IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER
Before:
Judge Richard May, Presiding
Judge Patrick Robinson
Judge O-Gon Kwon
Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis
Decision of:
9 December 2003
PROSECUTOR
v.
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC
_________________________________________________
DECISION ON PROSECUTION MOTION FOR ADMISSION OF WITNESS DECLARATION OF TORE SOLDAL PURSUANT TO RULE 89 (F)
__________________________________________________
The Office of the Prosecutor
Ms. Carla Del Ponte
Mr. Geoffrey Nice
Mr. Dermot Groome
The Accused
Slobodan Milosevic
Amici Curiae
Mr. Steven Kay, QC
Mr. Branislav Tapuskovic
Prof. Timothy L.H. McCormack
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 a "Prosecution Motion for the Admission of Witness Declaration of Tore Soldal Pursuant to Rule 89 (F)", seeking the admission of the declaration of that witness dated 20 August 2003 under Rule 89 (F) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Tribunal ("Rules"),
NOTING Rule 89 (F), which provides as follows: "A Chamber may receive the evidence of a witness orally or, where interests of justice allow, in written form",
NOTING the decision of the Appeals Chamber, which held that Rule 89 (F) allows for the admission of a written witness statement when the witness:
CONSIDERING that the determination of whether the interests of justice favour the admission of a written statement under Rule 89 (F) as evidence-in-chief is made by the Trial Chamber in relation to each individual witness, in light of not only the surrounding circumstances, but also the evidence to be given by the witness,2
NOTING that the content of the declaration does not go to the acts and conduct of the Accused himself and that it is in the interests of justice to admit the declaration of the witness under Rule 89 (F), subject to fulfilment of the criteria set out by the Appeals Chamber,
PURSUANT TO Rules 89 (F) of the Rules,
HEREBY ORDERS as follows:
Done in English and French, the English text being authoritative.
____________
Richard May
Presiding
Dated this ninth day of December 2003
At The Hague
The Netherlands