Case No. IT-02-63-PT

Prosecutor v. Drago 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 ("Rules"), 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 11(B), 14 and 16(C) thereof;

NOTING the Code of Professional Conduct for Counsel Appearing Before the International Tribunal (IT/125 REV.1);

NOTING that Drago Nikolic ("Accused") was transferred to the seat of the Tribunal on 17 March 2005;

NOTING that on 22 March 2005, pursuant to Rule 45(C) of the Rules, the Deputy Registrar assigned Mr Tjarda Eduard van der Spoel as duty counsel to the Accused for the purposes of his initial appearance and for such other matters as necessary until replacement counsel was assigned;

CONSIDERING that the Accused has applied for the assignment of Tribunal-paid counsel pursuant to Article 8 of the Directive on the basis that he does not have sufficient means to remunerate counsel;

CONSIDERING that the Registry has not yet determined whether or to what extent the Accused is able to remunerate counsel;

CONSIDERING that on 10 May 2005, to ensure that the Accused’s right to counsel is protected while the Registry determines whether he is able to remunerate counsel, the Deputy Registrar assigned Ms Jelena Nikolic, attorney at law from the Serbia and Montenegro, as lead counsel to the Accused for a period of 120 days pursuant to Article 11(B) of the Directive;

CONSIDERING that Ms Nikolic has requested the assignment of Mr Stéphane Bourgon, attorney at law from Canada, as her co-counsel;

CONSIDERING that Mr Bourgon is on the Tribunal’s list of counsel eligible for assignment to indigent suspects and accused, and has indicated his willingness to be assigned as co-counsel in the Accused’s case;

NOTING that Mr Bourgon is currently assigned as co-counsel in The Prosecutor v Enver Hadzihasanovic (IT-01-47-T);

CONSIDERING that Mr Hadzihasanovic and the Accused have consented in writing to Mr Bourgon being assigned as co-counsel in their cases simultaneously as required by Article 16(E)(i) of the Directive;

NOTING that the presentation of the defence case in The Prosecutor v Enver Hadzihasanovic has concluded;

CONSIDERING that the Registry has ascertained that no conflict of interest exists between Mr Bourgon’s representation of Mr Hadzihasanovic and his representation of the Accused;

CONSIDERING that the Registry is of the view that Mr Bourgon’s assignment in both the Hadzihasanovic case and the Accused’s case will not prejudice the defence of either Mr Hadzihasanovic or the Accused;

HEREBY DECIDES to assign Mr Bourgon as co-counsel to Ms Nikolic, effective as of the date of this decision.

 

John Hocking
Deputy Registrar

Dated this 24th day of August 2005
At The Hague,
The Netherlands.