Journalists Ivica Marijacic, Domagoj Margetic and Stjepan Seselj "acted unprofessionally and violated the ICTY Statute", Duka said in a brief interview with Croatian Television on Wednesday night.
The Hague-based tribunal on Wednesday released indictments against former Croatian military intelligence service chief Markica Rebic and the three journalists for revealing the identity of protected witnesses who had testified in the trial of General Tihomir Blaskic.
Marijacic told Hina he expected protection from the HND because it was uncommon for a war crimes tribunal to charge journalists.
Rebic and Marijacic are charged with one count of contempt of the tribunal.
Rebic, former chief of the Security and Information Service (SIS) and presidential national security adviser, allegedly provided Marijacic, editor of the Hrvatski List weekly, with the identity of a protected witness, copies of the statement the witness gave to the Office of the Prosecutor, and the transcript of the testimony the witness gave in closed session on December 19, 1997 during the trial of Tihomir Blaskic.
In its November 18, 2004 issue, Hrvatski List published an article headlined "World Exclusive - The First in the World to Publish THE SECRET DOCUMENT which Shows Carla del Ponte"s Plot Against Croatia."
"The article reveals that both Ivica Marijacic and Markica Rebic were aware that disclosure of the identity of the protected witness and that disclosure of his protected testimony were in knowing violation of orders of the Trial Chamber," the indictment says.
Seselj, publisher of the Hrvatski List weekly, is charged with one count of contempt of the tibunal, while Margetic, editor of Hrvatski List and editor-in-chief of Novo Hrvatsko Slovo, is charged with two counts of contempt of the tribunal for revealing the identity of a witness and publishing excerpts of the witness's testimony in closed session in the Blaskic case on March 16, 1998.
In its November 26, 2004 issue, Hrvatsko Slovo announced that it would run excerpts from the hearing in the next ten issues.
On December 2, the weekly again published excerpts of the closed-session testimony of the protected witness, and the same day the ICTY issued an order demanding that Seselj and Margetic stop publishing the testimonies of the witness concerned or any other protected witness.
On December 3, 2004, Seselj informed the tribunal that he would comply with the order.
Margetic, representing himself as editor-in-chief of Novo Hrvatsko Slovo, sent a letter to ICTY President Theodor Meron, saying that he did not recognise the tribunal or its orders, that he would not obey the order and that he would publish a special edition of Novo Hrvatsko Slovo on December 8, 2004, containing the entire testimony given in closed session by the protected witness.
Margetic earned a second count of contempt because he published further excerpts of the closed-session testimony in Novo Hrvatsko Slovo on December 10, 2004.
All the accused are charged under rule 77 of the ICTY Rules of Procedure and Evidence. If found guilty, they face a prison sentence of up to seven years, a fine not exceeding 100,000 euros, or both.