Earlier on Monday, one of the indicted journalists, Domagoj Margetic, told Croatian reporters in Zagreb that he had received an amended indictment from the ICTY which joined the cases of the said reporters.
The same source from The Hague said that this was a draft indictment and it should be regarded as a a draft as long as a judge did not confirm it.
This April, the ICTY issued a joint indictment against Seselj and Margetic, the director and the then chief editor of the Hrvatsko Slovo weekly, charging them with contempt of court for having published in late 2004 the name of a protected witness and the witness's testimony at the trial of Bosnian Croat military leader Tihomir Blaskic, although the tribunal ordered the newspaper not to do it.
On 9 September, the ICTY issued two separate indictments against Josip Jovic, a former chief editor of the Slobodna Dalmacija daily, and Marijan Krizic, for revealing the identity of the protected witness from the same trial.
Krizic has been indicted as it was subsequently established that he and not Margetic was the chief editor of the Hrvatsko Slovo weekly when the material in question was published.
On 20 September this year, the prosecutor in this case, David Akeron, submitted a proposal for the amending of the indictment against Seselj and Margetic and for the joinder of the indictments against all the four indicted reporters.
The prosecutor explained his move claiming that it was in accordance with ICTY rules and the tribunal's exit strategy.
He asked for the joinder for reasons of what he said are the interests of justice and the cost-effectiveness of the trial.
According to the prosecutor, the indictees have committed the same criminal act: the obstruction of justice as they revealed protected information, and, within a joint scheme or strategy, they used their newspapers to publish the name and excerpts from a transcript of the same protected witness.
Defence lawyers for Jovic, Seselj and Krizic, and Margetic, who defends himself, opposed the move for the joinder of their indictments and the joint trial, describing it as something which would violate their rights.
Apart from the said four reporters, another reporter, i.e. the chief editor of the Hrvatski List weekly, Ivica Marijacic and that weekly's collaborator Markica Rebic, a retired general and former intelligence agent, were also indicted by the ICTY for revealing the identity of another protected witness from the Blaskic trial. Their indictment was issued on 26 April this year.
Seselj, Margetic, Marijacic, Rebic and Krizic voluntarily appeared before the ICTY to enter a plea, and all of them pleaded not guilty. Josip Jovic refused to travel to The Hague voluntarily and he was arrested last week in his home-town of Split following an order issued by the ICTY for his arrest. The procedure for his transfer to the UN tribunal is now being conducted before the Split County Court.
The indictments issued against the Croatian reporters, and particularly Jovic's apprehension triggered off protests of their colleagues in Croatia. The Croatian Journalists' Association (HND) and international associations of journalists also criticised his arrest the the conduct of the Hague tribunal in these cases.