SPLIT, Dec 7 (Hina) - Despite an order by the Hague tribunal forbidding the publishing of testimonies by Hague witnesses, Split's daily 'Slobodna Dalmacija' on Thursday continued publishing parts of a testimony by protected witness
Stjepan Mesic before the tribunal in March 1998. In an article headlined "Tudjman Ordered Me to Replace Kljujic," the daily quotes all answers the incumbent Croatian president gave during his testimony before the Hague war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The daily's editor-in-chief Josip Jovic told Hina last night the daily would publish every word of Mesic's testimony in The Hague. Asked if he was ready to face the consequences of such a decision, Jovic said he had consulted legal experts and the Hague court could not initiate proceedings against him without cooperation with the Croatian government. "If the Government cooperates with The Hague
SPLIT, Dec 7 (Hina) - Despite an order by the Hague tribunal
forbidding the publishing of testimonies by Hague witnesses,
Split's daily 'Slobodna Dalmacija' on Thursday continued
publishing parts of a testimony by protected witness Stjepan Mesic
before the tribunal in March 1998.
In an article headlined "Tudjman Ordered Me to Replace Kljujic,"
the daily quotes all answers the incumbent Croatian president gave
during his testimony before the Hague war crimes tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
The daily's editor-in-chief Josip Jovic told Hina last night the
daily would publish every word of Mesic's testimony in The Hague.
Asked if he was ready to face the consequences of such a decision,
Jovic said he had consulted legal experts and the Hague court could
not initiate proceedings against him without cooperation with the
Croatian government.
"If the Government cooperates with The Hague in that case too, then
they can arrest me and convict me forcibly but I will never
voluntarily answer to that court's summons," Jovic said.
Mesic's testimony is important because it contains the main
postulates of the President's policy, which Jovic believes can have
far-reaching consequences for the state.
Jovic also believes the government will protect freedom of the
media in this case because any other decision would compromise it.
It was Stjepan Mesic who inaugurated the publication of secret
documents, even in cases of smaller public interest, Jovic claims.
"Stjepan Mesic is no longer threatened because there is no Tudjman
or his media any longer who would make him seek protection from the
Hague tribunal. Also, Mesic is now the president of the Croatian
state and not an ordinary citizen. If he himself does not feel the
need to make known to his voters what he said in The Hague, our
editorial board will do it in his stead because there is an
understandable interest of the public as regards the contents of
that testimony," says Jovic.
(hina) rml