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The Vice-President 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 ("International Tribunal"),

EXERCISING the functions of the President of the International Tribunal in her absence pursuant to Rule 21 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence ("Rules");

NOTING the appeal brought by the Defence on 8 July 1998 under Sub-Rule 19 (B) of the Rules concerning the ruling said to be made by Trial Chamber II bis on 7 July 1998 that only the lead counsel and the co-counsel, of the legal defence team, should be permitted to be heard during the trial ("appeal");

NOTING that that Sub-Rule provides as follows:

The President may from time to time, and in consultation with the Bureau, the Registrar and the Prosecutor, issue Practice Directions, consistent with the Statute and the Rules, addressing detailed aspects of the conduct of proceedings before the Tribunal.

CONSIDERING that the competence thereby conferred on the President to issue Practice Directions addressing detailed aspects of the conduct of proceedings before the International Tribunal does not include competence to entertain an appeal from a ruling in a case;

HEREBY DECIDES that there is no jurisdiction to entertain the appeal.

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

Mohamed Shahabuddeen

Vice-President

Dated this fourteenth day of July 1998,

At The Hague,

The Netherlands.

[Seal of the Tribunal]