TRIAL CHAMBER I

Public Document

SCHEDULING ORDER FOR STATUS CONFERENCE

TRIAL CHAMBER I (“Chamber”) of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (“Special Court”) composed of Hon. Justice Bankole Thompson, Presiding Judge, Hon. Justice Pierre Boutet, and Hon. Justice Benjamin Mutanga Itoe;
MINDFUL of the oral Decision on the Defence Motions for Judgement of Acquittal pursuant to Rule 98 of Procedure and Evidence of the Special Court (“Rules”) delivered on the 25th of October, 2006;

MINDFUL of Rule 65bis of the Rules;

CONSIDERING that Article 17(4)(b) of the Statute of the Special Court (“Statute”) provides that the Accused shall be entitled to have “adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence”;

CONSIDERING that Article 17(4)(c) of the Statute provides that the Accused shall be entitled “to be tried without undue delay”;

PURSUANT TO Rules 26bis, 54, 65bis and 73ter of the Rules;

THE CHAMBER, THEREFORE

ORDERS that a Status Conference be held on the 27th of October, 2006 at 9:30 a.m. in Court Room 1, for the purpose of considering the preparation and presentation of the Defence Case.

At the said Status Conference, the Chamber will require that each Defence Team preliminarily presents the particulars for the preparation of their Defence Case, including the following:
a.) the number of Defence witnesses that each Defence Team intends to call;
b.) whether the Defence Teams intend to call any joint witnesses;

c.) whether the Defence Teams intend to call any expert witnesses, and if so, the nature of their proposed expert testimonies;
d.) whether any of the Accused will testify at trial pursuant to Rule 85(C) of the Rules;
e.) whether protective measures are necessary for any of the Defence witnesses;
f.) the anticipated length of the Defence case;
g.) whether opening statements will be made by the Accused;