IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER
Before: Judge Richard May, Presiding
Judge Mohamed Bennouna
Judge Patrick Robinson
Registrar: Mrs. Dorothee de Sampayo Garrido-Nijgh
Decision of: 1 March 1999
PROSECUTOR
v.
DARIO KORDIC
MARIO CERKEZ
__________________________________________
DECISION ON JOINT DEFENSE MOTION TO STRIKE ALL COUNTS ARISING UNDER ARTICLE 2 OR ARTICLE 3 FOR FAILURE TO ALLEGE A NEXUS BETWEEN THE CONDUCT AND AN INTERNATIONAL ARMED CONFLICT
__________________________________________
The Office of the Prosecutor
Mr. Geoffrey Nice
Mr. Rodney Dixon
Counsel for the accused
Mr. Mitko Naumovski, Mr. Leo Andreis, Mr. David F. Geneson, Mr. Turner T. Smith, Jr.,
and Ms. Ksenija Turkovic, for Dario Kordic
Mr. Bozidar Kovacic, for Mario Cerkez
THIS 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 ("the International Tribunal"),
BEING SEISED of the "Joint Defense Motion to Strike All Counts Arising Under Article 2 or Article 3 for Failure to Allege a Nexus Between the Conduct and an International Armed Conflict", filed by counsel for the two accused, Dario Kordic and Mario Cerkez (together "the Defence") on 22 January 1999, and the "Prosecutors Response to Joint Defense Motion to Strike All Counts Arising Under Article 2 or Article 3 for Failure to Allege a Nexus Between the Conduct and an International Armed Conflict", filed by the Office of the Prosecutor ("the Prosecution") on 5 February 1999,
NOTING the written submissions of the parties and their oral arguments heard on 16 February 1999,
CONSIDERING that the Indictment meets the requirements of Article 18, paragraph 4, of the Statute of the International Tribunal and Rule 47 (C) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Tribunal, which Rule states that "the Indictment shall set forth the name and particulars of the suspect, and a concise statement of the facts of the case and of the crime with which the suspect is charged",
CONSIDERING that paragraphs 15 and 16 of the Amended Indictment allege a nexus,
CONSIDERING that, in any event, an evaluation of the evidence of a nexus between the alleged conduct of the accused and an international armed conflict is a matter for trial,
PURSUANT TO Rule 72 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Tribunal,
HEREBY DISMISSES THE MOTION.
Done in English and French, the English text being authoritative.
_____________________________
Richard May
Presiding Judge
Dated this first day of March 1999
At The Hague
The Netherlands
[Seal of the Tribunal]