IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER

Before:
Judge Almiro Rodrigues, Presiding
Judge Fouad Riad
Judge Patricia Wald

Registrar:
Mrs. Dorothee de Sampayo Garrido-Nijgh

Decision of:
12 December 2000

THE PROSECUTOR

v.

RADISLAV KRSTIC


ORDER FOR A WITNESS TO APPEAR


The Office of the Prosecutor:

Mr. Mark Harmon
Mr. Tomislav Visnjic

Defence Counsel:

Mr. Nenad Petrusic

 

TRIAL CHAMBER I (hereinafter "the 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 (hereinafter "the Tribunal");

PURSUANT to Articles 20, 22 and 29 of the Statute and Rules 54, 75, 90 and 98 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the Tribunal (hereinafter "the Rules");

CONSIDERING that Rule 98 of the Rules expressly provides that "[a] Trial Chamber may order either party to produce additional evidence" and "may proprio motu summon witnesses and order their attendance";

CONSIDERING that, having reached this stage of the proceedings and having heard the main Prosecution and Defence witnesses, the Trial Chamber considers that, in order to establish the truth about the crimes ascribed to the accused, it is imperative to summon a witness able to provide the Trial Chamber with more specific information as to the presence and role of the 28th Division of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina just before, during and just after the attack upon it by the Serbian forces in July 1995 and as to the column of persons seeking to leave the Srebrenica enclave at the time of the attack including: its composition, the arms carried by it, the experiences of the column in military terms and, in particular, the possible meeting up with an operation conducted by the Bosnian forces from Tuzla (and more generally from the territories controlled by these forces), the possible breakthroughs made by the column and the number of people concerned, the losses suffered by the column, the moments (as exact as possible) at which the authorities and the population became aware of the capture and, then, the execution or sudden disappearance of members of the column, and, generally, the circumstances surrounding the seizure of the Srebrenica enclave as lived through by the Bosnian Muslim civilian and military authorities at the time of the facts;

CONSIDERING that, for this purpose, it seems appropriate to request the co-operation of the authorities of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina in order to obtain the appearance of those individuals best placed to meet the expectations of the Trial Chamber; that the Trial Chamber wishes high-ranking representatives from the military authorities, notably General Halilovic, to appear;

CONSIDERING that the Trial Chamber is mindful of the need, where applicable, to protect the witnesses with a view to their appearance before the Tribunal; that, in this regard, it falls to the witness to request all appropriate measures and to justify the need therefor;

FOR THE FOREGOING REASONS

ORDERS General Halilovic to appear before the Trial Chamber on 1 February 2001 to be heard there as a witness (hereinafter "the Witness") and CALLS UPON the competent authorities of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina to take all measures for the appearance of the Witness;

STATES that should the Witness wish to be granted assistance or protective measures, he shall so request the Registrar of the Tribunal within fifteen days of the filing of this decision and in any case as soon as he is able, and that where need be the Registrar shall address the Trial Chamber in order to take the necessary decisions;

INVITES the Registrar of the Tribunal, in concert with the Victims and Witnesses Section when applicable, to take all the measures necessary to guarantee that the Witness appears;

ORDERS the Prosecution, the Defence and the authorities of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina to co-operate fully with the Registrar of the Tribunal so as to guarantee the appearance of the Witness and to provide her with all the information appropriate to that end;

ORDERS the Prosecution and the Defence to provide to the Trial Chamber, under seal and ex parte, all statements made by the Witness or all documents in their possession produced or annotated by him relating to the indictment within 15 days of the filing of this decision;

INVITES the Registrar to provide a copy of the amended indictment to the Witness;

STATES that the Witness shall first make a spontaneous statement and that, although he may use notes, he may not read out a pre-drafted statement; and INVITES the Witness to note that his spontaneous statement should not last longer than two hours insofar as is possible and that each party shall then have approximately one hour to put their questions;

ORDERS that the scope of the questions put by the Prosecutor and the Defence be limited to the scope of the Witness’ initial statement with the Trial Chamber reserving the right to rule on any possible dispute in this connection;

AUTHORISES the Witness to inform the Judges when the information sought is totally or partially confidential;

INVITES the Registrar to transmit a copy of this decision to the Embassy of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina as soon as is practicable and, if necessary, to all authorities in a position to facilitate the appearance of the Witness;

 

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

Done this twelfth day of December 2000
At The Hague
The Netherlands

(signed)
_______________
Almiro Rodrigues
Presiding Judge