Editorial - An alarming decision for freedom of the press

Editorial - An alarming decision for freedom of the press
International Justice Tribune (English) - March 27, 2006

By: Thierry Cruvellier

In the wake of two dramatic events - Babic's suicide and the death of Milosevic - an alarming decision by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) went unnoticed.

On March 10, Croatian journalist Ivica Marijavic was ordered to pay a hefty fine of 15,000 euros on charges of "contempt of court." His crime: having disclosed the identity in 2004 of a so-called "protected" witness who had testified before the ICTY in 1997. Any journalist who covers such trials adheres to one principle: do not endanger anyone's life, especially that of a victim, by failing to respect that person's specific request for anonymity.

However, that was not the case here. The identified witness is none other than an officer in the Dutch army. Revealing his identity did not in any way threaten his security - a fact acknowledged by the court, which moreover lifted his protected status in January. Behind the ICTY's case against this journalist is a perversion of the noble principle of protecting witnesses. Closed hearings and anonymous testimonies before the ICTY and the ICTR have gradually not been based on careful examination of the risks involved, but rather on the institutions' desire to protect themselves. This is one of the most damaging legacies of the ad hoc tribunals: erosion of public hearings. In Zagreb, ICTY supporters are greatly bothered. "The very concept of witness protection is being compromised. Now here I am forced to defend these journalists," protested one of the country's most respected human rights defenders. Four other Croatian journalists will soon be tried on similar charges, some of them having revealed nothing more secret than the identity of the current Croatian president!