Case No. IT-95-13/1-PT

Prosecutor v. Veselin Sljivancanin

DECISION

THE DEPUTY REGISTRAR,

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

CONSIDERING the Rules of Procedure and Evidence (hereinafter "the Rules") as adopted by the Tribunal on 11 February 1994, as subsequently amended, and in particular Rules 44 and 45 thereof;

CONSIDERING the Directive on Assignment of Defence Counsel (hereinafter "the Directive"), as adopted by the Tribunal on 28 July 1994, as subsequently amended, and in particular, Articles 8, 10 and 11(A) (ii) and 18 thereof;

CONSIDERING that on 7 July 2003, Mr. Veselin Sljivancanin (hereinafter "the Accused") submitted a Declaration of Means to the Registry, claiming legal aid on the basis that he did not have sufficient means to remunerate counsel;

CONSIDERING that on 23 September 2003, the Accused requested that Mr. Novak Lukić, attorney at law from Belgrade, be assigned as his counsel;

CONSIDERING that on the same date, Mr. Lukić requested that Mr. Momcilo Bulatovic, attorney at law from Belgrade, be assigned as co-counsel to the Accused;

NOTING the decisions of the Registrar dated 29 September 2003 temporarily assigning Mr. Lukic as lead counsel and Mr. Bulatovic as co-counsel to the Accused for a period of 60 days pending the determination of the Accused’s financial status, and the decision of the Deputy Registrar dated 8 December 2003 extending these assignments until 31 January 2004;

CONSIDERING the information provided by the Accused in his Declaration of Means and the evidence gathered by the Registry by means of inquiry pursuant to Article 10 of the Directive;

NOTING that the Accused owns an 88.93-square meter apartment in Belgrade, situated on Brehova Street 1, valued at 52,000 dinars per square meter or $82,094 US in total, according to the tax authorities of Serbia and Montenegro;

CONSIDERING however, that the Registry Investigator found the apartment to be in poor condition, the Registrar deems it reasonable to decrease the above value by 20% to $65,675 US for the purposes of determining the ability of the Accused to remunerate counsel;

CONSIDERING that the Accused inherited one-half of a 39-square meter house and a 400-square meter adjacent land in Zabljak, Montenegro from the Accused’s late father, evaluated by the Commission for the Appraisal of Real Estate in Zabljak at €1,640 ($1,948 US), and that the Accused’s share is estimated by the Registry at $974 US;

NOTING further that the Accused’s daughter Olja Sljivancanin owns a 1990 Toyota Corolla, evaluated by the Accused at €1,000;

CONSIDERING however, that in view of the low value of the vehicle and the fact that it is driven by the Accused’s daughter in her personal everyday use, it is reasonable to exclude the value of the car from the assessment of the Accused’s financial status for the purposes of granting legal aid;

CONSIDERING further that the Accused’s average monthly pension in 2002 was 17,331.50 dinars ($308 US), based on information of the Social Insurance Bureau of Serbia and Montenegro;

CONSIDERING that the wife of the Accused Persa Sljivancanin is employed by the Joint Stock Company "Vrenje" in Belgrade, and receives an average monthly salary of 15,676 dinars ($278 US) according to information provided by the company;

CONSIDERING that the average monthly expenditures of a four-person household in Serbia and Montenegro in November 2003, based on the official documents published by Serbia and Montenegro Statistical Office, is $448 US;

CONSIDERING further that the Accused’s daughter is a student whose monthly tuition is 32,000 dinars ($47 US), which must be added to the Accused’s household monthly expenditures;

CONSIDERING that, based on the information presented, the Registrar has found that the Accused has means to remunerate counsel partially;

CONSIDERING the right of the Accused to an effective defence before the International Tribunal as per Article 21 of the Tribunal;

DECIDES without prejudice to Article 18 of the Directive, to confirm the assignment of Mr. Lukic as lead counsel to the Accused and the assignment of Mr. Bulatovic as co-counsel under the conditions laid down in the decision of his assignment dated 29 September 2003;

DECIDES in light of the foregoing and in accordance with Article 11(A)(ii) of the Directive, that the Accused shall bear the cost of 202 hours of investigative and legal support work performed during the pre-trial stage of the proceedings, and that these hours shall be deducted from the allotment of hours provided by the Registry for support staff work under the current legal aid payment system of the Tribunal;

DECIDES further, that with the exception of the Accused’s contribution, the expenses referred to in Article 22(B) and 27 of the Directive shall be borne by the Tribunal.

_________
David Tolbert
Deputy Registrar

Dated this thirtieth day of January 2004
At The Hague
The Netherlands