Order to File Submissions on Effect of Operative Indictment in Rule 11bis Referral of the Case Against the Accused Savo Todovic

Case No.: IT-97-25/1-PT

IN THE REFERRAL BENCH

Before:
Judge Alphons Orie, Presiding
Judge Kevin Parker
Judge O-Gon Kwon

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Order of:
27 April 2006

PROSECUTOR

SAVO TODOVIC
MITAR RASEVIC

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ORDER TO FILE SUBMISSIONS ON EFFECT OF OPERATIVE INDICTMENT IN RULE 11bis REFERRAL OF THE CASE AGAINST THE ACCUSED SAVO TODOVIC

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The Office of the Prosecutor:

Ms. Susan L. Somers

Counsel for the Accused:

Mr. Aleksandar Lazarevic for Savo Todovic
Mr. Vladimir Domazet for Mitar Rasevic

THE REFERRAL BENCH 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 SEIZED of the “Motion by The Prosecutor under Rule 11bis with Annexes I, II, III and Confidential Annexes IV, V, and VI” filed 1 November 2004 in the case against the Accused Savo Todovic (“Accused”) (“Todovic Motion for Referral”), and the “Motion by The Prosecutor under Rule 11bis with Annexes I and II and Confidential Annexes III and IV” filed 4 November 2004 in the case against the Accused Mitar Rasevic (“Rasevic Motion for Referral”);

NOTING the “Decision on Referral of Case under Rule 11bis with Confidential Annexes I and II” rendered by the Referral Bench and filed partly confidentially on 8 July 2005 (“Referral Bench Decision”), in which the Referral Bench, pursuant to Rule 11bis of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence (“Rules”), ordered the case of Prosecutor v. Mitar Rasevic and Savo Todovic to be referred to the authorities of the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina, so that those authorities should forthwith refer the case to the appropriate court for trial within Bosnia and Herzegovina;

NOTING the “Decision on Rule 11bis Referral” rendered by the Appeals Chamber on 23 February 2006 (“Appeals Chamber Decision”), in which the Appeals Chamber:

quashed the Referral Bench Decision with respect to the Accused Savo Todovic,

remitted the matter to the Referral Bench for further consideration consistent with the Appeals Chamber Decision,

directed the Referral Bench to defer issuance of any further decision on referral of this case pursuant to Rule 11bis of the Rules until the Trial Chamber seized of the Accused’s Defence Preliminary Motion on the Form of the Joint Amended Indictment (“Motion on the Form of the Joint Amended Indictment”) renders a decision, and

suspended the execution of the Referral Bench’s Decision with respect to the Accused Mitar Rasevic until a decision on the Motion on the Form of the Joint Amended Indictment has been rendered and a decision confirming the operative indictment is issued;

NOTING the “Decision on Savo Todovic’s Defence Preliminary Motion on the Form of the Joint Amended Indictment” rendered by the Trial Chamber on 21 March 2006 (“Trial Chamber Decision”), in which the Trial Chamber issued several orders to the Office of the Prosecutor (“Prosecution”) with respect to the form of the Joint Amended Indictment;

NOTING, thereafter, the “Prosecution’s Submission of Second Joint Amended Indictment with Annex A and Confidential Annex B”, filed on 24 March 2006, in which the Prosecution requested that the “Second Joint Amended Indictment” be adopted as the operative indictment;

NOTING the “Order on Operative Indictment” subsequently issued by the Trial Chamber on 7 April 2006 (“Order on Operative Indictment”), in which the Trial Chamber ordered that the Second Joint Amended Indictment shall be the operative indictment (“Operative Indictment”) in the case against the Accused Savo Todovic and Mitar Rasevic;

CONSIDERING that the Referral Bench shall further consider the Todovic Motion for Referral in light of the Operative Indictment;

FOR THE FOREGOING REASONS,

PURSUANT to Rules 11bis of the Rules;

ORDERS the parties to the case against the Accused Savo Todovic to file a submission by no later than 11 May 2006 addressing what, if any, effect the Operative Indictment should have on the conclusions reached by the Referral Bench with respect to the gravity of the crimes charged and the level of responsibility of the Accused Savo Todovic and with respect to the consideration of referral to Bosnia and Herzegovina as set forth in the Referral Bench Decision.

Done in both English and French, the English text being authoritative.

Done this twenty-seventh day of April 2006
At The Hague,
The Netherlands

_________________________
Judge Alphons Orie
Presiding

[Seal of the Tribunal]