Case no. IT-96-23/2-PT

THE PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL

Before:
Judge Theodor Meron, President

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Order of:
5 October 2004

THE PROSECUTOR

v.

Radovan STANKOVIC

___________________________________________

ORDER TRANSFERRING A MOTION PURSUANT TO RULE 11bis

___________________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor

Carla Del Ponte, Prosecutor
Jan Wubben, Senior Trial Attorney

Counsel for the Defence:

Milenko Radovic

 

1. On 21 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 27 September 2004, I issued a Preliminary Order in response to the Prosecutor’s request.3 In that Preliminary Order, I noted that upon my recent receipt of a similar 11 bis motion in Prosecutor v. Mejakic et al, No. IT-02-65-PT, I had asked the Prosecutor to respond to the possibility that Bosnia and Herzegovina "might not be prepared to receive 11 bis transfers at the present time."4 I therefore declared my intention to postpone my ruling in the present case until I received the prosecution’s supplementary motion in Mejakic.

3. On 29 September 2004, the Prosecutor filed her Response to my Preliminary Order in Mejakic.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 same Trial Chamber that was constituted for the Mejakic case in my Order of 4 October 2004.7

 

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

Dated this 5th day of October 2004,
At The Hague,
The Netherlands.

_____________________
Judge Theodor Meron
President

[Seal of the Tribunal]
1. Motion by the the Prosecutor under Rule 11bis of Rules of Procedure and Evidence for Referral of Indictment to Another Court, 21 September 2004 ("Motion").
2. Request by the Prosecutor under Rule 11bis of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence (RPE) for Referral of the Indictment to the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Partly Confidential (Confidential Annexes II and III), 21 September 2004, par 1.
3. Preliminary Order In Response to the Prosecutor’s Request Under Rule 11bis, 27 September 2004 ("Preliminary Order").
4. Preliminary Order, para. 3.
5. Supplementary Motion by the Prosecutor Under Rule 11bis, Prosecutor v. Mejakic et al, No. IT-02-65-PT, 29 September 2004 ("Response").
6. Response, pars 8, 10.
7. Order Appointing a Trial Chamber For the Purpose of Determining Whether the Indictment Should be Referred to Another Court Under Rule 11bis, 4 October 2004.