Briefly Noted

The court session was to hear details of preparations for the trial, following the men’s initial appearance in June, at which they pleaded not guilty.

The two men, speaking through their lawyers by telephone conference from Zagreb, are the former head of the Croatian intelligence service, Markica Rebic and Ivica Marijacic, the editor of the weekly paper Hrvatski List.

Rebic is said to have given Marijacic a copy of a statement a witness in the trial of Croatian general Tihomir Blaskic at the tribunal gave to prosecutors in August 1997, as well as a transcript of his testimony in December that year given in a closed court session.

The newspaper is alleged to have published some of the details in an article in 2004 entitled “World Exclusive –the first in the world to publish THE SECRET DOCUMENT which shows Carla Del Ponte’s plot against Croatia”.

The judge expressed surprise when told that the prosecution would need up to six witnesses to prove its case, with a maximum of five days in court.

The two defence counsels could not give any commitment on the numbers of witnesses they would need, but Ivanovic acting for Marijacic said he thought they were aiming to call several legal experts.

The prosecution agreed to file its pre-trial brief by Monday October 31, and the judge gave the defence a month from that date to file theirs.

A separate contempt case concerning the alleged revelation of the identity of another protected witness in the Blaskic case by four Croatian journalists in 2000 and 2004 is also due to be heard in The Hague in he next few months.

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Former Kosovo Liberation Army member Fatmir Limaj has been denied provisional release pending judgement.

His previous application, made in 2003, was turned down.

Limaj, along with Isak Musliu and Haradin Bala, has been charged with crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war in connection with an alleged prison camp in the village of Lapusnik in central Kosovo, where prosecutors say Serbs and suspected Albanian collaborators were interrogated, severely beaten and in more than 20 cases killed.

Limaj is alleged to have been the regional commander responsible for Lapusnik and also to have personally taken part in some of the crimes committed there.

His lawyers had argued that his application should be considered because there had been a change in circumstances since the last time – taking into account the provisional release granted to another tribunal indictee, Ramush Haradinaj, the former Kosovo prime minister, and the improvement in the security situation in Kosovo.

The tribunal rejected all the defence arguments, particularly because of the limited capacity of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, which was not able to provide “definite assurances” that it could monitor the accused and ensure he complies with the conditions of his release, including non-interference with witnesses.