PROSECUTOR v SAM HINGA NORMAN & ORS - ORDER ON TRIAL MONITORING DURING CLOSED SESSION (SCSL-04-14-T ) [2004] SCSL 206 (05 November 2004);


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THE TRIAL CHAMBER


Before:
Hon. Judge Benjamin Mutanga Itoe, Presiding Judge
Hon. Judge Bankole Thompson
Hon. Judge Pierre Boutet
Registrar:
Robin Vincent
Date:
9th of November, 2004
PROSECUTOR
Against
ISSA HASSAN SESAY
MORRIS KALLON
AUGUSTINE GBAO
(Case No.SCSL-04-15-PT)

ORDER ON CO-OPERATION BETWEEN THE PARTIES


Office of the Prosecutor:
Defence Counsel for Issa Hassan Sesay:
Luc Côté
Lesley Taylor
Wayne Jordash
Abdul Serry Kamal
Sareta Ashraph

Defence Counsel for Morris Kallon:


Shekou Touray
Melron Nicol-Wilson


Defence Counsel for Augustine Gbao:
Girish Thanki
Andreas O’Shea
John Cammegh

THE TRIAL CHAMBER (“Trial Chamber”) of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (“Special Court”) composed of Hon. Judge Benjamin Mutanga Itoe, Presiding Judge, Hon. Judge Bankole Thompson, and Hon. Judge Pierre Boutet;


RECALLING the Trial Chamber’s Decision on Co-operation Between the Parties, of the 16th of June, 2004 (“Decision”), in which the Chamber ordered the Parties to “submit a joint statement, signed by both parties [...] stating all the agreed points of fact and law reached by them” and thereafter to “intensify their efforts to identify further points of agreement and to submit a report on the progress made every fifteen (15) days from the date of this decision, until further notice” (“Status Report”);


NOTING that pursuant to the Decision four (4) Status Reports were filed by the Parties, the last being filed on the 16th of September, 2004;


CONSIDERING the continuous lack of progress to identify further points of agreement in points of law and fact expressed by the Parties in their Status Reports;


CONSIDERING that at the Status Conference held on the 1st of October, 2004, the Parties informed that co-operation between them was continuing and even increasing but that they would prefer to be able to meet on an informal and ad hoc basis without the formal obligation to report to the Chamber on a regular basis;[1]


BEING SATISFIED from the proceedings during the various sessions of the trial that the Parties have markedly increased their informal co-operation, contributing to the expedition of the trial and the interests of justice;

PURSUANT TO Rules 54 and 73bis(F) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the Special Court;

ORDERS AS FOLLOWS:

  1. That the Parties shall no longer be required to submit on a regular basis a Status Report to the Chamber;
  2. That the Parties should continue to co-operate on a regular basis and, in case they wish to do so, to promptly report to the Chamber any agreed points of fact and law.

Done in Freetown, Sierra Leone, this 9th day of November, 2004.



Hon. Judge Pierre Boutet
Hon. Judge Benjamin Mutanga Itoe
Presiding Judge,
Trial Chamber

Hon. Judge Bankole Thompson

[Seal of the Special Court for Sierra Leone]

[1] Transcript, 1st of October, 2004, pages 52-53.