| Press Release |
REFERRAL BENCH
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| (Exclusively for the use of the media. Not an official document) |
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The Hague, 17 November 2006
CVO/MOW/1127e
Vladimir Kovacevic Case Referred To Serbia
The Tribunal's Referral Bench today ordered that the case of Vladimir Kovacevic be referred to the authorities of the Republic of Serbia, who will in turn refer the case to the appropriate court for trial. This is the first case referred by the Tribunal to Serbia in accordance with Rule 11 bis of the Tribunal's Rules.
The Referral Bench ordered the Prosecution to hand over to the Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia the material supporting the Indictment against the Accused, and all other appropriate evidence within 30 days. In addition, the Prosecution has to file an initial report to the Referral Bench on the progress made by the Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia in the prosecution of Kovacevic six weeks after the transfer of the evidentiary material and thereafter every three months.
Prosecution is to continue its efforts to ensure the monitoring and reporting on the proceedings of this case before the competent national court in Serbia in accordance with the agreement it has with OSCE, which will conduct the monitoring.
The judges further ordered that the existing protective measures for witnesses remain in force.
Kovacevic was provisionally released to Serbia in June 2004. In April 2006 the Tribunal found him unfit to enter a plea or stand trial. The Referral Bench concluded today that mechanisms exist in Serbia for the ongoing monitoring of Kovacevic's health and resumption of proceedings against him should he become fit to stand trial.
The ICTY has to date transferred nine accused to Bosnia and Herzegovina for trial and referred one case involving two accused to Croatia. On 14 November 2006 the Court of BiH pronounced its judgement against Radovan Stankovic, first accused referred by the ICTY to a national court, guilty on four counts of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to 16 years' imprisonment.
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The full text of the Decision is available on the Tribunal's website
http://www.un.org/icty/kovacevic-v/trialc/decision-e/061117e.pdf
Courtroom proceedings can be followed on the Tribunal's website www.un.org/icty.
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International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
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