Briefly Noted

Josip Jovic was editor of the Split daily Slobodna Dalmacija in late 2000 when the newspaper published excerpts from testimony by a protected witness in war crimes proceedings against senior Croatian general Tihomir Blaskic.

According to prosecutors, when the Hague tribunal issued an order calling for the paper to halt the publication of any more excerpts, Slobodna Dalmacija ran an editorial article labelling the order “arrogant” and claiming that it “constituted meddling in the sovereignty of Croatia and aggression against the legal state”. The paper apparently went on to publish further excerpts from the protected testimony.

An arrest warrant was issued for Jovic on September 28, 2005 when he failed to appear before the tribunal. At this week’s hearing, his lawyers explained that their client had initially wanted to challenge the tribunal’s jurisdiction over the matter from Croatia, before deciding to bring his objections before the court itself.

“The chamber would have preferred if the accused had taken this stance in the beginning,” remarked Presiding Judge Alphons Orie.

Judge Orie warned the accused that if he failed to attend hearings in the future there was a “fair chance” that another arrest warrant would be filed. Jovic will be allowed to return to Croatia but Judge Orie also warned him against interfering with any potential witnesses in his trial.

Jovic will now be handed all documentation and other information relevant to his case, in order to allow him to prepare his defence. Judge Orie said this material should include information which is not in the public domain.

Kresimir Krsnik, Jovic’s lawyer, agreed on the need to keep the material secret, before inquiring whether a third party who came across such information would be required to do the same.

Judge Orie explained that there is an overarching duty not to disclose information classified by the tribunal as protected, “Whether you find [it] in a garbage bin or anywhere else.”

The defence will have to submit their motion concerning the tribunal’s jurisdiction over the case by October 26. Krsnik said he expected to have the document drawn up by the end of next week.

Before a date can be set for the start of Jovic’s trial, a decision has to be made about whether his case can be joined with those of three other Croatian journalists facing similar charges – Marijan Krizic, Stjepan Seselj and Domagoj Margetic.

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Judges presiding over the trial of ex-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic this week ordered the accused, who is presenting his own defence case, to tell the court how many more witnesses he intends to call and how long each one is likely to take.

Milosevic, who often displays a cavalier attitude to the legal protocol surrounding his case, is required to provide the information by October 17 at the latest.

In the same written ruling, the judges estimated that the 360 hours allocated to Milosevic’s defence case is likely to come to an end sometime in March next year.

The accused, who has been presenting his defence since the end of August 2004, has so far largely focussed his attention on charges relating to events in Kosovo in the late Nineties, at the expense of two completely separate indictments against him relating to the earlier wars in Bosnia and Croatia.

Judges have repeatedly warned Milosevic of the need to speed up his examination of witnesses and to limit lengthy digressions into areas which are not directly relevant to his case.

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Former prime minister of Kosovo Ramush Haradinaj, currently on provisional release pending the start of war crimes proceedings against him in The Hague, has been given permission to re-enter political life in the protectorate.

Haradinaj is charged with 17 counts of crimes against humanity for his alleged involvement in the abduction, brutal treatment and murders of Serbs, Roma and suspected Albanian collaborators in 1998, during his time in the Kosovo Liberation Army.

In the original agreement granting Haradinaj provisional release in June, the accused was not permitted to “make any public appearance or in any way get involved in any public activity”.

But judges this week accepted a request by defence counsel to reconsider these conditions. They ruled that the accused should be allowed to take part in political activity to the extent that this is considered important to the “positive development of the political and security situation in Kosovo” by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK.

Haradinaj will have to seek prior approval from UNMIK each time he wants to make a public appearance or take part in any political activity.

In a dissenting opinion attached to the judges’ majority decision, Presiding Judge Carmel Agius said he strongly disagreed with the delegation of responsibility to UNMIK, believing that such control should remain exclusively with the tribunal.

Prosecutors can seek leave to appeal the ruling.

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Five men said to be amongst those seen apparently executing Muslim prisoners from the town of Srebrenica in video footage entered into evidence before the tribunal earlier this year have been charged in Serbia with murder.

Belgrade prosecutors say Slobodan Medic, Pera Petrasevic, Aleksandar Medic, Aleksandar Vukov and Branislav Medic are former members of the notorious Scorpions paramilitary unit.

Prosecutors in The Hague claim the Scorpions were directly subordinated to Belgrade at the time the murders took place.

The tape is thus considered to be one of the clearest pieces of evidence ever made public showing the alleged role played by former Yugoslav president and Hague accused Slobodan Milosevic in the massacre of thousands of prisoners from Srebrenica in July 1995.