According to a press release issued by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) "Margetic a freelance journalist from Croatia, is accused of revealing the names of witnesses who testified in the Tribunal case against the Bosnian Croat General Tihomir Blaskic."
The tribunal says Margetic did so "by publishing lists on his personal website between 7 July and 2 August 2006 despite receiving explicit advance warning that the material was confidential and subject to court orders which prohibited publication".
The ICTY accuses Margetic of undermining "confidence in the Tribunal's ability to grant effective protective measures" and of interfering with witnesses who have given or are about to give evidence.
In April 2005 Margetic was accused by the ICTY of the contempt of the court for having disclosed a testimony of the current Croatian President Stjepan Mesic. In a capacity of a protected witness, Mesic gave that testimony at the trial of Tihomir Blaskic in late 1990s.
In January this year, the ICTY withdrew protective measures regarding Mesic as a protected witness and his testimony in question.
This June ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte dropped the charges against Margetic and some other Croatian reporters previously accused of the contempt of court for the same case.
However, on 2 August, the Zagreb County Court received an injunction from the Hague tribunal requiring Margetic to cease publishing a list of protected witnesses on his website.
After Margetic persisted in refusing the ICTY summons, he was arrested and taken to custody in the Remetinec detention centre in Zagreb on 4 August.
After interviewing him, a judge ordered a two-month detention in custody for Margetic. Upon his arrival in the detention centre Margetic went on hunger strike. A 32-day hunger strike put his vital organs at risk, and on 6 September, Margetic was released from custody. Five days after the release, Margetic received the new ICTY indictment.