Case No. IT-98-32/1-PT
Prosecutor v. Sredoje Lukić

DECISION

THE DEPUTY REGISTRAR,

NOTING the Statute of the Tribunal as adopted by the Security Council under Resolution 827 (1993), and in particular Article 21 thereof;

NOTING the Rules of Procedure and Evidence as adopted by the Tribunal on 11 February 1994, as subsequently amended (“Rules”), and in particular Rules 44 and 45 thereof;

NOTING the Directive on Assignment of Defence Counsel as adopted by the Tribunal on 28 July 1994, as subsequently amended (“Directive”), and in particular Articles 14 and 16 thereof;

NOTING the Code of Professional Conduct for Counsel Appearing Before the International Tribunal (IT/125 REV.1) (“Code of Conduct”);

CONSIDERING that Mr Sredoje Lukić (“Accused”) was transferred to the seat of the Tribunal on 16 September 2005, and that his initial appearance was held on 20 September 2005;

CONSIDERING that on 19 September 2005, pursuant to Article 7 of the Directive, the Accused applied for legal aid and requested the assignment of Mr Stevo Bezbradica, attorney at law from Australia, as his counsel;

CONSIDERING however that Mr Bezbradica was not in The Hague, and as such, was not able to appear for the Accused at the initial appearance;

CONSIDERING that on 20 September 2005, pursuant to Rule 62(B) of the Rules, the Registrar assigned Ms Chrissa Loukas as duty-counsel to represent the Accused at his initial appearance, and in such other matters as necessary until the assignment of permanent counsel;

CONSIDERING that on 30 September 2005, the Registrar assigned Mr Stevo Bezbradica as counsel to the Accused for a period of 120 days pursuant to Article 11(B) of the Directive;

CONSIDERING that on 10 November 2005, the Accused submitted a written request for the withdrawal of Mr Bezbradica and the assignment of Mr Ðuro Čepić as his counsel on the ground that, inter alia, he be represented by a counsel based in the Former Yugoslavia who could continue representing him before a national court in the event that his case is referred under Rule 11bis of the Rules;

CONSIDERING that on 16 December 2005, pursuant to Article 20(A)(i) and (E), the Registrar replaced Mr Bezbradica by Mr Čepić as counsel for the Accused;

CONSIDERING that on 19 July 2006 Mr Čepić requested the assignment of Mr Jens Dieckmann, attorney at law from Germany, as his co-counsel;

CONSIDERING that Mr Dieckmann is on the Registry’s list of counsel eligible for assignment to indigent suspects and accused and has agreed to be assigned as co-counsel;

CONSIDERING that the assignment of a co-counsel in this case is in the interest of justice;

HEREBY DECIDES to assign Mr Dieckmann as co-counsel to the Accused, effective as of the date of this decision.

John Hocking
Deputy Registrar

Dated this 21th day of July 2006
At The Hague,
The Netherlands.