Case No. IT-03-67-PT

IN TRIAL CHAMBER II

Before:
Judge Wolfgang Schomburg, Presiding
Judge Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba
Judge Carmel A. Agius

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Order of:
30 September 2003

 

 

PROSECUTOR

v.

VOJISLAV SESELJ

___________________________

DECISION ON MOTION NUMBER 19

___________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor:

Ms. Hildegaard Uertz-Retzlaff
Mr. Daniel Saxon

The Accused:

Vojislav Seselj

Standby counsel:

Mr. Aleksandar Lazarevic

 

THIS TRIAL 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 Motion Number 19 ("Motion"), filed by the Accused on 27 August 2003, as far as the issues raised in the Motion fall within the Trial Chamber’s authority to decide upon,

NOTING the "Prosecution’s Response to the Accused’s 'Motion Number 19'", ("Response"), filed by the Prosecution on 12 September 2003,

NOTING that the first issue raised by the Accused relates to the fact that he seeks contact with an Orthodox Christian priest "to confess of sin" and for this purpose wishes to be visited by Bishop Filaret of Milesevo,

CONSIDERING that the Accused is entitled access to a representative of his own religion, and that this right is also laid down in Rule 68 and following of the Rules Governing the Detention of Persons Awaiting Trial or Appeal Before the Tribunal Or Otherwise Detained on the Authority of the Tribunal,

CONSIDERING that this right is not an unlimited one and certainly does not encompass the right of an accused to select himself the representative of the Orthodox Christian Church, but rather that he is entitled to establish contacts with "the ministers or spiritual advisers of the host prison" as regulated by the relevant Rules,

NOTING that the second issue raised by the Accused relates to the contacts the Accused wants to establish with his "legal advisors" Maja Gojkovic and Slavko Jerkovic, and in particular to the fact that he was "forbidden from handing over any documents to my legal advisors",

CONSIDERING that the Accused wants to appoint Maja Gojkovic as his legal advisor and Slavko Jerkovic as his legal assistant,

CONSIDERING that both in the Decision on Prosecution’s Motion for Order Appointing Counsel to Assist Vojislav Seselj with his Defence and at the Status Conference of 3 July 2003, the Accused was informed that, if the accused were to seek a recognized relationship between the Accused as a client and the named persons as lawyers entitled to e.g. the lawyer-client privilege as foreseen in Rule 97 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence ("Rules"), the named persons are to follow the procedure for appointment as laid down in Rule 44(A),

CONSIDERING that, without such a procedure having been followed, the Accused is not entitled to disclose any non-public material to the named persons,

CONSIDERING that it is primarily for the Registrar to decide upon appointment of counsel pursuant to the Rules,

NOTING that the third issue raised by the Accused relates to the use of transcripts and video tapes,

CONSIDERING that the Accused at present does not make use of English transcripts and will be provided video tapes of the proceedings,

CONSIDERING that as long as this situation continues, the Accused will be allowed (a) to refer to the exact time indications that can be taken from the video tapes or (b) to quote directly from the tapes, while the Trial Chamber reserves its right to reverse this decision,

NOTING that the remaining issues raised by the Accused in the Motion do not fall within the authority of this Chamber to decide upon or to address,

HEREBY partly grants the third issue raised by the Accused, in that he will be allowed to refer to exact time indications taken from video tapes or to quote directly from them, and denies the remainder of the three issues raised by the Accused in this Motion.

 

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

Dated this thirtieth day of September 2003
At The Hague
The Netherlands

________________
Judge Wolfgang Schomburg
Presiding

[Seal of the Tribunal]