Case No. IT-01-42-PT

IN TRIAL CHAMBER I

Before:
Judge Alphons Orie, Presiding
Judge Amin El Mahdi
Judge Joaquín Martín Canivell

Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis

Order of:
9 December 2003

PROSECUTOR

v.

PAVLE STRUGAR

________________________________

FURTHER ORDER DELAYING THE PRE-TRIAL CONFERENCE AND THE START OF THE TRIAL AGAINST PAVLE STRUGAR

________________________________

The Office of the Prosecutor:

Ms. Susan Somers
Mr. Philip Weiner

Counsel for the Accused:

Mr. Goran Rodic
Mr. Vladimir Petrovic

 

TRIAL CHAMBER I 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 ("Tribunal"),

NOTING this Chamber’s Decision on the Prosecution Motion for Separate Trial and Order to Schedule Pre-trial Conference and the Start of the Trial against Pavle Strugar dated 26 November 2003, whereby the Trial Chamber scheduled a pre-trial conference in the case against Pavle Strugar for 8 December 2003, the start of the trial on 9 December 2003, and ordered Pavle Strugar’s return to The Hague by 2 December 2003,

NOTING this Chamber’s Decision and Order relating to Accused Pavle Strugar’s Request for Postponement dated 2 December 2003, whereby the Trial Chamber confirmed its order dated 26 November 2003 and decided that a delay of up to 24 hours would not be treated as a breach of the Decision on Provisional Relase and the above-mentioned decision of 26 November 2003,

NOTING the Order of 3 December 2003 entitled "Order to the Government of Serbia and Montenegro to Ensure Mr. Pavle Strugar’s Immediate Return to the Netherlands", whereby this Trial Chamber ordered, inter alia, Pavle Strugar to return to the seat of the Tribunal by 5 December 2003,

NOTING my Order of 5 December 2003, in which I ordered that the pre-trial conference and the start of trial in this case be rescheduled for 9 and 10 December 2003, respectively, for the reason that Pavle Strugar was to arrive at the seat of the Tribunal at a date later than originally scheduled,

NOTING the Defence Request for Certification to appeal, inter alia, this Chamber’s "Order to the Government of Serbia and Montenegro to Ensure Mr. Pavle Strugar’s Immediate Return to the Netherlands" dated 4 December 2003 ("Defence Request for Certification"),

NOTING this Chamber’s Decision of 5 December 2003 rejecting the Defence Request for Certification as it relates to the Accused, finding it to be without suspensive effect under the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, and ordering the Accused to comply with the Order of 3 December 2003 requiring him to return to The Netherlands by 5 December 2003,

NOTING the letter dated 8 December 2003 that I received in my capacity as a Judge of this Tribunal from the Embassy of Serbia and Montenegro in The Hague in which it was said that "by 5 December 2003 it had become clear that Mr. Strugar was not willing to return to the Netherlands" and consequently, that the authorities of Serbia and Montenegro took steps to enforce this Chamber’s Order of 3 December 2003 initiating the "procedure for the transfer of Mr. Strugar" before the "District Court in Belgrade in accordance with Serbia and Montenegro’s Law on Cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal" and that "the estimated length of this procedure is measured in days, not weeks",

CONSIDERING that the Accused Pavle Strugar has not yet arrived in The Netherlands,

PURSUANT to Rule 54 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence,

HEREBY

ORDERS that the pre-trial conference and the start of the trial against Pavle Strugar be delayed until further order, and

VACATES that part of the Order of 5 December 2003 scheduling a pre-trial conference in this case on 9 December 2003 and the start of trial on 10 December 2003,

 

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

Dated this ninth day of December 2003
At The Hague,
The Netherlands

_____________
Judge Alphons Orie
Presiding

[Seal of the Tribunal]