23.02.07 - ICTR/PRESS - JAIL FOR A CROATIAN JOURNALIST WHO DIVULGED THE NAME OF A WITNESS

Arusha, February 23, 2007 (FH) – The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) sentenced a Croatian journalist who divulged the identity of a witness to 3 months of prison and 10,000 euro fine ($13,000). Dommagoj Margetic was already the subject of a previous investigation that was abandoned, details the information letter of the International Justice Tribune (IJT) which revealed the information in its last booklet. According to the IJT, this is the first time that a journalist has been found guilty by the ICTY for this reason. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has never prosecuted a journalist. Article 75 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence details protection of witnesses and stipulates that a breach of these rules would be a contempt of court which would create liability under Article 77g (5 years in prison and a maximum fine of $10,000). In conference, the parties regularly accuse each other of having breached this rule but this has never left the court session. The anonymity of witnesses is considered by a number of observers of the ICTR as being illusory because of the particularities of Rwandan society, whose density in relation to its size creates an important social control. Many witnesses brought before the ICTR have been the subject of harassment after returning to their country; one of them has even been killed. Despite several requests, it has not been possible to ascertain the proportion of protected witnesses. They could approach 80%, according to non official sources. Last December during the appearance of French officers in the first military trials, the French newspaper Le Mond and then the magazine Jeune Afrique L’Intelligent cited the names of witnesses. The Registry opened an investigation. Before that, the identity of a previous witness, also a French officer, was unfortunately divulged by a trial order detailing the conditions of his appearance. This order has since been taken off the Tribunal’s website. PB/AT/KD © Hirondelle News Agency