THE TRIAL CHAMBER

REVISED ORDER FOR THE FILING OF DEFENCE PRE-TRIAL BRIEFS

THE TRIAL CHAMBER (“Trial Chamber”) of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (“Special Court”);

RECALLING the Trial Chamber’s “Order for Filing Pre-Trial Briefs” of 13 February 2004, in which it ordered that each Defence team file its pre-trial brief by 19 March 2004, pursuant to Rule 54 and Rule 73 bis (F) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the Special Court (“Rules”);

NOTING that the Office of the Prosecutor (“Prosecution”) filed its pre-trial brief on 1 March 2004,[1] in accordance with the Trial Chamber’s Order;

RECALLING the Decision of the Acting Principal Defender of 27 February 2004, in which he directed that the assignment of counsel for Morris Kallon be withdrawn, effective immediately, and that Duty Counsel shall provide Morris Kallon with legal assistance pursuant to Rule 45 of the Rules and Article 25 of the Directive on the Assignment of Counsel of 1 October 2003;

CONSIDERING that at the Status Conference convened in this case on 2 and 3 March 2004, Duty Counsel representing Morris Kallon submitted that unless new counsel were to be assigned forthwith, an extension of time to file a pre-trial brief on behalf of Mr. Kallon would be necessary;

CONSIDERING the submissions of defence counsel for Issa Hassan Sesay and Augustine Gbao at the Status Conference on various issues including disclosure;

CONSIDERING that defence counsel for Issa Hassan Sesay requested that the date for filing its pre-trial brief be closer to the date of the start of trial;

CONSIDERING that each party is to address factual and legal issues in its pre-trial brief for the purposes of, inter alia, assisting the Trial Chamber in determining contested issues of fact and law;

CONSIDERING that the Trial Chamber, and indeed opposing counsel, will be more greatly assisted by a well-prepared, detailed pre-trial brief than by a pre-trial brief drafted without the benefit of extensive disclosure and sufficient pre-trial preparation;

FINDING THEREFORE that it is in the interests of justice to revise the Order of 13 February 2004 in relation to the date for filing pre-trial briefs by the Defence in this case; and

HEREBY ORDERS that the pre-trial briefs shall be filed by each Defence team in this case two weeks prior to the date for the commencement of trial.

[1] On 27 February 2004, the Prosecution filed a pre-trial brief that did not comply with the Practice Direction on Filing Documents before the Special Court for Sierra Leone of 27 February 2003, which had been referenced in the Trial Chamber’s Order. The Prosecution did not seek leave of the Trial Chamber to file a new pre-trial brief in compliance with the Practice Direction before filing the revised pre-trial brief on 1 March 2004; the Trial Chamber hereby accepts the Prosecution’s pre-trial brief filed on 1 March 2004 as having been filed in accordance with its Order.