IN TRIAL CHAMBER II

Before:
Judge Wolfgang Schomburg, Presiding
Judge Mohamed Fassi Fihri
Judge Volodymyr Vassylenko

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Order of:
28 June 2002

PROSECUTOR
v.
MILOMIR STAKIC

_________________________________________________________

ORDER PURSUANT TO RULE 98 TO APPOINT A FORENSIC HANDWRITING EXAMINER

__________________________________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor:

Ms. Joanna Korner
Mr. Nicholas Koumjian

Counsel for the Accused:

Mr. Branko Lukic
Mr. John Ostojic

 

TRIAL CHAMBER II 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"),

NOTING that, pursuant to Rule 98, sentence 1, of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence ("Rules"), "[a] Trial Chamber may order either party to produce additional evidence."

NOTING that Rule 94 bis of the Rules provides for the admission of the testimony of an expert witness in proceedings before the International Tribunal,

NOTING that the Defence for Dr. Stakic contests the authenticity of the accused’s signatures as they are alleged to appear, in various forms, on certain documents included in lists 2, 3 and 4, which have been tendered by the Office of the Prosecutor ("Prosecution") in this case,

HAVING HEARD the parties on this issue in court on 27 June 2002,

CONSIDERING that the documents in question form an important part of the evidence before the Chamber,

CONSIDERING that a determination as to the authenticity of the accused’s signature may assist the Chamber in assessing the probative value to be accorded to these documents,

PURSUANT TO RULE 98 OF THE RULES,

HEREBY ORDERS, ex officio,

  1. the Prosecution to appoint, if necessary with the assistance of the Registry, a forensic handwriting examiner, whose expert report, based on the broadest possible comparison of available handwriting samples, shall be disclosed as soon as is practicable, but no later than 26 August 2002,

  2. the Defence, within two weeks of receiving the expert report, to file a notice indicating whether:

(i) it accepts the expert witness statement; or
(ii) it wishes to cross-examine the expert witness.

AND REQUESTS the Prosecution to keep the Chamber and the Defence informed of the progress in relation to the preparation of the expert report, and to disclose the report, as soon as it is available, to both the Chamber and the Defence.

 

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

_________________
Wolfgang Schomburg
Presiding

Dated this twenty-eighth day of June 2002
At The Hague
The Netherlands

[Seal of the Tribunal]