PROSECUTOR v ALEX TAMBA BRIMA & ORS - DECISION ON CONFIDENTIAL DEFENCE REQUEST FOR DISCLOSURE OF INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATOR’S REPORT ON CONTEMPT OF COURT PROCEEDINGS AND REQUEST FOR STAY OF PROCEEDINGS - Case No.SCSL-04-16-T [2005] SCSL 112 (30 June 2005)

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

Before:	Justice Teresa Doherty, Presiding Judge Justice Richard Lussick Justice Julia Sebutinde
Registrar:	Robin Vincent
Date:	30 June 2005
PROSECUTOR	Against	Alex Tamba Brima Brima Bazzy Kamara Santigie Borbor Kanu (Case No.SCSL-04-16-T)

DECISION ON CONFIDENTIAL DEFENCE REQUEST FOR DISCLOSURE OF INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATOR’S REPORT ON CONTEMPT OF COURT PROCEEDINGS AND REQUEST FOR STAY OF PROCEEDINGS

Office of the Prosecutor:		Defence Counsel for Alex Tamba Brima:
Luc Côté Lesley Taylor		Glenna Thompson Kojo Graham
		Defence Counsel for Brima Bazzy Kamara: Mohamed Pa-Momo Fofanah
		Defence Counsel for Santigie Borbor Kanu: Geert-Jan Alexander Knoops Carry Knoops Abibola E. Manly-Spain

TRIAL CHAMBER II (“the Trial Chamber”) of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (“Special Court”), composed of Justice Teresa Doherty, presiding, Justice Richard Lussick and Justice Julia Sebutinde;

SEISED of the Confidential Joint Defence Request for Disclosure of The Independent Investigator’s Report on Contempt of Court Proceedings and Request for Stay of Proceedings filed on 4 April 2005 on behalf of the Accused Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu (“the Motion”)[1];

CONSIDERING the Prosecution Response to the Motion (“the Response”), filed on 14 April 2005[2];

CONSIDERING also the Confidential Joint Defence Reply to the Response, filed on 19 April 2005 on behalf of the Accused Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu[3];

NOTING the Report of the Independent Counsel Mr. Louis Tumwesige, submitted to the Trial Chamber on 16 March 2005 pursuant to the provisions of Rule 77 (C)(iii) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence (“the Rules”);

NOTING further that under Rule77 (C)(iii) of the Rules the Report of the Independent Counsel is intended to assist the Trial Chamber in its deliberations and that the Trial Chamber is under no obligation to disclose the contents of the said Report or its deliberations thereon;

CONSIDERING that the Trial Chamber in its Decision on The Report of The Independent Counsel Pursuant to Rules 77(C)(iii) and 77(D) of the Rules delivered and published on 29 April 2005[4] did not institute contempt proceedings against any of the Accused Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu;

NOTING the Order Assigning Cases To A Trial Chamber issued by the President of the Special Court on 2 May 2005[5] in which Justice Emmanuel Ayoola assigned the conduct of the Contempt of Court Proceedings to Trial Chamber I or a single Judge thereof ;

NOTING that Counsel for the Accused Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu do not in their Request for Disclosure of the Report of The Independent Counsel claim to be acting on behalf of the alleged contemnors in the Contempt of Court Proceedings ;

CONSIDERING that the Defence for the Accused Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu has not persuasively argued how the non-disclosure by the Trial Chamber of the Report of The Independent Counsel is likely to prejudice the Defence case or the conduct of a fair trial in the case of the Prosecutor v. Alex Tamba Brima et al.;

CONSIDERING further that for the same reasons the Defence for the Accused Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu has not persuasively argued how a stay of proceedings pending the disclosure of the Report of the Independent Counsel is an appropriate relief in the circumstances;

HEREBY dismisses the Confidential Joint Defence Request for Disclosure of The Independent Investigator’s Report on Contempt of Court Proceedings and Request for Stay of Proceedings.


Justice Richard Lussick	Justice Teresa Doherty Presiding Judge	Justice Julia Sebutinde

[1] Document No. SCSL-2004-16-T-200
[2] Document No. SCSL-2004-16-T-220
[3] Document No. SCSL-2004-16-T-226
[4] Prosecutor v. Alex Tamba Brima et al., Decision on the Report of the Independent Counsel Pursuant to Rules 77(C)(iii) and 77(D) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, 29 April 2005, Document No. SCSL-2004-16-T-237
[5] The Prosecutor v. Brima Samura: Case No. SCSL-2005-1 and the Prosecutor v. Margaret Fomba Brima, Neneh Binta Bah Jalloh, Anifa Kamara and Ester Kamara: Case No. SCSL -2005-2, Order Assigning Cases To A Trial Chamber of 2 May 2005.