You are here:
CommonLII >>
Databases >>
Special Court for Sierra Leone >>
2004 >>
[2004] SCSL 84
[Database Search]
[Name Search]
[Recent Decisions]
[Noteup]
[Download]
[Help]
PROSECUTOR v ALEX TAMBA BRIMA & ORS - DECISION ON PROSECUTION REQUEST FOR LEAVE TO AMEND THE INDICTMENT - Case No.SCSL-04-16-PT [2004] SCSL 84 (6 May 2004)
O
SPECIAL COURT FOR SIERRA LEONE
JOMO KENYATTA
ROAD • FREETOWN • SIERRA LEONE
PHONE: +1 212 963 9915
Extension: 178 7000 or +39 0831 257000 or +232 22 295995
FAX:
Extension: 178 7001 or +39 0831 257001 Extension: 174 6996 or +232 22
295996
THE TRIAL CHAMBER
|
Before:
|
Judge Bankole Thompson, Presiding Judge Judge Benjamin Mutanga
Itoe Pierre Boutet
|
|
Registrar:
|
Robin Vincent
|
|
Date:
|
6 May 2004
|
|
PROSECUTOR
|
Against
|
Alex Tamba Brima Brima Bazzy Kamara Santigie Borbor
Kanu (Case No.SCSL-04-16-PT)
|
DECISION ON PROSECUTION REQUEST FOR LEAVE TO AMEND THE
INDICTMENT
|
Office of the Prosecutor:
|
|
Defence Counsel for Alex Tamba
Brima:
|
|
Luc Côté Robert Petit
|
|
Terence Terry
Defence Counsel for Brima Bazzy
Kamara:
|
|
|
Ken Fleming
|
|
|
Defence Counsel for Santigie Borbor
Kanu: Geert-Jan Alexander Knoops
|
THE TRIAL CHAMBER (“Trial Chamber”) of the Special Court
for Sierra Leone (“Special Court”) composed of Judge Bankole
Thompson,
Presiding Judge, Judge Benjamin Mutanga Itoe and Judge Pierre
Boutet;
SEIZED of the Prosecution Request for Leave to Amend the Indictment
filed on 9 February 2004 (“Motion”) pursuant to Rules 50(A)
and
73(A) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the Special Court
(“Rules”); the Response thereto, filed by Defence
for Santigie
Borbor Kanu on 17 February (“Kanu
Response”)[1]; and
the Prosecution Reply thereto filed on 20 February
2004[2];
CONSIDERING the Order to Submit Indication of Specific Changes to
Indictments served on 26 February 2004; and also the Indication of Specific
Changes to the Indictments filed by the Prosecution on 1 March 2004;
CONSIDERING ALSO the oral submissions proffered on this matter in the
course of the Status Conference held on 8 March 2004;
NOTING THE SUBMISSIONS OF THE PARTIES
THIS IS OUR RULING ON THIS MOTION
RESUME OF THE FACTS
- The
facts, briefly stated, are that following the provisions of the Rules 50(A) and
73(A) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence,
the Prosecution is seeking our
leave to amend the Indictment against the AFRC group of indictees, namely, Alex
Tamba Brima, Brima
Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu, all of who stand
indicted and detained for war crimes, crimes against humanity and offences
against international humanitarian law which fall within the jurisdiction of the
Special Court pursuant to Articles 2, 3 and 4 of
the Statute of the Special
Court.
- The
initial indictments, in which the 3 accused were arraigned and pleaded
“Not Guilty” respectively on 17 March 2003,
for Alex Tamba Brima, 4
June 2003, for the Accused Brima Bazzy Kamara, and on 23 September 2003, for the
Accused Santigie Borbor
Kanu, were individual indictments that were approved by
His Lordship, Judge Bankole Thompson on 7 March 2003 for the Accused Alex
Tamba
Brima and on 28 May 2003 for the Accused Brima Bazzy Kamara and by His Lordship,
Judge Pierre Boutet on 16 September 2003 for
the Accused Santigie Borbor
Kanu.
- On
9 October 2003, the Prosecution made an application to the Chamber to seek a
consolidation of all the indictments to 2 only instead
of proceeding on the
individual indictments. It sought to join the 3 RUF and the 3 AFRC indictees in
one consolidated indictment,
and the 3 CDF indictees in the other consolidated
indictment.
- After
an exchange of lengthy written, followed by oral submissions by the Parties in
an open Court hearing, the Chamber, in order
to avoid a conflict in the conduct
of the defence between the RUF and the AFRC group, instead decided to
consolidate all the indictments
into 3 sets; one consolidated indictment for the
RUF group of indictees, namely Issa Hassan Sesay, Morris Kallon and Augustine
Gbao,
and the other for the AFRC group of indictees, namely, Alex Tamba Brima,
Brima Bazzy Kamara, and Santigie Borbor Kanu. Finally, one
consolidated
indictment was approved for the CDF group of indictees, namely, Samuel Hinga
Norman, Moinina Fofana and Allieu Kondewa.
- The
Motion before us now therefore, is in fact and in effect the
3rd in the series of indictments in their varied
formulations and wordings which the Prosecution intends to file after we would
have
granted the amendment and this, before their trial which Prosecution knows
is imminent.
- In
seeking these amendments, the Prosecution is relying on the provisions of Rule
50 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, in order
to add one more and new
count of forced marriage on the already consolidated indictment.
- In
making this application, the Prosecution argues that the amendment will not
prejudice the rights of the accused in that it is timely,
will not unduly delay
the trial of the accused, and also that the amendment sought is in the interests
of justice.
For the Prosecution
- The
Prosecution seeks to add one new count, namely “Crimes against humanity
– other inhumane acts (forced marriage)”.
Additionally, the
Prosecution seeks to make “corrections and/or modifications” to
other counts which include the expansion
of time periods, an additional location
for all counts related to sexual violence crimes, and the change of spellings
of certain
place names.
- The
Prosecution alleges that the new count is based on the same factual allegations
as the other counts related to sexual violence
charges and will not require
further disclosure. According to the Prosecution, this is required to represent
the totality of the
criminal conduct of the Accused. The Prosecution further
states that it did not bring the Motion prior to the joinder decision “in
the interest of judicial economy” so that it could avoid filing motions in
each case.
- The
Prosecution included a two-page “Investigator’s Statement”
with the Motion. The investigator states that he
has found that the crimes of
sexual violence are not simply sexual slavery but are most appropriately
characterised as “forced
marriages”. He states that new
investigations have “clarified” the nature of the
relationships.
The Response:
- The
Defence Team for Santigie Borbor Kanu has filed a response objecting to all new
charges except the spelling of the places and
names.
- As
far as the offence of forced marriage is concerned, it argues that it was not a
crime against humanity and that bringing such a
charge violates the principle of
legality. The Defence contests the form of the indictment and argues that the
rights of the Accused
have been violated because of the failure by the
Prosecution to disclose the new charge promptly on his arrest.
- Furthermore,
that the extension of the charges by one and a half years prejudices the rights
of the Accused and is untimely and that
the defence is now limited in its
investigative possibilities given the proximity to the trial.
- We
note that Counsel for Alex Tamba Brima and Brima Bazzy Kamara filed no responses
to the Prosecution’s Motion.
The Reply:
- The
Prosecution asserts that “other inhumane acts” is a residual
category, that an exhaustive list as to what it encompasses
is impossible and
thus that it is irrelevant that the act of “forced marriage” is
nowhere mentioned in existing lists.
The Prosecution emphasises that the
additional count is that of “other inhumane acts” and not
“forced marriage”.
According to the Prosecution, “other
inhumane acts” is clearly defined, thereby complying with the principle of
specificity,
and is evaluated by the evidence based upon the criteria of gravity
and infliction of severe physical and mental injury. Also according
to the
Prosecution, in the context of international tribunals the speciality principle
only applies to extradition situations.
- At
the Status Conference on the 8 March 2004, the Chamber put a number of questions
to the Prosecution on this matter, which questions
the Prosecution responded to
orally. On being asked why the Prosecution waited so many months after the
original indictments were
approved before seeking amendment to include the
charge of forced marriage, the Prosecution repeated merely that they were
awaiting
the decision on joinder. The Prosecution asserted that no advance
notice was required in relation to the new charge. According to
the Prosecution,
forced marriage differs from sexual slavery combined with forced labour and is
therefore not duplicitous in that
forced marriage entails a conduct over time
whereby a man forces a woman into a relationship with all the trappings of
marriage,
and in which, in the Prosecution’s submission, there are
obligations in relation to the division of chores and sexual relations
as in a
marriage. In relation to the insertion of the word “about”, the
Prosecution declined to give a specific time-period
that such a term would
cover, supported the request by submitting that witnesses could rarely identify
precise dates, and observed
that the Trial Chamber had previously held such a
term lawful. On being asked to give a date as to when the Prosecution discovered
evidence to support the expanded time-frame by one and a half years in paragraph
68 of the amended indictment, the Prosecution answered
that the extent of the
offences was only discovered once insiders began to disclose information, which
was after the original indictment.
No time-period any more specific than this
was given. In relation to the expansion of the indictment to include the Port
Loko District
location, the Prosecution submitted that evidence as to this
location was only discovered after the confirmation of the original
indictments
for investigators had not been working in that area before that time. Evidence
supporting this was disclosed to the Defence
in the last two batches of
disclosure.
- The
Chamber offered Defence Counsel the opportunity to respond to these submissions,
and Counsel for all three Accused declined that
opportunity.
DELIBERATIONS
- After
this overview of the facts, we would now proceed to examine the legal basis of
the issues raised vis-à-vis the jurisprudence
cited by the parties to
buttress their arguments. At the outset, we note that the submissions made by
the Kanu Defence in relation
to defects in the form of the indictment can only
be brought pursuant to Rule 72(B)(ii) and therefore have no place at this stage
of the process.
- Rule
50 under which the application was brought reads as
follows:
“(A) The Prosecutor may amend an indictment, without
prior leave, at any time before its approval, but thereafter, until the
initial
appearance of the accused pursuant to Rule 61, only with leave of the Designated
Judge who reviewed it, but in exceptional
circumstances, by leave of another
Judge. At or after such initial appearance, an amendment of an indictment may
only be made by
leave granted by the Trial Chamber pursuant to Rule 73. If leave
to amend is granted, Rule 47 (G) and Rule 52 apply to the amended
indictment.
(B) If the amended indictment includes new charges and the accused has
already made his initial appearance in accordance with Rule
61, a further
appearance shall be held as soon as practicable to enable the accused to enter a
plea on the new charges.
(C) The Accused shall have a further period of fourteen days from the date of
initial appearance on the new charges in which to file
preliminary motions
relating to the new charges.”
- During
the Plenary Meeting of the Judges of the Court in Freetown on the
11th of March, 2004, Rule 50 was amended to read as
follows:
(A) The Prosecutor may amend an indictment, without prior
leave, at any time before its approval, but thereafter, until the initial
appearance of the accused pursuant to Rule 61, only with leave of the Designated
Judge who reviewed it but, in exceptional circumstances,
by leave of another
Judge. At or after such initial appearance, an amendment of an indictment may
only be made by leave granted by
a Trial Chamber pursuant to Rule 73. If leave
to amend is granted, Rule 47(G) and Rule 52 apply to the amended indictment.
(B) If the amended indictment includes new charges and the accused has
already made his initial appearance in accordance with Rule
61:
(i) A further appearance shall be held as soon as practicable to enable the
accused to enter a plea on the new charges;
(ii) Within seven days from such appearance, the Prosecutor shall disclose
all materials envisaged in Rule 66(A)(i) pertaining to
the new charges;
(iii) The accused shall have a further period of ten days from the date of
such disclosure by the Prosecutor in which to file preliminary
motions pursuant
to Rule 72 and relating to the new charges.”
- The
other relevant provisions of the law are Articles 17(4) of the Statute of the
Special Court which stipulates as follows:
“In the
determination of any charge against the accused pursuant to the present statute,
he or she shall be entitled to the
following minimum guarantees in full
equality:
(a) To be informed promptly and in detail in a language which he or she
understands of the nature and cause of the charge against
him or her;
(b) To have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his or her
defence;
(c) To be tried without undue delay”
- Furthermore,
Article 9(2) of the International Convention for the Protection of Civil Rights
stipulates as follows:
“Anyone who is arrested shall be
informed at the time of arrest, of the reasons for his arrest and shall be
promptly informed
of any charges against him”.
Article 14(a), and 14(b) and 14(c) of the ICPCR are similar to and are
reproduced in the relevant articles of Article 17 of the Statute.
- The
Chamber recalls that the provisions of Rule 50 of the Rules of Procedure and
Evidence of the Special Court are textually the same
as those of Rule 50(A),
(B), (C) of The Rules of Evidence and Procedure of the International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
- It
is important to note here that the power conferred on the Court to grant an
amendment is discretionary and that it should be exercised
judiciously and in
the overall interests of justice.
ANALYSIS
- We
would like to observe here that what at times justifies applications to amend
charges as in this case, stems from drafting imperatives
of criminal law, where
for every offence alleged and supported by the available evidence, there must be
a separate and distinct count
- Following
this practice, it is the traditional role and practice of the prosecution to
bring as many counts in an indictment as possible
and although it does impose on
him the obligation to bring all the charges that are borne out by the evidence,
nothing prevents or
prohibits him either from preferring and bringing all the
charges which he thinks are supported by the evidence at his disposal,
not only
with a view to a proper determination of the case, but also and above all, to
serve the overall interests of
justice.
EQUALITY OF ARMS
- The
crucial consideration in this process, in our opinion, is one of timing. The
question to be asked, is whether application for
the amendment is brought at a
stage in the proceedings where it would not prejudice the rights of the defence
to a fair and expeditious
trial and furthermore, whether it is made in the
overall interest of justice rather than its having the effect of giving an undue
advantage to the prosecution, thereby putting in jeopardy, the doctrine of
equality of arms between the Prosecution and the Defence.
- We
recall here that in the Tadic case, the Appeals Chamber of the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
took the view that
“Equality of arms” obligates a judicial body to ensure that neither
party is put to a disadvantage
when presenting its
case..
BURDEN OF PROOF
- We
appreciate that the burden of proof that the Prosecution bears in every criminal
trial is understandably very heavy. It commences
with the detection and
production of solid and convincing evidence to establish the guilt of the
accused beyond all reasonable doubts.
The other important component of the
burden of proof is the charge or charges which the Prosecution files in order to
reflect the
evidence it has at its disposal and can adduce in order to discharge
the obligation of “proof beyond all reasonable doubt”.
- We
would like to acknowledge here, the fact that this burden of proof is even more
demanding in matters before the international criminal
tribunals than it is in
the municipal systems. The reason is that the protection of the rights of
suspects and accused persons is
not only often more clearly spelt out and
entrenched in the statutes of those tribunals, but is also, in addition,
reinforced by
other international conventions and instruments that are
conspicuously absent in municipal legislations.
- To
attain these objectives, we think that the Prosecution must and indeed, should
be given the latitude, to resort to all means that
the law permits to enable it
to fully exercise its authority under the Statute and under the general and
accepted principles of law
and practice in the domain under review, and this,
with a view to giving it the opportunity to fully assume and discharge those
prosecutorial
functions.
AUTONOMY OF THE
PROSECUTOR
- The
Statute of the Special Court in its Article 15(1) stipulates inter alia that the
Prosecutor shall act independently as a separate
organ of the Special Court.
“He or she shall not seek or receive instructions from any government or
from any other source.”
- Article
15(4), still of the Statute, inter alia, stipulates as follows:
“ ...Given the nature of the crimes committed and the
particular sensitivities of girls, young women and children victims of
rape and
sexual assault, abductions and slavery of all kinds, due consideration should be
given in the appointment of staff to the
employment of the prosecutors and
investigators experienced in gender-related crimes and juvenile
justice.”
- These
provisions underscore the necessity for international criminal justice to
highlight the high profile nature of the emerging
domain of gender offences with
a view to bringing the alleged perpetrators to justice. In the light of the
above, it is expected,
and we hold the view, that the Prosecutor who is at the
helm of the investigation process, should exercise vigilance, diligence and
attention, bring before justice for trial, all those accused of having committed
gender and other categories of offences within the
competence of the Court
without any “undue delay”, as stipulated in Article 17(4)(c) of the
Statute of the Court.
- Our
duty in situations of this nature where statutory interests are in conflict is
to ensure a rigorous respect of the rights of each
of the parties in the arena,
and to ensure that there is no breach of one’s or the other’s
rights.
EXTENT OF THE AMENDMENT SOUGHT BY
THE PROSECUTION
- The
Prosecution in its submissions in this case explains that the purpose of this
motion to amend the indictment is to enable it to
add to it, “a new
charge” of crimes against humanity – Other Inhumane Act (forced
marriages), as a new count in
the Consolidated Indictment. This count, the
Prosecution explains, will become the 8th and the
previous counts namely, 8 through 17, will continue sequentially from counts 9
through 18.
- The
Prosecution argues that the amendment is justified both in law and on the
evidence and should be granted because:
(a) It better reflects the
full culpability of the Accused;
(b) There has been no undue delay in bringing the amendment; and
(c) The filing of the Amended indictment will not prejudice the rights of the
accused to a fair and expeditious trial.
- The
Prosecution further argues that all material have been disclosed to the Defence
and that the “additional count” is
based on the “exact same
factual context” as the other charges in relation to sexual violence and
forced labour and that
no further investigations should be required since the
“bush wife phenomenon” is mentioned in numerous witness
statements.
- The
other components of the amendment include:
(a) A modification of the
date in the particulars of counts 3-5;
(b) The modification of the time period in paragraph 71;
(c) The modification of time periods in paragraph 23 to reflect the death of
FODAY SANKOH;
(d) The addition of new spellings
- A
careful examining of all the indictments that the Prosecution has preferred
against this group of indictees from the onset of this
process reveals the
following:
- The
original individual indictments against the 3 accused persons which were
approved on the 7th March 2003 for the Accused Alex Tamba
Brima and on 28 May
2003 for the Accused Brima Bazzy Kamara and by His Lordship, Judge Pierre Boutet
on 16 September 2003 for the
Accused Santigie Borbor Kanu, alleged sexual
violence in counts 6-8. More precisely, count 6 charged each of them with Rape,
Count
7 with sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence, and finally,
count 8 which alleges the crime of outrage against personal
dignity.
- These
same charges and counts were textually reproduced in the same form in the
Consolidated Indictments. In this motion for an amendment,
the Prosecution
maintains that the Counts are as they always have been from the original
Individual Indictments to the Consolidated
Indictment and that it is only
seeking the leave of the Court to add a similar offence to those that have
consistently, as we have
observed, appeared all along in previous indictments.
- It
is in the light of the above that the Prosecution argues that the amendment is
based on existing allegations in the current consolidated
indictment as well as
in the evidence already disclosed to the Defence and that consequently, granting
the amendment will not result
in an undue delay in trying the accused
persons.
- We
would like in this regard, to refer to the case of the PROSECUTION VS KAREMERA
ICTR-98-44-AR73 in which the Appeals Chamber of
the ICTR held that in assessing
whether a delay resulting from an amendment to an indictment will be
“undue”, the tribunal
must consider factors such as the diligence of
the Prosecution in advancing the case and the timeliness of the request. In that
case,
the Appeals Chamber had this to say:
“Although amending
an indictment frequently causes delay in a short term, the Appeals Chamber takes
the view that this procedure
can also have the overall effect of simplifying
proceedings, by narrowing the scope of the allegations, by improving the
Accused’s
and the Tribunals understanding of the Prosecution’s case,
or by averting possible challenges to the indictment or the evidence
presented
at the trial.”
- In
the case of THE PROSECUTION VS CASIMIR BIZIMUNGU & OTHERS CASE NO
ICTR-99-50-AR50, 12 February 2004, the Appeals Chamber of
the ICTR had this
comment to make in disallowing the Prosecutions Appeal against a refusal by the
Trial Chamber to grant a motion
for an amendment of the indictment and I
quote;
“...amendments that narrow the indictment and thereby
increase the fairness and efficiency of proceedings should be encouraged
and
usually accepted...Had the Prosecution solely attempted to add particulars to
its general allegations, such amendments might
well have been allowable because
of their positive impact on the fairness of the trial...” (at paragraphs
19-20).
- The
crucial consideration in this process, in our opinion, is one of timing and
whether the application for the amendment is brought
at the stage in the
proceedings where it would not prejudice the rights of the accused to a fair an
expeditious trial and furthermore,
whether it is made in the overall interests
of justice rather than having the effect of giving an undue advantage to the
prosecution,
thereby putting in jeopardy, the doctrine of ‘equality of
arms’ between the Prosecution and the Defence.
- What,
however, is desirable and should be ensured is for the Prosecution, in the
exercise of its duties as a separate organ under
the Statute, to enjoy at
certain acceptable stages of the proceedings, a free hand in executing its
duties and obligations to the
Court and this, before the heavy hammer of justice
comes down to decide on whether it is still enduring with the weight of the
irksome
burden of proof that it carries all along, or whether it has discharged
it and indeed, beyond any reasonable doubt. In making this
observation however,
we do not lose sight of the fact that the Prosecution in so acting, must do so
within the confines of the law
and by respecting, not only the legal protection
accorded to the accused by the Statute, but also, the principle of a fair and
expeditious
trial within the context of course, of the doctrine of equality of
arms between the Prosecution and the Defence.
- In
this Motion, we find that the Prosecution, during the investigations that
preceded the initial appearances of the accused persons,
properly addressed
their minds to gender offences and the necessity to gather the required evidence
to have their perpetrators prosecuted.
To ensure that this happens the
Prosecution, during the investigations that preceded initial appearances,
detected gender offences.
In drawing up hereafter the initial individual
indictments of the accused which were approved on the
7th of March, 2003, and on which initial appearances
were based, the Prosecution ensured that these individual indictments contained
a number of counts related to gender offences such as rape, sexual slavery and
other forms of sexual violence and finally outrages
against personal
dignity.
- Furthermore,
in the consolidated indictment which was approved by the Trial Chamber following
a motion filed to this effect, the Prosecution
again included all these
enumerated gender offences which featured in the initial individual
indictments.
- In
the present motion, the Prosecution is seeking our leave to amend the already
existing consolidated indictment on which the proceedings
are now based, in
order to add one count, and one count only, based on Forced Marriage. The
question to be addressed in these circumstances
is whether this additional count
or offence as the case is, is new in terms of its being a complete novelty in
the arsenal of all
the counts that constitute the entire consolidated
indictment.
- Our
immediate reflection on this issue that we have raised is that the count related
to forced marriage which the prosecution is seeking
our leave to add to the
consolidated indictment is as much a sexual, indeed, a gender offence as those
that were included in the
initial individual indictments and that feature in the
current consolidated indictment on which this application to amend is
based.
- We
would like to say here that Forced Marriage is in fact what we would like to
classify, as a ‘kindred offence’ to those
that exist in the
consolidated indictment in the view of the commonality of the ingredients needed
to prove offences of this nature.
Given this consideration and the fact that
material related to those gender offences that feature on the consolidated
indictment
has long been disclosed to the Defence, we are of the opinion that
the amendment sought is not a novelty that should necessitate
fresh
investigations as the defence contends. This is only logical because granting it
would neither occasion an “undue delay”
of the trial of the accused,
nor a breach of the statutory rights of the accused as provided for under the
provisions of Article
17(4)(a) of the Statute and also because it would not
consequently as well, either place the prosecution in an unduly advantageous
position to the detriment of the defence, nor would it violate the principle of
“equality of arms”.
- In
the particular context of this case, we accept the Prosecution’s argument
that this application to amend, for the reasons
that the offences sought to be
added were disclosed to the accused and the Defence promptly, fulfils the
criterion of timeliness
having been filed even before the trial proceedings take
off although we know that some applications for amendments could, and have
in
fact been accepted, at the depth of the trial for considerations based on the
overall interest of justice.
- In
this regard, and to underscore the fulfillment of the criterion of timeliness,
an examination of some municipal decisions which
are in line with the philosophy
of the evolving jurisprudence in international criminal justice as far as the
amendment of charges
is concerned and at what stage such applications could be
entertained, are quite instructive and illuminating.
- In
the case of AYANSHINA VS. POLICE (1951), 12 WACA 260, the then West African
Court of Appeal held that it was permissible to add
a fresh count after a
submission had been made that there was no case to answer on the original charge
and before a ruling in favour
of the submission had been given. In another case,
R. V KANO & ARISAH (1951) 20 NLR, 32, a decision of the Supreme Court of
Nigeria
which was upheld, still by the then West African Court of Appeal, it was
held permissible to amend a charge after the final addresses
and before judgment
was delivered provided, as the Court observed, the “alteration could be
made at that stage without injustice
to the accused”. Indeed this decision
is very reflective of the provisions of Section 148(1) of the Criminal Procedure
Act
of Sierra Leone which provides in effect that such applications for
amendments of charges ‘unless having regard to the merits
of the case, the
requested amendments cannot be made without injustice”.
- It
might be difficult today to accept the applicability of the scope of these
decisions in International Criminal Tribunals but they
serve to emphasise the
variables of the concept of timeliness in introducing an amendment and the ideal
timeliness and promptitude
that characterized the Prosecution’s action in
this matter, and to underscore the flexibility of the exercise of the judicial
discretion in granting or refusing a motion to amend while emphasising that the
same essential ingredients would necessarily include
an examination on a case to
case basis and the respect at all times, for the overall interests of
justice.
- In
light of the above, we would like in our reasoning in this matter, to refer to
the case of THE PROSECUTOR V ALFRED MUSEMA, ICTR-96-13-T,
6 May 1999, where,
like in the instant case, the application to amend consisted of adding only one
count and to expand on the facts
in the existing indictment. In the Musema
case, the amendment was granted on the grounds that it was a mere technicality
which the
Trial Chamber considered would not, if granted, be prejudicial to the
statutory rights of the Accused.
- We
are therefore of the opinion that the Prosecution has satisfied these criteria.
We accordingly allow the Prosecution’s motion
to amend the Consolidated
Indictment and order as follows:
- (i) That the
inclusion in the Consolidated Indictment of a new count 8 of “Other
Inhumane Act, a crime against humanity, punishable
under Article 2.i of the
Statute”, as well as the other amendments requested by the Prosecution, is
hereby granted in the form
contained in the Proposed Amended Indictment filed as
Annex 1 to the Motion on 9 February 2004;
- (ii) That these
amendments shall go forward in compliance with the provisions of Rules 50(A) and
(B)(i) of the Rules.
|
Done at Freetown this 6th day of May 2004
|
Judge Benjamin Mutanga Itoe
|
|
Judge Pierre Boutet
|
|
|
|
[Seal of the Special Court for Sierra Leone]
|
Judge Bankole Thompson appends a separate and dissenting opinion to the
Decision of the Trial Chamber.
[1] The
Prosecutor v. Santigie Borbor Kanu, “Response to Prosecution’s
Request for Leave to Amend the Indictment”, 17 February 2004.
[2] SCSL-2004-16-PT,
Reply to Defence Response to Prosecution Request for Leave to Amend the
Indictment, 20 February 2004.
CommonLII:
Copyright Policy
|
Disclaimers
|
Privacy Policy
|
Feedback
URL: http://www.commonlii.org/sl/cases/SCSL/2004/84.html