'SLOBODNA DALMACIJA' EDITOR-IN-CHIEF "SHOCKED" AT ICTY'S ORDER

SPLIT, Dec 3 (Hina) - The editor-in-chief of the "Slobodna Dalmacija" daily, Josip Jovic, said on Sunday the order of the Hague war crimes tribunal banning the publication of the testimony of Croatian President Stjepan Mesic before the ICTY was "shocking." He added a decision on the further publication of those statements would be made "after all legal aspects of the order are studied." In a statement to Hina, Jovic said, "it is extremely unusual and legally very disputable for an international court institution to issue direct orders to the citizens and legal entities of a sovereign state." This act, Jovic believes, "clearly shows the position of our country in relation to that court." "At the moment I do not know my legal position as editor-in-chief and we will have to analyse it in the coming days, but I feel aversion to this order and have no moral obligations toward The Hague," Jovic said. "If the court wanted to protect somebody's testimony, it should have done it in some other way and not limit the freedom of the press of a sovereign state to inform its readers about what they are objectively very interested in," Jovic said. He believes the order from The Hague came "after Stjepan Mesic asked the Hague tribunal to do such a thing." "Although the incumbent President Mesic claims that he means everything he said in The Hague, it is obvious that he is terribly afraid of the content of the next parts of his testimony. And he should have acted as president of the state and bring the testimony to light and remove all dilemmas," Jovic said. He assessed that Mesic's testimony has great political importance and that it had aroused a great interest of 'Slobodna Dalmacija' readers. "President Mesic has been saying all the time that he testified in The Hague in the process against Slavko Dokmanovic, and it is obvious from this order to 'Slobodna Dalmacija' that he was a witness in the case called 'The Prosecutor Vs Blaskic," Jovic said. (hina) rml