BEFORE THE APPEALS CHAMBER

Before:
Judge Mohamed Bennouna, Presiding
Judge Lal Chand Vohrah
Judge Rafael Nieto-Navia
Judge Patricia Wald
Judge Fausto Pocar

Registrar:
Mrs. Dorothee de Sampayo Garrido-Nijgh

Order of:
18 April 2000

PROSECUTOR

v.

ZORAN KUPRESKIC
MIRJAN KUPRESKIC
VLATKO KUPRESKIC
DRAGO JOSIPOVIC
VLADIMIR SANTIC

_______________________________________________________

ORDER GRANTING EXTENSION OF TIME
AND SCHEDULING ORDER

_______________________________________________________

Counsel for the Prosecutor:

Mr. Upawansa Yapa

Counsel for the Defence:

Mr. Ranko Radovic, Mr. Tomislav Pasaric for Zoran Kupreskic
Ms. Jadranka Slokovic-Glumac, Ms. Desanka Vranjican for Mirjan Kupreskic
Mr. Borislav Krajina, Mr. Zelimir Par for Vlatko Kupreskic
Mr. Luko Susak, Ms. Goranka Herljevic for Drago Josipovic
Mr. Petar Pavkovic, Mr. Mirko Vrdoljak for Vladimir Santic

 

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 ("the International Tribunal"),

BEING SEIZED OF "The Request of the Counsels of Zoran and Mirjan Kupreškic and Frago Jospovic for the Prolongation of the Appeal Period of the Verdict from 14.1.2000”, filed 17 March 2000 (“the First Defence Motion”), seeking to extend the deadline for filing an appellate brief to 120 days after receiving a copy of the judgement in the Croatian language on the grounds: (1) that they should have 90 days from the date the judgement is received in the Croatian language to prepare their briefs and (2) that they need an additional 30 days to investigate new documents recently released by the Croatian government;

BEING SEIZED OF "The Request of the Counsel of Vladimir Šantic for the Enlargement of Time Limit for the Appeal Against the Judgement of 14 January 2000", filed 23 March 2000 ("the Second Defence Motion"), seeking to extend the deadline for filing an appellate brief to 120 days after receiving a copy of the judgement in the Croatian language on the grounds: (1) that he should have 90 days from the date the judgement is received in the Croatian language to prepare his briefs and (2) that he needs an additional 30 days to investigate new documents recently released by the Croatian government;

BEING SEIZED OF the "Confidential Request for the Extension of the Time Limit for the Appeal Against the Judgement of 14 January 2000, in the Case of the Accused Vlatko Kupreškic", filed 27 March 2000 ("the Third Defence Motion"), seeking to extend the deadline to 26 June 2000 to enable the accused to familiarise himself with the Judgement in Croatian, and an additional extension for the inspection of documents to run 60 days from the date those documents are received from the Croatian Government, even if that is after 26 June 2000;

NOTING the "Prosecution Response to the Defence Requests for an Extension of Time Filed on 17 March 2000 and 23 March 2000 and Motion for a Scheduling Order", filed 27 March 2000 ("the First Response and Motion") in which it submits that the Appeals Chamber should decline to grant the requested extension and issue a scheduling order specifying a common date by which all of the Appellants’ Briefs are due in this case;

NOTING the "Prosecution Response to the Confidential Defence Request for an Extension of Time filed on 27 March 2000", filed 29 March 2000 ("the Second Response"); in which it submits that the Appeals Chamber should decline to grant the requested extension;

NOTING the “Reply of the Counsels of Zoran Kupreškic, Mirjan Kupreškic and Drago Josipovic considering the Objection of the Prosecutor to the Counsel’s Proposal for Prolongation of the Term for Explanation of the Appeal", filed 31 March 2000;

NOTING the “Petition of the Counsel of Zoran Kupreškic, Mirjan Kupreškic and Drago Josipovic”, filed 14 April 2000;

NOTING that the Judgement was rendered on 14 January 2000;

NOTING that Notices of Appeal were filed pursuant to Rule 108 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Tribunal (“the Rules”) by Vladimir Šantic on 24 January 2000, by Drago Josipovic on 26 January 2000, by Vlatko Kupreškic on 26 January 2000, by Zoran Kupreškic on 27 January 2000, by Mirjan Kupreškic on 28 January 2000 and by the Office of the Prosecutor on 31 January 2000;

CONSIDERING that Rule 111 of the Rules provides that the ninety-day period for the filing of appellants’ briefs shall run from the date that the notice of appeal is filed;

CONSIDERING that Rule 127 of the Rules provides that the Appeals Chamber may for good cause enlarge or reduce any time prescribed by the Rules;

CONSIDERING that according to sub-Rule 98ter(D) of the Rules a "copy of the judgement and of the Judges’ opinions in a language which the accused understands shall as soon as possible be served on the accused if in custody";

CONSIDERING that a translated version of the Judgement into the language of the accused was not filed with the Registry until 3 April 2000;

CONSIDERING that, while the time limit under Rule 111 is based on the date the notice of appeal is filed and not on the date on which the accused receives the Judgement in his own language, sub-Rule 98ter(D) contemplates that the accused will receive a translation as soon as possible;

CONSIDERING that it is in the interests of justice to allow an accused adequate time to read the judgement and consult with counsel before filing his Appellant’s Brief;

CONSIDERING therefore that there is good cause for extending the deadline to allow the accused and their counsel some additional time to review the Judgement in their own language;

CONSIDERING that the accused have not shown a need for further additional time to review the documents they seek from the Croatian government, and that Rule 115 provides that a motion to present new evidence to the Appeals Chamber may be filed up until fifteen days before the date of the hearing;

HEREBY ORDERS that the deadline for filing the Appellants’ Briefs under Rule 111 for all parties shall be extended to 2 June 2000;

AND FURTHER ORDERS that a Status Conference pursuant to Rule 65bis of the Rules shall be held on 17 May 2000 at 4:15 p.m.

 

Done in both English and French, the English text being authoritative.

________________________________
Judge Mohamed Bennouna
Presiding

Dated this 18th day of April 2000
At The Hague,
The Netherlands.

[Seal of the Tribunal]