ZAGREB, Dec 4 (Hina) - A Croatian lawyer, Anto Nobilo, on Monday said President Stjepan Mesic should ask the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY), to remove the label confidential from statements he had given
in The Hague so that his testimonies could be demystified. "I shall not tackle details in order not to reveal the contents of (Mesic's) testimonies, but I can say that President Mesic did not say anything more before the ICTY than what had already been made public in his public appearances. The contents of the protected testimonies is a compilation of his public appearances in the last ten years, Nobilo told Hina on the phone on Monday. Nobilo, being a defence lawyer of an ICTY indictee, Bosnian Croat General Tihomir Blaskic, a former commander of the Central Bosnian operative zone, has listened to Mesic's testimonies but he is bound by the Hague-based
ZAGREB, Dec 4 (Hina) - A Croatian lawyer, Anto Nobilo, on Monday
said President Stjepan Mesic should ask the International Criminal
Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY), to remove the label
confidential from statements he had given in The Hague so that his
testimonies could be demystified.
"I shall not tackle details in order not to reveal the contents of
(Mesic's) testimonies, but I can say that President Mesic did not
say anything more before the ICTY than what had already been made
public in his public appearances. The contents of the protected
testimonies is a compilation of his public appearances in the last
ten years, Nobilo told Hina on the phone on Monday.
Nobilo, being a defence lawyer of an ICTY indictee, Bosnian Croat
General Tihomir Blaskic, a former commander of the Central Bosnian
operative zone, has listened to Mesic's testimonies but he is bound
by the Hague-based Tribunal's rules to keep the contents secret.
In Nobilo's mind the revealing of Mesic's interviews to the ICTY
would produce no harmful effect.
On December 1, the ICTY's trial chamber forwarded orders to
Croatia's daily and weekly 'Slobodna Dalmacija' and 'Globus'
respectively to discontinue immediately the publication of
transcripts of President Mesic's testimonies before that Tribunal.
Last week these papers disclosed a part of those testimonies.
Lawyer Nobilo believes that Mesic's political opponents
deliberately "mystify his statements before the Hague Tribunal so
that they could have political advantages for themselves."
Croatian law experts, asked to expound the Tribunal's decision not
to allow "Slobodna Dalmacija" and "Globus" to disclose any longer
the transcripts in concern, said the Hague Tribunal, just as
national courts, can protect data which are a part of the cases
tackled by that Tribunal and that there are no doubts from the
formal and legal point of view.
In compliance with the ICTY's Article 75 on the protection of
victims and witnesses, the Tribunal's judge or trial chamber can
rule certain measures for their protections provided that those
measures do not breach the rights of defendants.
Thus, identity of victims and witnesses could be kept secret from
the public and media. Their image and voice could be changed for
this purpose. Once the trial chamber makes such a decision, only it
can change or rescind the ruling.
The disciplinary measures for those who violate such a ruling of the
court is the imprisonment up to one year or the fine up to 40,000
Dutch guilders (guldens).
The Croatian media has no right to appeal against the
aforementioned order as the decision is a part of trial procedure,
explained Croatian experts, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The media can only initiate another procedure on the
reconsideration whether the order is justified in view of the fact
if there is real danger for witnesses.
(hina) ms