The Appeals Chamber confirmed that a Trial Chamber is entitled to reconsider previous decisions after the closing arguments of the parties. However, in such a case the Trial Chamber has to carefully consider the impact of its reconsideration on the aspects of the procedure which were affected by its initial decision. In the present case, the Trial Chamber was obliged to reopen the debate to give the parties the opportunity to present their view on the issue (para. 55):

55.     It is apparent from the foregoing that the Trial Chamber reconsidered in the Trial Judgement some of the findings it had made in certain pre-trial decisions on the form of the Indictments. This does not in itself constitute an error, as it is within the discretion of a Trial Chamber to reconsider a decision it has previously made if a clear error of reasoning has been demonstrated or if it is necessary to do so to prevent an injustice. However, the Appeals Chamber emphasises that “where such a decision is changed, there will be a need in every case for the Trial Chamber to consider with great care and to deal with the consequences of the change upon the proceedings which have in the meantime been conducted in accordance with the original decision”. In the present case, the Appeals Chamber considers that, once the Trial Chamber decided to reconsider its pre-trial decisions relating to the specificity of the Indictments at the stage of deliberations, it should have interrupted the deliberation process and reopened the hearings. At such an advanced stage of the proceedings, after all the evidence had been heard and the parties had made their final submissions, the Prosecution could not move to amend the Indictment. On the other hand, reopening the hearings would have allowed the Prosecution to try to convince the Trial Chamber of the correctness of its initial pre-trial decisions on the form of the Indictment, or to argue that any defects had since been remedied. The Appeals Chamber finds that the Trial Chamber erred in remaining silent on its decision to find the abovementioned parts of the Indictments defective until the rendering of the Trial Judgement.