WELCOME TO IWPRS ICTY - TRIBUNAL UPDATE No. 566, August 29, 2008 HAGUE TRIBUNAL CHARGES FORMER SPOKESWOMAN WITH CONTEMPT French journalist Florence Hartmann says she will contest charges at September hearing. By Simon Jennings in The Hague
COURTSIDE: PRLIC WITNESS DENIES ETHNIC CLEANSING Croat official tells judges displaced Bosniaks were not expelled, but chose to leave for safe areas. By Goran Jungvirth in Zagreb BRIEFLY NOTED: KARADZIC AGAIN REFUSES TO ENTER PLEA Suspect says he will awaiti updated indictment now being revised by prosecutors. 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By Simon Jennings in The Hague Florence Hartmann, a former spokeswoman for the Hague tribunals chief prosecutor, was charged with contempt of court this week for revealing confidential information after leaving her post. Hartmann is charged on two counts relating to the disclosure of decisions made by the appeals chamber during the trial of the former Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic, in 2005 and 2006, the court order said. However, Hartmann told IWPR she was acting in the public interest. For me and my lawyers, its a question of free speech and the right to inform, with transparency, the public on a subject of public interest, she said. We cannot say international justice is not a subject of public interest; its a subject even of humanity interest. The court order notes that Hartmann published a book, Paix and Chatiment (Peace and Punishment), in September 2007, and wrote an article entitled Vital Genocide Documents Concealed, which was published on the Bosnian Institute website on January 21 this year. The order which was issued in lieu of an indictment on 27 August states that both these texts gave details of confidential decisions made by appeals judges on court motions which were themselves filed confidentially. According to the court order, Hartmann broke the rules because she knew she was revealing confidential information to the public. Hartmann, who was Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte's spokeswoman from 1999 to 2006, insists she has done nothing wrong. She argues that public discussion of judicial affairs is a driving force behind the success of international justice. Public opinion is one of the leading forces in support of international justice because it is for the protection of any citizen in the world thats the ideal goal of international justice and of the rules that have been established, she said. Its right that there is a right of public scrutiny in those institutions. The journalist has been ordered to appear before the trial chamber on September 15. The information she revealed is thought to relate to the courts handling of certain documents, including minutes of meetings of the Serbian Defence Council, SDC, during the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. The minutes from these meetings are widely believed to contain crucial information about Belgrades involvement in these wars, and both lawyers and the media have criticised the decision not to make them public. Tribunal judges reportedly granted parts of the documents confidential status at Serbias request, under tribunal rules of procedure and evidence which allow a state to keep its documents secret if their disclosure could prejudice national security interests. Lead prosecutor in the Milosevic case Sir Geoffrey Nice said no reason was given for this ruling at the time, which denied his team the fundamental information they needed to argue against it. IWPR has covered this issue extensively and also written to the tribunal asking permission to employ an amicus curiae to argue the case for unsealing the documents. No response has yet been received. Hartmann told IWPR she was shocked by the charges, and also by the manner in which she learned of them. She found out, she said, when reading a circular news release sent out by the tribunals press office to the media before she had been officially notified by the registry. The registry sent me a copy yesterday night [August 27], three hours after the press was informed, and my lawyer who was representing me at the point I was a suspect had not been informed yet, Hartmann said. Tribunal spokeswoman Nerma Jelacic told IWPR that while she could not comment on specific cases, the tribunal does generally endeavour to inform the accused of the charges against them. Hartmann, meanwhile, made it clear that she intends to fight the charges. I will respond to the charges and I dont see any illegal motivation behind this move [to publish the material]. The tribunal has taken some action against free speech and transparency, she said. Her lawyer William Bourdon rejected the charges, arguing that Hartmann had not revealed any confidential information, but only material that had come to light through her interviews as a journalist. "As a journalist [Hartmann] had access to public information and to various sources in various countries through many interviews," Bourdon told IWPR. He added that Hartmann denies absolutely revealing any confidential information. Hartmann said she was also surprised at the timing of the charges, which come almost a full year after her book was published and after it had been translated into other languages. There were quite a lot of media reports that the book would be translated into Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian, said Hartmann. If they [the tribunal] were concerned with anything they could have taken whatever decision they wanted prior to the book being [distributed] in other languages. Simon Jennings is an IWPR reporter in The Hague. COURTSIDE: PRLIC WITNESS DENIES ETHNIC CLEANSING Croat official tells judges displaced Bosniaks were not expelled, but chose to leave for safe areas. By Goran Jungvirth in Zagreb A member of Bosnias parliament said this week that Bosniaks were not ethnically cleansed from Croat-controlled territory during the war, but left of their own accord. Martin Raguz, currently a member of Bosnias state parliament, worked for the office for refugees and displaced people of the self-proclaimed Croat statelet of Herceg-Bosna during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. The official dismissed claims that Bosnian Croats expelled Bosniaks from territory under the control of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO the wartime entitys armed forces and government. He instead blamed military operations for the displacement, and said civilians fled the danger voluntarily. People went where it was better for them, said the witness. Former Herceg-Bosna prime minister Jadranko Prlic and other five senior officials are accused of taking part in a joint criminal enterprise aimed at expelling Bosniaks from parts of Bosnia and Hercegovina controlled by Bosnian Croats during the Croatian-Muslim conflict in 1993 and 1994. On trial with Prlic are former Herceg-Bosna defence minister Bruno Stojic, HVO military police commander Valentin Coric, General Slobodan Praljak, General Milivoj Petkovic and the head of the commission for prisoner exchange, Berislav Pusic. They are all charged with responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including persecutions, murder, rape, and deportation. The indictment states that members of Croatias political and military establishment wanted to unite Herceg-Bosna with Croatia proper. Prosecution witnesses have testified that the HVOs policy was to implement its plan in a way that would require the removal of Muslims and other non-Croats from Herceg-Bosna. However, the defendants supported by Raguzs testimony this week argue that the Bosnian Croats had to organise themselves because of their isolation from the government in Sarajevo, which was mostly made up of Bosniaks. Raguzs political carrier began in June 1992, when he was elected minister for work, social welfare and refugees of Bosnia and Hercegovina. At the end of 1992, he left Sarajevo and went to the Croatian capital Zagreb to join his family. He stayed there until May 1993, when he accepted a job as deputy of chief of the department for refugees and displaced persons in Herceg-Bosna. He was then dismissed from the Bosnian government. This week, Raguz defended the creation of the HVO. We must bear in mind the fact that [the HVO] was a legitimate defensive structure created when the socialist system was dissolving and it was impossible to protect the whole country, he said. The witness dismissed prosecution claims that Bosniaks were ethnically cleansed from the predominantly Croat region of Hercegovina. He also denied that Croats from central Bosnia were then encouraged by the authorities to move to Hercegovina to increase population numbers there, in a process that has been termed reverse ethnic cleansing. For instance, while he acknowledged that the HVO moved about 15,000 Croats from the Kakanj area of central Bosnia, he said it was in order to help people and save lives. I said already and Im repeating it now absolutely, it wasnt about [reverse ethnic cleansing]. Here in front of this honourable court, I dismiss any possibility of characterising help for those people in that way, Raguz said. He argued that the HVOs presence helped civilians. This area which the HVO defended was where the most people were saved and where the most humanitarian aid in Bosnia was delivered, said Raguz. Raguz explained that local officials, not Prlics government, took charge of refugee accommodation, and therefore the prime minister could not have command responsibility. He explained that some Croat-run municipalities asked Herceg-Bosna officials to evacuate them because of the conflict with the Bosnian army. If the request was dismissed, the municipalities accused them of making political decisions and gambling with the lives of civilians, he said. The witness dismissed allegations that visas issued to Bosniaks by Herceg-Bosna authorities allowing them to leave for third countries were instruments of ethnic cleansing. A few thousand visas was a small number considering the million people already displaced around the world, said Raguz. During cross-examination, the prosecution presented documents detailing the population before and after the conflict to show how many Bosnians had left Croat-controlled areas, such as the city of Mostar, during the war. I can only say that was to do with the war in Mostar where both sides were involved [Bosnian army and HVO] and where both nations got hurt, said Raguz. The trial continues next week. Goran Jungvirth is an IWPR-trained journalist in Croatia. BRIEFLY NOTED: KARADZIC AGAIN REFUSES TO ENTER PLEA Suspect says he will awaiti updated indictment now being revised by prosecutors. By Merdijana Sadovic in Sarajevo Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic this week refused to respond to charges in the current indictment against him, saying he was waiting for a new one that is due to be filed. Karadzic faces charges for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity relating to Bosnias 1992-95 war. He was arrested in Belgrade at the end of July and transferred to the Hague tribunal shortly after that. Hague prosecutors are currently reviewing the current indictment against Karadzic. When Judge Ian Bonomy who has replaced Judge Alphonse Orie as a pre-trial judge in this case called on the suspect to enter a plea to the operative indictment, the accused said he had no interest in listening to that indictment, not only because I'm expecting a new one to be filed, but also because I have not yet put together my team of associates and helpers. At a hearing held a month ago, Karadzic made similar comments and said he would not enter a plea on the current indictment because he knew it was going to be amended. Prosecutors then promised to amend the indictment as soon as possible. However, at a further hearing on August 29, they said they needed one more month. Can you explain to me what the difficulty is that you're having in dealing with the issues in such a prominent case, in which the indictment was first filed over eight years ago? Judge Bonomy asked the prosecution. Prosecutor Alan Tieger pointed out that he and his colleagues had to review a vast volume of material. While they could have proceeded to simply address any glaring or obvious issue related to the indictment, he said, it seemed to them far more prudent, particularly at this time the early stage of the proceedings to undertake the most comprehensive possible review to avert the need for any further issues later down the road. Judge Bonomy expressed his surprise that the indictment had not been tackled until Karadzic was apprehended. I find it surprising that bearing in mind the period since the original indictment, the aim that everyone was aware of of concluding the business of this tribunal fairly expeditiously and the significance in the life and to the life of this tribunal of this particular case that you tell me now that it's only once the accused is in custody that this exercise is being undertaken, he concluded. As the tribunals rules require that a plea has to be entered within 30 days of the initial appearance of the accused, Judge Bonomy entered a not guilty plea to all charges in the indictment on Karadzics behalf. The next hearing is scheduled for September 17. Merdijana Sadovic is IWPRs Hague programme manager. **** www.iwpr.net ******************************************************************** ICTY - TRIBUNAL UPDATE, which has been running since 1996, details events and issues at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY, in The Hague. These weekly reports, produced by IWPR's human rights and media training project, seek to contribute to regional and international understanding of the war crimes prosecution process. The opinions expressed in ICTY - Tribunal Update are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the publication or of IWPR. 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