Tribunal Probes Croat Journalists
Croatian politicians and journalists condemn move, saying it undermines press freedom.
Tribunal Probes Croat Journalists
Croatian politicians and journalists condemn move, saying it undermines press freedom.
The Hague tribunal will question eight journalists who defied its rules by publishing confidential information that linked generals accused of ethnic cleansing to Croatia’s ex-president.
The journalists, who come from some of the country’s largest media organisations, will be questioned in Zagreb over the next few days, according to sources in the Zagreb County Court quoted by Croatian media. They run the risk of being charged with contempt of court.
Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and media bodies condemned the summons, saying Croatian media should be allowed to work freely.
Court spokesperson Kresimir Devcic confirmed that a number of people had been summoned, but declined to identify them “because the tribunal requested secrecy”. The tribunal had already demanded a probe into the leak after state television channel HTV publicised the confidential information in late May.
The information relates to parts of a confidential annex to the indictment against Generals Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak, and Mladen Markac, who are accused of ordering the killing of at least 150 Serbs during Croatia’s “Operation Storm”, which regained control of a third of Croatian territory from Serb rebels in 1995.
The confidential annex listed ex-president Franjo Tudjman and others as having cooperated with the three generals in their alleged plan to ethnically cleanse Croatia of Serbs. The confidentiality was lifted a few days after the document was leaked.
Recently, editors at Slobodna Dalmacija and HTV, Vladimir Roncevic and Mladen Plese, were questioned on similar grounds. They spoke with the tribunal’s investigators in Zagreb on October 9.
Prime Minister Sanader said he opposed the questioning.
"The media have one of the key duties in a democracy, which is to inform the public,” he told the Vecernji list daily.
Zoran Milanovic, the leader of the Social Democrats, Croatia’s largest opposition party, was more measured in his response, saying the court's rules were obligatory for all, but added that the court's "enthusiasm in screening Croatian media work is surprising".
The Croatian Journalists’ Society, HND, meanwhile, expressed its “serious concern”.
“We call on the court to show more concern for the public interest, which was decisive in the journalists’ decision to publish the controversial information. In democratic societies, the right of the public to know must have priority except in some special cases like for example revealing the identity of protected court witnesses,” said the HND.
Croatian media identified the eight journalists as being former HTV Deputy editor-in-chief Goran Rotim, HTV Editor Djurica Drobac, independent journalist Josip Saric, Vecernji List journalist Davor Ivankovic, Slobodna Dalmacija journalists Sinisa Pavic and Jasna Babic, Jutarnji List journalist Snjezana Pavic and columnist Ivan Zvonimir Cicak.
The court’s rules lay down a punishment of up to seven years in prison or a fine of 100,000 euro for contempt of court. The journalists published the names of a number of Croat and Bosnian Croat officials as co-conspirators with the three generals
The court has earlier convicted two other Croatian journalists, Domagoj Margetic and Josip Jovic, of contempt of court for publishing the names of protected witnesses in another case.
Goran Jungvirth is an IWPR journalist in Zagreb.
The journalists, who come from some of the country’s largest media organisations, will be questioned in Zagreb over the next few days, according to sources in the Zagreb County Court quoted by Croatian media. They run the risk of being charged with contempt of court.
Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and media bodies condemned the summons, saying Croatian media should be allowed to work freely.
Court spokesperson Kresimir Devcic confirmed that a number of people had been summoned, but declined to identify them “because the tribunal requested secrecy”. The tribunal had already demanded a probe into the leak after state television channel HTV publicised the confidential information in late May.
The information relates to parts of a confidential annex to the indictment against Generals Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak, and Mladen Markac, who are accused of ordering the killing of at least 150 Serbs during Croatia’s “Operation Storm”, which regained control of a third of Croatian territory from Serb rebels in 1995.
The confidential annex listed ex-president Franjo Tudjman and others as having cooperated with the three generals in their alleged plan to ethnically cleanse Croatia of Serbs. The confidentiality was lifted a few days after the document was leaked.
Recently, editors at Slobodna Dalmacija and HTV, Vladimir Roncevic and Mladen Plese, were questioned on similar grounds. They spoke with the tribunal’s investigators in Zagreb on October 9.
Prime Minister Sanader said he opposed the questioning.
"The media have one of the key duties in a democracy, which is to inform the public,” he told the Vecernji list daily.
Zoran Milanovic, the leader of the Social Democrats, Croatia’s largest opposition party, was more measured in his response, saying the court's rules were obligatory for all, but added that the court's "enthusiasm in screening Croatian media work is surprising".
The Croatian Journalists’ Society, HND, meanwhile, expressed its “serious concern”.
“We call on the court to show more concern for the public interest, which was decisive in the journalists’ decision to publish the controversial information. In democratic societies, the right of the public to know must have priority except in some special cases like for example revealing the identity of protected court witnesses,” said the HND.
Croatian media identified the eight journalists as being former HTV Deputy editor-in-chief Goran Rotim, HTV Editor Djurica Drobac, independent journalist Josip Saric, Vecernji List journalist Davor Ivankovic, Slobodna Dalmacija journalists Sinisa Pavic and Jasna Babic, Jutarnji List journalist Snjezana Pavic and columnist Ivan Zvonimir Cicak.
The court’s rules lay down a punishment of up to seven years in prison or a fine of 100,000 euro for contempt of court. The journalists published the names of a number of Croat and Bosnian Croat officials as co-conspirators with the three generals
The court has earlier convicted two other Croatian journalists, Domagoj Margetic and Josip Jovic, of contempt of court for publishing the names of protected witnesses in another case.
Goran Jungvirth is an IWPR journalist in Zagreb.
