Case No.: IT-04-84-AR65.1

BEFORE THE APPEALS CHAMBER

Before:
Judge Theodor Meron, Presiding
Judge Fausto Pocar
Judge Mohamed Shahabuddeen
Judge Mehmet Güney
Judge Wolfgang Schomburg

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Decision of:
28 October 2005

THE PROSECUTOR

v.

RAMUSH HARADINAJ
IDRIZ BALAJ
LAHI BRAHIMAJ

____________________________________________________________________________

DECISION ON WHETHER THE APPEALS CHAMBER IS SEIZED OF THE PROSECUTION MOTION TO STAY

____________________________________________________________________________

Office of the Prosecutor

Ms. Carla Del Ponte
Mr. Stefan Waespi
Mr. Gilles Dutertre
Mr. Phillippe Vallieres-Roland

Counsel for the Accused:

Mr. Ben Emmerson, Mr. Rodney Dixon, Mr. Conor Gearty, and Mr. Michael O’Reilly for Ramush Haradinaj
Mr. Gregor Guy-Smith for Idriz Balaj
Mr. Richard Harvey for Lahi Brahimaj

 

THE APPEALS 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 ("Appeals Chamber" and "Tribunal", respectively),

BEING SEIZED of the "Prosecution’s Appeal Against ‘Decision on Defence Motion of Ramush Haradinaj to Request Re-Assessment of Conditions of Provisional Release Granted 6 June 2005’", filed on 19 October 2005 ("Prosecution Appeal");

NOTING the "Decision on Ramush Haradinaj’s Motion for Provisional Release", filed on 6 June 2005, in which Trial Chamber II ("Trial Chamber") granted Ramush Haradinaj ("Accused") provisional release;

NOTING the "Decision on Defence Motion on Behalf of Ramush Haradinaj to Request Re-Assessment of Conditions of Provisional Release Granted 6 June 2005", filed on 12 October 2005, in which the Trial Chamber, by a majority, varied the conditions of the Accused’s provisional release, inter alia, to allow the Accused to appear in public and engage in public political activities ("Impugned Decision");

NOTING the "Prosecution Motion to Stay the Decision on Defence Motion of Ramush Haradinaj to Request Re-Assessment of Conditions of Provisional Release Granted 6 June 2005", filed on 13 October 2005 ("Prosecution Motion to Stay");

NOTING the Trial Chamber’s "Order Relating to the Prosecution Motion to Stay the Decision on Defence Motion of Ramush Haradinaj to Request Re-Assessment of Conditions of Provisional Release Granted 6 June 2005", filed on 14 October 2005, in which the Trial Chamber ordered the Accused to file a response to the Prosecution Motion to Stay, and granted a stay of the Impugned Decision "until such time that the Trial Chamber has taken a decision on the [Prosecution] Motion [to Stay]"1;

NOTING the Trial Chamber’s "Interim Decision on Prosecution Motion to Stay the Trial Chamber’s Decision of 12 October 2005 Regarding Conditions of Provisional Release of Ramush Haradinaj", filed on 21 October 2005, in which the Trial Chamber notes that it is seized of the Prosecution Motion to Stay; notes that the Trial Chamber ordered a "provisional stay" of the Impugned Decision; but considers it "more appropriate to leave the matter whether the provisional stay of the [Impugned Decision] should be extended in the hands of the Appeals Chamber"2;

CONSIDERING that it is only properly seized of the Prosecution Appeal, and that it is for the Trial Chamber in the first instance to adjudicate the Prosecution Motion to Stay that has been filed before it;

For the foregoing reasons, HOLDS that it is not seized of the Prosecution Motion to Stay and that it is for the Trial Chamber to dispose of the Prosecution Motion to Stay.

 

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

Done this 28th day of October 2005,
At The Hague,
The Netherlands.

_______________________
Judge Theodor Meron
Presiding Judge

[Seal of the Tribunal]


1. Prosecutor v. Haradinaj et al., Case No. IT-04-84-PT, Order Relating to the Prosecution Motion to Stay the Decision on Defence Motion of Ramush Haradinaj to Request Re-Assessment of Conditions of Provisional Release Granted 6 June 2005, 14 October 2005, p. 3.
2. Prosecutor v. Haradinaj et al., Case No. IT-04-84-PT, Interim Decision on Prosecution Motion to Stay the Trial Chamber’s Decision of 12 October 2005 Regarding Conditions of Provisional Release of Ramush Haradinaj, 21 October 2005, p.3.