IN TRIAL CHAMBER II

Before: Judge David Hunt, Pre-Trial Judge

Registrar: Mrs Dorothee de Sampayo Garrido-Nijgh

Decision of: 22 August 2000

PROSECUTOR

v

Radoslav BRÐANIN & Momir TALIC

 ______________________________________________________

DECISION ON MOTION BY RADOSLAV BRÐANIN
FOR ACCESS TO CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS

______________________________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor:

Ms Joanna Korner
Ms Anna Richterova
Ms Ann Sutherland

Counsel for Accused:

Mr John Ackerman for Radoslav Brdanin
Maître Xavier de Roux and Maître Michel Pitron for Momir Talic

 

1. Both Radoslav Brdanin ("Brdanin”) and Momir Talic (“Talic”) have been charged with various offences arising out of their alleged involvement in a plan in 1992 to effect "ethnic cleansing" of the proposed new Serbian Territory in Bosnia and Herzegovina (the area now known as "Republika Srpska") by removing nearly all of the Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat populations from the areas claimed for that territory, specifically in the Autonomous Region of Krajina.

2. On 12 July 2000, Talic filed a motion seeking access to certain confidential material relating to four other cases which have been, or are, before this Tribunal and which also arose out of events which were, or are, alleged to have occurred in the same area during the same period of time. The motion was opposed by the prosecution. On 31 July, a decision was given, holding that:

(i) Talic was not bound to rely upon the prosecution’s compliance with its obligations under Rules 66(A) and 68 of the Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence,

(ii) it was reasonable to say that there is a good chance that the transcripts and exhibits relating to other cases within the Tribunal arising out of events alleged to have occurred in the same area and at the same time as those with which the present case is concerned will materially assist him in his case, but

(iii) this Trial Chamber nevertheless had no jurisdiction to grant access to that material, as it was for the Trial Chambers which imposed the protective measures in those cases whether they should be varied in favour of Talic.

3. At the same time, and in accordance with Rule 75(D), the Registrar was invited to transfer the motion by Talic:

(i) to the President to deal with the variations sought to the protective measures ordered in The Prosecutor v Tadic and in The Prosecutor v Kovacevic;

(ii) to Trial Chamber I to deal with the variations sought to the protective measures ordered in The Prosecutor v Kvocka; and

(iii) to Trial Chamber III to deal with the variations sought to the protective measures ordered in The Prosecutor v Sikirica et al.

4. On 1 August, Brdanin filed a motion to join in the Talic Motion. There has been no Response filed by the prosecution to the Brdanin Motion.

5. This was a sensible proposal by Brdanin, but unfortunately it was made too late. The best course to follow is to treat the Brdanin Motion as one seeking the same relief as that sought in the Talic Motion, and to treat it in the same way. Since then, however, Trial Chamber III has already dealt with the Talic Motion so far as it concerns the case of The Prosecutor v Sikirica et al. The Trial Chamber noted that the only confidential material in that case (which is still in the pre-trial stage) consisted of hearings in closed session concerning matters personal to the accused such as the conditions of detention, it considered that these would not be “of significant value” to Talic in the preparation of his case, and therefore it denied the Talic Motion so far as that case was concerned.

6. Accordingly, and again in accordance with Rule 75(D), I INVITE the Registrar to transfer the Brdanin Motion:

(i) to the President to deal with the variations sought to the protective measures ordered in The Prosecutor v Tadic and in The Prosecutor v Kovacevic; and

(ii) to Trial Chamber I to deal with the variations sought to the protective measures ordered in The Prosecutor v Kvocka.

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

 

Dated this 22nd day of August 2000,
At The Hague,
The Netherlands.

________________________
Judge David Hunt
Pre-Trial Judge

[Seal of the Tribunal]