TRIAL CHAMBER I

Public Document

ORDER FOR EXTENSION OF TIME AND CONSEQUENTIAL ORDER TO THE FIRST ACCUSED TO RE-FILE SUMMARIES OF WITNESS TESTIMONIES

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

MINDFUL OF the “First Accused’s Urgent Motion for Leave to File Additional Witness and Exhibits Lists”, filed by Court Appointed Counsel for the First Accused on the 1st of February, 2006 (“Motion”), seeking leave, inter alia, to add an additional 13 witnesses to its current witness list;
MINDFUL of the “Order to the First Accused to Re-File Summaries of Witness Testimonies” filed on the 2nd of March, 2006 (“Order”), ordering the Court Appointed Counsel for the First Accused to, inter alia, re-file the Motion pursuant to sub-Rule 73ter(B) of the Rules and to re-file the summaries of their current witnesses, save the witnesses who have already testified at trial, and those summaries of their proposed 13 additional witnesses by the 10th of March, 2006, with the Prosecution to file its Response to the Motion, if any, by the 16th of March, 2006.

SEIZED OF the “Defence Motion for Extension of Time to Comply with “Order to the First Accused to Re-file Summaries of Witness Testimonies”” filed by Court Appointed Counsel for the First Accused on the 3rd of March, 2006 (“Motion for Extension of Time”);

CONSIDERING that the Motion for Extension of Time requests an extension of time until the 17th of March, 2006 to comply with the Order on the basis that the Senior and Co-Counsel of the Defence team left Freetown on a witness investigation trip to various crimes bases locations for the purposes of, inter alia, reviewing potential testimony of various witnesses and the current witness list, and will only return to Freetown on the 9th of March, 2006;[1]

MINDFUL of the rights of the Accused, and in particular of the provisions of Article 17 of the Statute of the Special Court for Sierra Leone on the right to have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence;

FINDING that the request for an extension of time is reasonable given the particular circumstances;

SATISFIED that an extension of time for the Defence until the 14th of March, 2006 will provide the Defence with adequate time to properly comply with the Order and be in the interests of justice;

PURSUANT to Rule 7bis and 54 of the Rules;

HEREBY GRANTS the Motion for Extension of Time

AND, CONSEQUENTLY
ORDERS Court Appointed Counsel for the First Accused to comply with the “Order to the First Accused to Re-File Summaries of Witness Testimonies” by the 14th of March, 2006, at 4:00 p.m.

ORDERS the Prosecution to file its Response to the Motion, if any, by the 20th of March, 2006, at 4:00 p.m.
AUTHORIZES the Court Management Section of the Special Court to serve the present order after 5:00pm, today the 3rd of March, 2006.

Done in Freetown, Sierra Leone, this 3rd day of March, 2006.

[Seal of the Special Court for Sierra Leone]

[1] Motion for Extension of Time, para 5.