Zecevic Contempt Case Halted
It comes after Karadzic trial prosecution witness reverses refusal to testify.
Zecevic Contempt Case Halted
It comes after Karadzic trial prosecution witness reverses refusal to testify.
Judges at the Hague tribunal have halted contempt proceedings against Berko Zecevic, a prosecution witness in the trial of Radovan Karadzic who initially refused to testify.
Zecevic, an associate professor at the engineering faculty of the University of Sarajevo, was arrested by Bosnian authorities on February 11 for refusing to comply with a court order and transferred to The Hague on February 17.
However, judges dropped the contempt proceedings following Zecevic’s initial appearance at the tribunal on February 18, when he indicated a willingness to testify in the Karadzic trial for as long as considered necessary.
His defence lawyer, Guenael Mettraux, stated in a written motion that his client had not intended to interfere with the proceedings and that “any wrong that might have resulted from his conduct was well and truly sanctioned by the period of time in detention”.
Zecevic, who has appeared as a prosecution witness in four previous trials at the tribunal, is due to begin his testimony on February 22. His evidence will concern ammunition supplied to and used by the Bosnian Serb army during the war.
According to court documents, Zecevic, 61, was first served with a subpoena on January 20. He subsequently stated that he was unwilling to testify because his previous testimony at the tribunal had had a “detrimental effect on his career”, he had “not been treated well” by the prosecution and because he has health problems.
Judges, however, did not consider these reasons to be “good cause” for not complying with the subpoena and they determined that he was “knowingly and willfully interfering with the administration of justice”. They issued an order in lieu of an indictment on February 4, but the document was not made public until February 15.
Rachel Irwin is an IWPR reporter in The Hague.
