Case No. IT-03-67-PT
IN TRIAL CHAMBER II
Before:
Judge Carmel Agius, Presiding
Judge Jean Claude Antonetti
Judge Kevin Parker
Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis
Order of:
26 August 2005
PROSECUTOR
v.
VOJISLAV SESELJ
_________________________________________________
DECISION ON THE ACCUSED’S SUBMISSION NUMBER 72
_________________________________________________
The Office of the Prosecutor:
Ms. Hildegard Uertz-Retzlaff
Mr. Ulrich Mussemeyer
Mr. Daniel Saxon
The Accused:
Vojislav Seselj
Standby Counsel:
Mr. Tjarda Eduard van der Spoel
TRIAL CHAMBER II ("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 ("Tribunal");
BEING SEISED of the "Submission Number 72", dated 17 January 2005 and filed on behalf of Vojislav Seselj ("Accused") on 6 July 2005 ("Request to Reply"),1 in which the Accused requested that he be permitted to submit a reply to the "Prosecution’s Response to the Accused’s Request to Grant Certification for an Interlocutory Appeal Against Trial Chamber Decision Related to an Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice" filed on 13 January 2005 ("Response");2
CONSIDERING that Rule 126 bis of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence ("Rules") states that a reply to a response, if any, requires leave of the relevant Chamber;
NOTING that the Prosecution has not filed any submissions related to the Request to Reply;
NOTING the "Decision on the Accused’s Requests for an Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice" filed on 16 December 2004 ("Impugned Decision"), in which the Trial Chamber rejected the requests of the Accused to the Trial Chamber to seek, through the Security Council or the General Assembly of the United Nations, an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the lawfulness of the establishment of the Tribunal;
NOTING the "Decision on Request for Certification to Appeal (Submission Number 69)" filed on 28 February 2005 ("Decision Denying Request for Certification to Appeal") in which the Trial Chamber denied the request of the Accused dated 5 January 2005 for certification to appeal the Impugned Decision pursuant to Rule 73 of the Rules;
CONSIDERING that the Request to Reply is moot, owing to no fault of the Accused, but because the Decision Denying Request for Certification to Appeal to which it relates has already been decided;
CONSIDERING that the Accused would not suffer any prejudice if the Request to Reply is not allowed since the Trial Chamber did not see fit to consider the Prosecution’s Response in the Decision Denying Request for Certification to Appeal at any rate;
FOR THE FOREGOING REASONS
PURSUANT TO Rules 54 and 126 bis of the Rules, HEREBY REJECTS the Request to Reply.
Done in English and French, the English version being authoritative.
Dated this twenty-sixth day of August 2005,
At The Hague
The Netherlands
________________________
Judge Carmel Agius
Presiding
[Seal of the Tribunal]