BEFORE THE TRIAL CHAMBER

Before:
Judge Liu Daqun, Presiding
Judge Maureen Harding Clark
Judge Fatoumata Diarra

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Order of:
29 October 2001

PROSECUTOR

v.

MLADEN NALETILIC aka "TUTA"
and
VINKO MARTINOVIC aka "STELA"

___________________________________________________________

ORDER WITH REGARD TO ORAL MOTION OF DEFENCE COUNSEL TO ACCOMPANY THE ACCUSED TO MEDICAL EXAMINATION

___________________________________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor:

Mr. Kenneth Scott

Counsel for the Accused:

Mr. Kresimir Krsnik, for Mladen Naletilic
Mr. Branko Seric, for Vinko Martinovic

 

TRIAL CHAMBER I, SECTION A ("the 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 Tribunal"):

NOTING the Defence "Request For Alternative Trial Schedule Due To Accused Medical Condition and Defence Counsel’s Schedule", dated 24 September 2001;

NOTING "The Martinovic Defence Joinder In Co-Accused Mladen Naletilic’s Request for Alternative Trial Schedule", dated 26 September 2001;

NOTING the "Prosecutor’s Response To Defence Request For Alternative Trial Schedule Due To Accused Medical Condition and Defence Counsel’s Schedule; And Motion For An Alternative Trial Schedule", dated 2 October 2001;

NOTING the Chamber’s "Order Relating To Defence’s Request For Alternative Trial Schedule Due To Accused Medical Condition" ("the Order") whereby the Chamber requested the Registry to make the necessary arrangement for an independent medical expert of the Department of Cardiology from the Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, to conduct a medical examination of the accused Mladen Naletilic with regard to his physical capability to sit certain court schedules as set out in the Order ("the medical examination");

NOTING that the medical examination of the accused, as requested by the Order, has been scheduled to be conducted on 1 November 2001 at the Medical Centre of the University of Amsterdam1;

NOTING the oral motion of counsel for Mladen Naletilic to accompany his client to the examination and to talk to the doctors, dated 23 October 20012 ("the oral motion");

NOTING that the Chamber reserved its decision with regard to this oral motion until further consultation with the Registry3;

CONSIDERING that the Order requests the medical examination to be performed by an independent medical expert who is ordered to provide his independent medical opinion about Mladen Naletilic’s physical ability to sit certain court schedules to the Chamber;

CONSIDERING that the Order, by using the term "independent", requests that the medical examination shall be conducted without participation and interference of any of the parties;

FURTHER CONSIDERING that the Chamber cannot reasonably exclude the possibility that the presence of counsel for Mladen Naletilic during the medical examination and the direct contact of counsel with the examining physician(s) may interfere with this independent performance of the examination and evaluation of the state of health of his client;

HEREBY

  1. Rejects the oral motion of counsel for Mladen Naletilic to accompany his client to the physical examination on 1 November 2001 in Amsterdam and to speak to the examining physicians.
  2. Orders counsel for Mladen Naletilic not to speak to or otherwise contact the medical expert or experts involved in the medical examination before their report has been received by the Chamber.

 

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

Dated this twenty-ninth day of October 2001,
At The Hague,
The Netherlands

__________________________________
Judge Liu Daqun
Presiding Judge

[Seal of the Tribunal]


1. Transcript p. 4382 (English version).
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.