D711 11 July 2016 MB
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
MICT-15-96-PT 738 D738 - D711 11 July 2016 MB UNITED NATIONS ________________________________________________________________________ Case No.: MICT-15-96-PT Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals Date: 11 July 2016 Original: English ________________________________________________________________________ IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER Before: Judge Burton Hall, Presiding Judge Seon Ki Park Judge Solomy Balungi Bossa Registrar: Mr. John Hocking Date: 11 July 2016 PROSECUTOR v. JOVICA STANIŠIĆ FRANKO SIMATOVIĆ PUBLIC _______________________________________________________________________ STANIŠIĆ DEFENCE MOTION FOR JUDICIAL NOTICE OF ADJUDICATED FACTS _______________________________________________________________________ The Office of the Prosecutor Defence Counsel for Mr. Stanišić Mr. Douglas Stringer Mr. Wayne Jordash QC Mr. Scott Martin Defence Counsel for Mr. Simatović Mr. Mihajlo Bakrač Mr. Vladimir Petrović 737 I. Introduction 1. Pursuant to Rule 115(B) of the MICT Rules of Procedure and Evidence (“Rules”),1 the Defence respectfully requests the Trial Chamber to take judicial notice of certain facts which relate to the alleged crimes in the current proceedings and have been previously adjudicated by the ICTY Trial and Appeals Chambers in the cases of Prosecutor v. Gotovina et al.,2 Prosecutor v. Krajišnik,3 Prosecutor v. Lukić and Lukić,4 Prosecutor v. Martić,5 Prosecutor v. Mrkšić,6 Prosecutor v. Simić et al.,7 and Prosecutor v. Tolimir.8 2. Annex A provides the 92 proposed adjudicated facts (“Proposed Facts”) that the Stanišić Defence requests the Trial Chamber to consider. II. Applicable Law 3. Rule 115(B) of the Rules states: At the request of a Party or proprio motu, a Trial Chamber, after hearing the Parties, may decide to take judicial notice of adjudicated facts or of the authenticity of documentary evidence from other proceedings of the ICTY, the ICTR, or the Mechanism relating to matters at issue in the current proceedings. 4. In assessing whether to take judicial notice of a fact, the Trial Chamber follows a two-step process.9 Firstly, all Proposed Facts must satisfy the following factors: i. The fact must have some relevance to an issue in the current proceedings;10 1 MICT/1/Rev.1, 18 April 2016. 2 Prosecutor v. Gotovina et al., Case No. IT-06-90-A, Appeal Judgement, 16 November 2012; Prosecutor v. Gotovina et al., Case No. IT-06-90-T, Trial Judgement, 15 April 2011. 3 Prosecutor v. Krajišnik, Case No. IT-00-39-A, Appeal Judgement, 17 March 2009; Prosecutor v. Krajišnik, Case No. IT-00-39-T, Trial Judgement, 27 September 2006. 4 Prosecutor v. Lukić and Lukić, Case No. IT-98-32/1-A, Appeal Judgement, 4 December 2012; Prosecutor v. Lukić & Lukić, Case No. IT-98-32/1-T, Judgement, 20 July 2009. 5 Prosecutor v. Martić, Case No. IT-95-11-A, Appeal Judgement, 8 October 2008; Prosecutor v. Martić, Case No. IT-95-11-T, Trial Judgement, 12 June 2007. 6 Prosecutor v. Mrkšić, Case No. IT-95-13/1-A, Appeal Judgement, 5 May 2009; Prosecutor v. Mrkšić, Case No. IT-95-13/1-T, Trial Judgement, 27 September 2007. 7 Prosecutor v. Blagoje Simić et al., Case No. IT-95-9-A, Appeal Judgement, 28 November 2006; Prosecutor v. Blagoje Simić et al., Case No. IT-95-9-T, Trial Judgement, 17 October 2003. 8 Prosecutor v. Tolimir, Case No. IT-05-88/2-A, Appeal Judgement, 8 April 2015; Prosecutor v. Tolimir, Case No. IT-05-88/2-T, Trial Judgement, 12 December 2012. 9 Prosecutor v. Popović et al., Case No. IT-05-88-T, Decision on Prosecution Motion for Judicial Notice of Adjudicated Facts with Annex, 26 September 2006 (“Popović Trial Decision”), para. 4. 10 Prosecutor v. Hadžić, Case No. IT-04-75-T, Decision on Prosecution Motion for Judicial Notice of Adjudicated Facts and Documents, 23 May 2013 (“Hadžić Decision”), para. 1; Prosecutor v. Karadžić, MICT-15-96-PT 1 11 July 2016 736 ii. The fact must be distinct, concrete and identifiable;11 iii. The fact, as formulated by the moving party, must not differ in any way from the formulation of the original judgement;12 iv. The fact must not be unclear or misleading in the context in which it is placed in the moving party’s motion;13 v. The fact must be identified with adequate precision by the moving party;14 vi. The fact must not contain characterisations or findings of an essentially legal nature;15 vii. The fact must not be based on an agreement between the parties to the original proceedings;16 viii. The fact must not relate to the acts, conduct, or mental state of the accused.17 However, the exclusion of Proposed Facts relating to the acts, conduct, or mental state of the accused does not apply to the conduct of other persons for whose criminal acts and omissions the accused is allegedly responsible Case No. IT-95-5/18-T, Decision on Fourth Prosecution Motion for Judicial Notice of Adjudicated Facts, 14 June 2010 (“Karadžić Decision”), para. 16; Prosecutor v. Nikolić, Case No. IT-02-60/1-A, Decision on Appellant’s Motion for Judicial Notice, 1 April 2005 (“Nikolić Appeal Decision”), paras 11, 48, 56. 11 Hadžić Trial Decision, para. 11; Karadžić Trial Decision, para. 16; Prosecutor v. Perišić, Case No. IT-04-81-PT, Decision on Prosecution’s Motion for Judicial Notice of Adjudicated Facts Concerning Sarajevo, 26 June 2008, para. 18; Prosecutor v. Mico Stanišić, Case No. IT-04-79-PT, Decision on Judicial Notice, 14 December 2007 (“Stanišić Trial Decision”), para. 37; Prosecutor v. Prlić et al., Case No. IT-04-74-PT, Decision on Motion for Judicial Notice of Adjudicated Facts Pursuant to Rule 94(B), 14 March 2006 (“Prlić Trial Decision”), para. 18. 12 Hadžić Trial Decision, para. 11; Karadžić Trial Decision, para. 16; Prosecutor v. Tolimir, Case No. IT-05-88/2-PT, Decision on Prosecution Motion for Judicial Notice of Adjudicated Facts Pursuant to Rule 94(B), 17 December 2009 (“Tolimir Trial Decision”), para. 8; Prosecutor v. Krajišnik, Case No. IT-00-39-T, Decision on Third and Fourth Prosecution Motions for Judicial Notice of Adjudicated Facts, 24 March 2005 (“Krajišnik Trial Decision”), para. 14. 13 Hadžić Trial Decision, para. 11; Karadžić Trial Decision, para. 16; Karemera et al. v. The Prosecutor, Case No. ITCR-98-44-AR73(C), Decision on Prosecution’s Interlocutory Appeal of Decision on Judicial Notice, 16 June 2006 (“Karemera Appeal Decision”), para. 55; Popović Trial Decision, para. 8. 14 Hadžić Trial Decision, para. 11; Karadžić Trial Decision, para. 16; Prosecutor v. Kupreškić et al., Case No. IT-95-16-A, Decision on the Motions of Drago Josipović, Zoran Kurpreškić and Vlatko Kurpreškić to Admit Additional Evidence Pursuant to Rule 115 and for Judicial Notice to be Taken Pursuant to Rule 94(b), 8 May 2001 (“Kupreškić Appeal Decision”), para. 12; Prlić Trial Decision, para. 9. 15 Hadžić Trial Decision, para. 11; Karadžić Trial Decision, para. 16; Popović Trial Decision, para. 10; Prlić Trial Decision, paras 12, 19; Krajišnik Trial Decision, para. 15. 16 Hadžić Trial Decision, para. 11; Karadžić Trial Decision, para. 16; Popović Trial Decision, para. 11; Stanišić Trial Decision, para. 43; Krajišnik Trial Decision, para. 14. 17 Hadžić Trial Decision, para. 11; Karadžić Trial Decision, para. 16; Karemera Appeal Decision, paras 49, 50-52. MICT-15-96-PT 2 11 July 2016 735 through one or more of the forms of responsibility enumerated in the Statute;18 and ix. The fact must clearly not be subject to pending appeal or review.19 5. If these factors are satisfied in relation to a Proposed Fact, the Trial Chamber determines whether it should, in the exercise of its discretion, withhold judicial notice on the ground that taking judicial notice of the fact in question would not serve the interests of justice.20 6. In making the decision to withhold judicial notice, even when the proposed adjudicated fact fulfils the requirements laid out above, the Trial Chamber may take several factors into account.21 Facts that are ineligible for judicial notice include those that: (i) go to issues at the “core” of the Prosecution’s case; (ii) contain subjective inferences; (iii) are “unduly broad, vague, tendentious or conclusory”; or (iv) “due to lack of specificity in the original judgement, the Chamber has been unable to readily discern that the fact in question does not refer to the acts, conduct, or mental state of the accused”.22 7. By taking judicial notice of an adjudicated fact pursuant to Rule 115(B) of the Rules, the Trial Chamber will achieve greater judicial economy by not revisiting adjudicated details contained in other final judgements at the Tribunal arising from the same or similar factual premises or scenarios. The Defence submits that by taking judicial notice of the Proposed Facts listed in Annex A, the Trial Chamber will be able to devote a greater proportion of trial time to the core issues in the case. 18 Hadžić Trial Decision, para. 11; Prosecutor v. Mladić, Case No. IT-09-92-PT, First Decision on Prosecution Motions for Judicial Notice of Adjudicated Facts, 28 February 2012, para. 8; Karemera Appeal Decision, para. 52. 19 Hadžić Trial Decision, para. 11; Karadžić Trial Decision, para. 16; Krajišnik Trial Decision, para. 14; Kupreškić Appeal Decision, para. 12. 20 Hadžić Trial Decision, para. 12; Popović Trial Decision, paras 15-19. 21 Hadžić Trial Decision, para. 13. 22 Hadžić Trial Decision, para. 13; Popović Trial Decision, paras 15-19; Prosecutor v. Stanišić and Župljanin, Case No. IT-08-91-T, Decision Granting in Part Prosecution’s Motions for Judicial Notice of Adjudicated Facts Pursuant to Rule 94(B), 1 April 2010, paras 46-47. MICT-15-96-PT 3 11 July 2016 734 III.