ZAGREB, Aug 26 (Hina) - A former editor-in-chief of the Hrvatsko Slovoweekly, who was indicted by the Hague war crimes tribunal in April forcontempt of court, told reporters in Zagreb on Friday he would go onhunger strike because the
Croatian government refused to finance hisdefence and the UN tribunal did not want to register his attorneys.
ZAGREB, Aug 26 (Hina) - A former editor-in-chief of the Hrvatsko
Slovo weekly, who was indicted by the Hague war crimes tribunal in April for
contempt of court, told reporters in Zagreb on Friday he would go on hunger
strike because the Croatian government refused to finance his defence and the
UN tribunal did not want to register his attorneys. Domagoj
Margetic, charged with two counts of contempt for publishing in November 2004
the testimony and identity of a protected witness in the trial of General
Tihomir Blaskic, told reporters he had no money for a plane ticket to fly to
The Hague, where he is expected in September.
He accused Justice Minister Vesna Skare Ozbolt of wishing to
demonstrate her loyalty to the Hague tribunal by sending special police forces
to arrest him.
Asked why the tribunal refused to register his defence counsel,
Margetic said that one of the reasons was that they did not speak any of the
tribunal's two official languages, English and French.