Defence or the Accused,

    2. any evidence (including documentary, physical or other evidence) or any written statement of a witness or potential witness, or the substance, in whole or in part, of any non-public evidence, statement or prior testimony disclosed to the Defence or the Accused pursuant to Rules 66(A)(ii) and 68 of the Rules,

  4. If the Defence or the Accused find it directly and specifically necessary for the preparation and presentation of the case to disclose protected information to a member of the public, they shall inform each person among the public to whom non-public material or information is shown or disclosed, that that member of the public shall not copy, reproduce or publicise such material or information, in whole or in part, or show or disclose it to any other person and they shall obtain non disclosure agreements from third parties as a precondition for the release of the material to them. If provided with the original or any copy or duplicate of such material, such member of the public shall return it to the Defence when the material is no longer necessary for the preparation and presentation of the Accused’s cases,

  5. If the Defence teams in this case, or a member thereof, withdraw from the case, any confidential or non-public material in their possession shall be returned to the Registry of the Tribunal including all disclosed material and copies thereof which are not included in the public record,

  6. Any breach of this Order shall be dealt with in accordance with Rule 77 of the Rules ("Contempt of the Tribunal").

 

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

__________________________
Judge Daqun Liu
Presiding Judge

Dated this 15th day of July 2005
At The Hague
The Netherlands

[Seal of the Tribunal]