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 »  Home  »  Media Watch  »  (E) Reporters without borders condemn this sudden arrest of Jovic
(E) Reporters without borders condemn this sudden arrest of Jovic
By Nenad N. Bach | Published  10/9/2005 | Media Watch | Unrated
(E) Reporters without borders condemn this sudden arrest of Jovic

 

Reporters without borders condemn this sudden arrest of Jovic

 


 

Croatia7 October 2005

Journalist arrested at home on the order of the international criminal court for ex-Yugoslavia
Reporters Without Borders called for the release on bail of journalist Josip Jovic, arrested at his Split home on the order of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on a charge of contempt of court.
 

The 6 October 2005 arrest of Jovic, editor of the daily Slobodna Dalmacija was televised and shown the same evening on Croatian TV since he was in process of giving an interview at his home. Jovicā€™s arrest followed the issue of a warrant by the ICTY signed by a judge at a court in Split. He was placed in custody in a local prison while awaiting extradition to The Hague, which could take several weeks since he plans to appeal to the Croatian constitutional court and the Supreme Court.
 

'We condemn this sudden arrest of Jovic by the Croatian justice system based on a ICTY arrest warrant, which appears disproportionate to the crime he is accused of and sets a dangerous precedent,' the worldwide press freedom organisation said. Considering the mandate of the tribunal in The Hague, which is supposed to try the most serious of international crimes, it is surprising that one of its decisions led to the arrest of a journalist who, even if he did not respect the law, has not committed a crime of violence.'
'The same goes for the four other Croatian journalists also accused of contempt of court. Considering that this journalist represents no danger for Croatia and the ICTY, he should be released on bail.'
 

Jovic failed to appear before the judges in The Hague on 26 September, unlike his colleague Marijan Krizic, editor of the weekly Hrvatsko Slovo, who answered his summons and was allowed to leave the court again freely.
The two journalists are accused of contempt of court, along with Ivica Marijacic, editor of Hrvatski List, Stjepan Seselj, editor of Hrvatsko Slovo, and Domagoj Margetic, editor of Novo Hrvatsko Slovo, for revealing the identity of a protected witnesses, the current Croatian President, Stipe Mesic, at the trial of Tihomir Blaskic in 1997. They face up to seven years in prison and a fine of 100,000 euros.
The trial of Ivica Marijacic, Stjepan Seselj, and Domagoj Margetic, who revealed the identity of Mesic in their newspapers in November 2004, is to open at the end of October.
This confidential information had already been posted on the Documentation and Information Centre Veritas (www.veritas.org.yu) in 1999, and carried by the Bosnian daily Bih Dani, on 1st June 2001.
 

'I will act in solidarity with my colleague and I prefer to go to prison rather than plead guilty before the ICTY', Domagoj Margetic told Reporters Without Borders.
The ICTY chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, said on 4 October that she was in favour of membership talks between Croatia and the EU, since Zagreb was fully cooperating with the ICTY. She had given an unfavourable opinion in March, complaining that the Croatian authorities were dragging their feet in arresting fugitive general, Ante Govina, charged by judges in The Hague in 2001.
 

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=15230

www.rsf.org/

International Secretariat :
Reporters sans frontiĆØres
5, rue Geoffroy-Marie
75009 Paris - France
Tel. 33 1 44 83 84 84
Fax. 33 1 45 23 11 51
E-mail : rsf@rsf.org
Web : www.rsf.org

Canada
Montreal
Emily Jacquard
1000 Fullum
MontrƩal, QuƩbec H2K 3L7
Tel : 1 - 514-521-4111
Fax : 1 - 514 521 7771
E-mail : rsfcanada@rsf.org 

Ivory Coast
Abidjan
BP 4401 - Abidjan 09
Tel / Fax : 225 22 44 67 15
Email : rsf.abj@africaonline.co.ci 

Japan
Tokyo
Maru Maru Bldg. 502
3-2-7 Yoyogi, Shibuya-Ku,
Tokyo 151-0053. Japan.
Tel : (03) 3379-1401
E-mail : michelt@galaxy.ocn.ne.jp

 

Russia
Moscow
E-mail : rsf@rol.ru 

Thailand
Bangkok
Greenery House,
260/18 Lad Phrao 62
Lad Phrao Road, Kwang Bangkapi
Bangkok 10310, Thailand
Tel : 66 2 933 7321
Mobile : 66 1 253 77 80
Email : rsfbkk@loxinfo.co.th

 

United States

New York
Tala Dowlatshahi
Mobile : 1 917-239-0653
E-mail : tdowlats@hotmail.com 
United States

Washington
Lucie Morilllon
Reporters Without Borders
Southern Railway Building
1500 K Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington DC, 20005
E-mail : lucie.morillon@rsf.org 
Tel : (00) 1 202 256 56 13

 

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