Case No. IT-02-65-PT
THE PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL
Before:
Judge Theodor Meron, President
Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis
Order of:
4 October 2004
THE PROSECUTOR
v.
ZELJKO MEJAKIC
MOMCILO GRUBAN
DUSAN FUSTAR
DUSKO KNEZEVIC
______________________________
ORDER TRANSFERRING A MOTION PURSUANT TO RULE 11bis
The Office of the Prosecutor
Ms. Carla Del Ponte, Prosecutor
Counsel for the Defence:
Mr. Jovan Simic and Mr. Zoran Zivanovic
for Zeljko Mejakic
Mr. Branko Lukic for Momcilo
Gruban
Mr. Theodore Scudder and Mr. Dragan Ivetic for
Dusan Fustar
Mrs. Slobodanka Nedić for Dusko Knezevic
1. On 2 September 2004, the Prosecutor filed a motion pursuant to Rule 11bis (A) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence ("Rules") requesting that I appoint a Trial Chamber to review a motion for the purpose of referring this case to the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina.1 In the substantive filing that accompanied the motion, the Prosecution indicated her intention to seek transfer to the Special War Crimes Chamber of the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.2
2. On 22 September 2004, I issued a Preliminary Order in response to the Prosecutor’s request.3 In that Preliminary Order, I asked the Prosecutor to respond to the statements made by Ambassador Bernard Fassier, Senior Deputy High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in a letter of 17 September 2004, that the Special War Crimes Chamber of the Bosnia and Herzegovina State Court would not be operational until January 2005, and that "there will be no possibility to provide before the planned date of January 2005 trials that meet the standards of international due process".4
3. On 29 September 2004, the Prosecutor filed her response to my Preliminary Order.5 In her Response, the Prosecutor states that as it is expected that the Special War Crimes Chamber of the Bosnia and Herzegovina State Court will be operational in January 2005, it is not premature for a Trial Chamber to consider the substantive motion, and there are good reasons of "coherent planning and efficient judicial management, both at the Tribunal and in BiH," for a Trial Chamber doing so.6
4. In light of the Response of the Prosecutor, and the issues she raises I have determined to transfer the Motion to the Trial Chamber constituted in my Order of 4 October 2004.7
Done in English and French, the English text being authoritative.
Dated this 4th day of October 2004,
At The Hague,
The Netherlands.
_____________________
Judge Theodor Meron
President
[Seal of the Tribunal]