Right to an initial appearance without undue delay

Notion(s) Filing Case
Appeal Judgement - 23.05.2005 KAJELIJELI Juvénal
(ICTR-98-44A-A)

248. The Appeals Chamber does not agree with the Trial Chamber in this regard. The difficulties in assigning the Appellant counsel in this case should not have been an obstacle for the Tribunal to ensure that the Appellant’s initial appearance was scheduled without delay. The Appeals Chamber agrees with the Prosecution that it is important and indeed ideal for an accused to have the assistance of counsel at the initial appearance to provide guidance, in particular, for entering a plea. Furthermore, the Appeals Chamber considers that Rule 62(A)(i) states that at the initial hearing, the Trial Chamber or Judge shall “[s]atisfy itself or himself that the right of the accused to counsel is respected.” In addition, the Trial Chamber or Judge could ordered assignment of duty counsel to the Appellant for purposes of representation at the initial appearance and would have had the opportunity to facilitate the Registry’s further attempts to assign the Appellant counsel.

249. Furthermore, the Appeals Chamber notes that apart from the assignment of counsel issue and the Appellant’s role in creating delay, the Registry conceded that in this case, the initial appearance was also delayed in part due to the fact that the Appellant had been jointly indicted with several other accused. It was difficult at the time for the Tribunal’s Court Management Section to find a date acceptable to all, with all being duly represented by counsel.[1]

250. The Appeals Chamber emphasizes that Rule 62 is unequivocal that an initial appearance is to be scheduled without delay. There are other purposes for an initial appearance apart from entering a plea including: reading out the official charges against the accused, ascertaining the identity of the detainee,[2] allowing the Trial Chamber or Judge to ensure that the rights of the accused while in detention are being respected, giving an opportunity for the accused to voice any complaints, and scheduling a trial date or date for a sentencing hearing, in the case of a guilty plea, without delay.[3] The Appeals Chamber therefore finds that, under the plain meaning of Rule 62, the 211-day delay between the Appellant’s transfer to the Tribunal and the initial appearance before a Judge of this Tribunal constitutes extreme undue delay.

[1] Decision of 8 May 2000 [The Prosecutor v. Juvénal Kajelijeli, Case No. ICTR-98-44A-I, Decision on the Defence Motion Concerning the Arbitrary Arrest and Illegal Detention of the Accused and on the Defence Notice of Urgent Motion to Expand and Supplement the Record of 8 December 1999 Hearing, 8 May 2008], para. 28 referring to the written brief of 7 February 2000 filed by Mr. Antoine Mindua, a representative of the Registry.

[2] See supra n. 484 [Appeal Hearing, T. 7 March 2005 p. 51].

[3] See generally Rule 62.

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ICTR Rule Rule 62 ICTY Rule Rule 62
Notion(s) Filing Case
Decision - 01.06.2000 SEMANZA Laurent
(ICTR-97-23-A)

107. Under Rule 62, the Appellant’s right to be brought before a Trial Chamber without delay and be formally charged came into effect on the date of his transfer to the Tribunal.[1] […]

[…]

110. The Parties to a case are responsible for the strategies they use in conducting it. […] Counsel for the Appellant consented to having the Appellant’s initial appearance not take place within the shortest possible lapse of time and himself contributed to prolonging it.

111. The Appeals Chamber finds that Counsel’s request has the import of waiving the Appellant’s right to claim violation of his right to be brought before a Trial Chamber without delay and be formally charged.

[1] Rule 62 states that: "Upon his transfer to the Tribunal, the accused shall be brought before a Trial Chamber without delay, and shall be formally charged […]".

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ICTR Rule Rule 62 ICTY Rule Rule 62
Notion(s) Filing Case
Decision - 03.11.1999 BARAYAGWIZA Jean-Bosco
(ICTR-97-19-AR72)

See paragraph 70 of the decision.

Disclaimer: No Word version of the present decision is currently available. It has therefore not been possible to include the text of the decision. Instead, the reader is directed to the relevant paragraphs of the decision.

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ICTR Statute Article 20(4) ICTY Statute Article 21(4) ICTR Rule Rule 62 ICTY Rule Rule 62
Notion(s) Filing Case
Decision - 03.11.1999 BARAYAGWIZA Jean-Bosco
(ICTR-97-19-AR72)

See paragraphs 91-92, 99 of the decision.

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Notion(s) Filing Case
Appeal Judgement - 14.12.2015 NYIRAMASUHUKO et al. (Butare)
(ICTR-98-42-A)

49. The Appeals Chamber considers that the circumstances of this case differ from the situation in the Kajelijeli case, in which the Appeals Chamber found that the delay in the holding of the initial appearance was attributable to the Tribunal notwithstanding any attribution of fault to Kajelijeli.[1] Unlike in Ntahobali’s case, Kajelijeli’s initial appearance was held 211 days after his transfer to the Tribunal as a result of difficulties in assigning him a counsel, the Registrar’s failure to assign a duty counsel, and the Registry’s difficulties in finding a date acceptable to all counsel representing Kajelijeli’s co-indicted.[2] Further, unlike Kajelijeli, Ntahobali was given the opportunity to enter his plea on 3 September 1997 but preferred to wait for his assigned counsel. The Appeals Chamber considers that when, like in Ntahobali’s case, the counsel for an accused explicitly requests the date of the initial appearance to be postponed and the accused expresses his preference for entering his plea in the presence of his assigned counsel rather than entering it at an earlier opportunity, the delay caused by the postponement of the initial appearance is not attributable to the Tribunal.[3]

[1] See Kajelijeli Appeal Judgement, para. 253.

[2] See Kajelijeli Appeal Judgement, paras. 248-250.

[3] Cf. Laurent Semanza v. The Prosecutor, Case No. ICTR-97-20-A, Decision, dated 31 May 2000, filed 1 June 2000 (originally filed in French, English translation filed on 4 July 2001) (“Semanza Appeal Decision”), paras. 110, 111.

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ICTR Rule Rule 62 ICTY Rule Rule 62
Notion(s) Filing Case
Appeal Judgement - 14.12.2015 NYIRAMASUHUKO et al. (Butare)
(ICTR-98-42-A)

42.    As regards Nyiramasuhuko’s request for an appropriate remedy for the violations found at trial, the Appeals Chamber observes that the only violations determined to have occurred were the violations of her rights to be informed of the charges against her and of initial appearance without delay recognised in the 12 October 2000 Decision [The Prosecutor v. Pauline Nyiramasuhuko and Arsène Shalom Ntahobali, Case No. ICTR-97-21-T, Decision on the Defence Motion for Exclusion of Evidence and Restitution of Property Seized, 12 October 2000 (originally filed in French, English translation filed on the same day)].[1] The Appeals Chamber recalls that “any violation, even if it entails a relative degree of prejudice, requires a proportionate remedy”.[2] The nature and form of the effective remedy should be proportional to the gravity of harm that is suffered.[3] In practice, “the effective remedy accorded by a Chamber for violations of an accused’s fair trial rights will almost always take the form of equitable or declaratory relief.”[4] The Appeals Chamber considers that, in situations where the violation has not materially prejudiced the accused, a formal recognition of the violation may be considered an effective remedy.[5] Nyiramasuhuko has not developed any argument to demonstrate that the recognition of the violations of her rights to be informed of the charges against her and of initial appearance without delay by Judge Kama in the 12 October 2000 Decision was not an effective remedy. Nyiramasuhuko’s claim is therefore dismissed.

See also para. 50.

[1] See Nyiramasuhuko Appeal Brief, para. 71 (p. 21). The Appeals Chamber notes that Nyiramasuhuko has failed to identify in her submissions any other violation recognised by the Trial Chamber that may require remedy and will therefore limit its consideration to the violations of her rights to be informed of the charges against her and of initial appearance without delay, which are expressly discussed in her submissions under this ground of appeal.

[2] André Rwamakuba v. The Prosecutor, Case No. ICTR-98-44C-A, Decision on Appeal Against Decision on Appropriate Remedy, 13 September 2007 (“Rwamakuba Appeal Decision”), para. 24. See also Kajelijeli Appeal Judgement, para. 255.

[3] Rwamakuba Appeal Decision, para. 27.

[4] Rwamakuba Appeal Decision, para. 27 and references cited therein.

[5] Cf. Rwamakuba Appeal Decision, para. 27; The Prosecutor v. André Rwamakuba, Case No. ICTR-98-44C-T, Decision on Appropriate Remedy, 31 January 2007 (“Rwamakuba Decision”), para. 69; Bagosora et al. Trial Judgement, para. 97.

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