Case No. IT-01-42/2-I

Prosecutor v. Vladimir Kovacevic

Case No. IT-94-2-A

Prosecutor v. Dragan Nikolic

DECISION

THE DEPUTY REGISTRAR,

NOTING the Statute of the Tribunal as adopted by the Security Council under Resolution 827 (1993), and in particular Article 21 thereof;

NOTING the Rules of Procedure and Evidence as adopted by the Tribunal on 11 February 1994, as subsequently amended, and in particular Rules 44 and 45 thereof;

NOTING the Directive on Assignment of Defence Counsel, as adopted by the Tribunal on 28 July 1994, as subsequently amended ("Directive"), and in particular Articles 6, 11 and 19 thereof;

NOTING the Code of Professional Conduct for Counsel Appearing Before the International Tribunal (IT/125 REV.1) ("Code of Conduct"), and in particular Article 9 thereof;

NOTING the Registrar’s decision of 4 September 2000, by which Mr. Howard Morrison, attorney at law from Leicestershire, was assigned as counsel for the accused Dragan Nikolic;

NOTING the Deputy Registrar’s decision of 31 October 2003, by which Mr. Morrison was assigned as counsel for the accused Vladimir Kovacevic;

NOTING the Deputy Registrar’s decisions of 11 September 2002 and of 20 November 2003, by which Ms. Tanja Radosavljevic, attorney at law from Belgrade, was assigned as co-counsel for the accused Nikolic and for the accused Kovacevic respectively;

CONSIDERING that on 29 November 2004, Mr. Morrison informed the Registry that he had to discontinue his work as defence counsel because he had been appointed Judge in the United Kingdom effective as of 8 December 2004, and requested to be withdrawn as counsel from the Nikolic and Kovacevic cases;

CONSIDERING that under Article 9(B) of the Code of Conduct counsel may request the withdrawal of his representation of a client if inter alia, such "withdrawal can be accomplished without material adverse effect on the interests of the client";

CONSIDERING that the accused Nikolic and Kovacevic have been informed of Mr. Morrison’s request for withdrawal and they both agreed, on 3 and 7 December 2004 respectively, to be represented by Ms. Radosavljevic for the remainder of the proceedings in their respective case;

CONSIDERING that Ms. Radosavljevic has assured the Registry that she is willing and prepared to continue representing Mr. Nikolic and Mr. Kovacevic in the event the assignment of Mr. Morrison is withdrawn;

NOTING that the Kovacevic case is at the early stages of pre-trial and the appeals judgment in the Nikoli} case is scheduled to be issued on 4 February 2005;

CONSIDERING that, in view of the current stage of the proceedings in the two cases, the Registry is satisfied that Mr. Morrison’s withdrawal will not cause any material adverse effect on the interests of the accused;

DECIDES pursuant to Article 19(A) of the Directive, to withdraw Mr. Howard Morrison as counsel for the accused Dragan Nikolic and Vladimir Kovacevic as of 8 December 2004;

DECIDES further that Ms. Tanja Radosavljevic shall continue to represent the accused Dragan Nikolic and Vladimir Kovacevic.

_______________
John Hocking
Deputy Registrar

Dated this third day of February 2005
at The Hague,
The Netherlands.