On 19 February 2004, Trial Chamber II, composed of Judge Schomburg (Presiding), Judge Mumba and Judge Agius, ordered that a new sentencing hearing be held in the case The Prosecutor v. Miroslav Deronjic.

The hearing is scheduled to take place in Courtroom II on Friday 5 March 2004 from 9 a.m. till 7 p.m. and provisionally on 8 March 2004 from 9 a.m. till 7 p.m.

Background

On 30 September 2003, the Accused pleaded guilty to Count One of the second amended Indictment: persecutions on political, racial, and religious grounds as a crime against humanity.

On 28 January 2004 Trial Chamber II entered a finding of guilt for the accused ‘in relation to both the second amended Indictment and additional factual basis, and after having received clarifications during his statement in the present case on 27 and 28 January 2004’.

According to the Order ‘during deliberations held immediately after the sentencing hearing, the Trial Chamber revisited the Accused’s statement and compared it with the second amended Indictment and the additional factual basis’. As a result, the Trial Chamber ‘identified discrepancies that prompted the Trial Chamber to again examine all previous statements of the Accused’.

Furthermore, Trial Chamber II noted that ‘having in all detail reviewed the second amended Indictment, the additional factual basis, the Accused’s Statement, his prior statements given to the Office of the Prosecutor, his testimonies in relation to the events in Glogova given in the Prosecutor v. Momir Nikolic, Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstic, Prosecutor v. Slobodan Milosevic, and Prosecutor v. Blagojevic et al., and in particular his witness statement of 25 November 2003, it appears on a prima facie basis that there are in fact material discrepancies that make it incumbent on the Trial Chamber to verify that the guilty plea of the Accused can still be considered unequivocal and in fulfilment of the prerequisites of Rule 62 bis of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence’.

The Trial Chamber also noted that ‘the Accused has testified in the meantime in The Prosecutor v. Krajisnik’, and has ordered that the Prosecution ‘produce the entire transcripts of the Accused’s testimony in the Krajisnik trial no later than Wednesday, 25 February 2004, by 12 p.m.’ in order to verify if there is anything in the Accused’s testimony that relates to the events in Glogova.