According to an order signed by Judge Kwon and dated December 12, the trial will be held on January 17-18 and a pre-trial conference earlier on the 17th. The tribunal's Office of the Registrar was ordered to make sure that the indictees attend the trial.
The prosecutors were ordered to submit a list of evidence to the defence by January 9, and the defence to submit to the prosecutors lists of witnesses and evidence by the same date.
Marijacic's attorney Marin Ivanovic confirmed the trial would start on January 17 and voiced confidence in successfully contesting the indictment, which he said was full of legal and factual errors.
Marijacic and Rebic were first indicted on April 26 but they will be tried under an amended indictment of October 14, which charges each with one count of contempt of the Hague tribunal, because in the 18 November 2004 edition of Hrvatski List they revealed the identity and testimony of a protected witness from a 1997 closed hearing in the trial of Bosnian Croat Tihomir Blaskic.
Contempt of court is punishable with imprisonment of up to seven years or a fine of up to 100,000 euros, or a combination of both.
Earlier this year the Hague tribunal indicted four other Croatian journalists of contempt -- a former editor in chief of Slobodna Dalmacija daily, Josip Jovic, the director of Hrvatsko Slovo Stjepan Seselj and the weekly's former editors in chief, Domagoj Margetic and Marijan Krizic. They are charged with revealing the name and testimony of another protected witness in a 1998 closed hearing in the Blaskic trial.