IN THE APPEALS CHAMBER
Before:
Judge David Hunt, Presiding
Judge Fouad Riad
Judge Wang Tieya
Judge Rafael Nieto-Navia
Judge Mohamed Bennouna
Registrar:
Mrs Dorothee de Sampayo Garrido-Nijgh
Decision of:
17 September 1999
PROSECUTOR
v
Zejnil DELALIC, Zdravko MUCIC (aka PAVO), Hazim DELIC
and Esad LANDZO (aka ZENGA)
______________________________________________________
DECISION ON MOTION TO DISQUALIFY JUDGES PURSUANT TO RULE 15
OR IN THE ALTERNATIVE THAT CERTAIN JUDGES RECUSE THEMSELVES
______________________________________________________
The Office of the Prosecutor:
Mr Upawansa Yapa
Ms Brenda Hollis
Mr Christopher Staker
Mr Norman Farrell
Mr Rodney Dixon
Counsel for the Defence:
Mr John Ackerman, Counsel for Zejnil Delalic
Mr Tomislav Kuzmanovic and Mr Howard Morrison for Zdravko Mucic
Mr Salih Karabdic and Mr Thomas Moran for Hazim Delic
Ms Cynthia Sinatra and Mr Peter Murphy for Esad Lando
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 ("International Tribunal");
BEING SEISED of the "Motion to Disqualify Judges Pursuant to Rule 15 or in the Alternative that Certain Judges Recuse Themselves" filed before the Appeals Chamber on 30 July 1999 by Zdravko Mucic, Hazim Delic and Esad Lando (Motion);
NOTING the "Prosecution Response to Motion to Disqualify Judges pursuant to Rule 15 or in the alternative that Certain Judges Recuse Themselves" filed by the Office of the Prosecutor on 10 August 1999;
NOTING Rule 15(B) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Tribunal ("Rules") which reads in part:
(B) Any party may apply to the Presiding Judge of a Chamber for the disqualification and withdrawal of a Judge of that Chamber from a trial or appeal on the above grounds. The Presiding Judge shall confer with the Judge in question, and if necessary the Bureau shall determine the matter.
CONSIDERING that the subject matter of the Motion is not a matter for the consideration of the Appeals Chamber;
CONSIDERING that the Presiding Judge has treated the Motion as an application to the Presiding Judge under Rule 15(B) ("Application");
CONSIDERING the Referral by the Presiding Judge of the Application to the Bureau on 15 September 1999;
PURSUANT TO Rule 15(B) of the Rules;
HEREBY DENIES the Motion as incompetent.
Done in both English and French, the English text being authoritative.
David Hunt
Presiding Judge
Done this 17th day of September 1999,
At The Hague,
The Netherlands.
[Seal of the Tribunal]