Case No. IT-00-39-T

Prosecutor v. Momcilo Krajisnik

DECISION

THE 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 14, 16(C) and 19(A) thereof;

NOTING the Code of Professional Conduct for Counsel Appearing Before the International Tribunal ("Code of Conduct");

CONSIDERING that on 30 July 2003, the Registrar assigned Mr Nicholas Stewart, a Queen’s Counsel from the United Kingdom, as lead counsel to Momčilo Krajišnik ("Accused");

CONSIDERING that at the request of Mr Stewart, the Registrar assigned Ms Chrissa Loukas, a Barrister from New South Wales, as Mr Stewart’s co-counsel on 16 September 2003;

CONSIDERING that both Mr Stewart and Ms Loukas have requested that Ms Loukas’ assignment be withdrawn pursuant to Article 19(A)(ii) of the Directive and have requested that she be replaced by Mr David Josse, a Barrister from the United Kingdom;

CONSIDERING that Mr Josse is on the Tribunal’s list of counsel eligible for assignment to indigent suspects or accused and that he has indicated his willingness to be assigned as co-counsel;

CONSIDERING that Mr Josse has been working on the Krajišnik case as a legal consultant since early May 2005 and that both he and Mr Stewart have certified that he is sufficiently familiar with the case to replace Ms Loukas without prejudice being caused to the Accused;

CONSIDERING that having reviewed the submissions of Mr Stewart and Ms Loukas, the Registry is of the view that it is in the interests of justice to withdraw Ms Loukas and to replace her with Mr Josse;

CONSIDERING that on 25 May 2005, the Accused informed the Registrar that he wished to represent himself in future proceedings;

CONSIDERING that the Chamber has not yet ruled on Accused’s election on self-representation and has stated that until it does so, the Accused remains represented by counsel;

CONSIDERING THEREFORE that the Accused’s election on self-representation can have no bearing on the request for change of co-counsel at this stage;

HEREBY DECIDES to withdraw the assignment of Ms Loukas and to assign Mr Josse and co-counsel to Mr Stewart, effective as of the date of this decision;

DIRECTS Ms Loukas to hand over any case-related materials received during her assignment to Mr Stewart in accordance with her duty under Article 9(D) of the Code of Conduct.

Hans Holthuis
Registrar

Dated this twenty-second day of July 2005
At The Hague,
The Netherlands.