Kosovan Journalist Contempt Indictment Unsealed

Hague tribunal judges have lifted confidentiality from an indictment against a Kosovo journalist charged with contempt of court after allegedly revealing a protected witness’s identity.



Baton Haxhiu apparently identified the witness who appeared in the trial of former Kosovo prime minister and Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, commander Ramush Haradinaj, in an article he wrote and published in December last year.



Haxhiu, who is the editor-in-chief of a Kosovo daily newpaper, was arrested on May 20 and transferred to the Hague tribunal shortly after that. On May 21, he pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.



Haxhiu is the third Kosovo Albanian to be charged with contempt of court in recent weeks.



On April 25, Astrit Haraqija and Bajrush Morina were indicted for their alleged attempt to persuade a protected witness not to testify against Haradinaj. After pleading not guilty to all charges, they were granted provisional release until the start of trial, which is scheduled for June 16 this year.



At the beginning of April, the tribunal judges acquitted Haradinaj and KLA commander Idriz Balaj of all charges against them. They had been accused of responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo between March and September 1998. The third accused, Lahi Brahimaj was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for cruel treatment and torture of two persons at the KLA Jablanica headquarters.



The trial chamber which rendered the judgement pointed out that the “trial was being held in an atmosphere where witnesses felt unsafe” and that they “encountered significant difficulties in securing testimony of a large number of witnesses” during the trial.



Earlier this month, prosecutors called on the tribunal’s appeals chamber to order a re-trial of Haradinaj and others due to what they described as the “prevailing circumstances of witness intimidation and fear”.



However, in a statement released after the verdict, Haradinaj’s lawyers pointed out, “There was no evidence against [Haradinaj] either personally or as a member of a joint criminal enterprise as alleged by the prosecution.



“It [was] clear from the evidence of prosecution witnesses, that far from having behaved in a criminal fashion, Mr Haradinaj had at all times acted to prevent wrong-doing and to protect civilian lives.”



Merdijana Sadovic is IWPR’s Hague programme manager.