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ICTY charges Seselj with contempt for revealing witness identities

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugolavia (ICTY) on Wednesday charged Volislav Seselj with contempt of court after it was alleged that Seselj authored a book revealing pertinent information about several key witnesses. The book is believed to have been published after a protective order was placed by the court to keep the identity of the witnesses a secret. The book contains such information as the names of the witnesses, the names of their wives and children, and their addresses. The charge of contempt states:Having reviewed the material provided by the Prosecution, the Chamber has reason to believe that Vojislav Seselj, the apparent author of the book, may be in contempt of the Tribunal by virtue of the disclosure of information that might identify or lead to the identification of protected witnesses and for disclosing parts of a witness statement, in contravention of orders given by the Trial Chamber conducting the trial of Vojislav Seselj. As indicated earlier, there is evidence the book was published after the relevant orders had been made. The chamber is therefore persuaded that it should initiate proceedings against Vojislav Seselj under Rule 77(C)(iii). The material before us satisfies the Chamber that there are sufficient grounds to proceed against Vojislav Seselj for contempt pursuant to Rule 77(D)(ii).Rule 77(C)(iii) of the ICTY's Rules of Procedure and Evidence states that the Court has the authority to initiate a contempt charge against anyone who appears before it. This is the second contempt charge brought in the ICTY's trial of Seselj. In September, key witness Ljubisa Petkovic was found guilty of contempt for refusing to testify against Seselj. In August, the ICTY suspended Seselj's trial pending an appellate ruling on whether the defendant could represent himself. The ICTY had previously stripped Seselj of his right to defend himself after he failed to appear in court, despite an earlier appeals court ruling that he could represent himself provided he did not engage in courtroom behavior that "substantially obstruct the proper and expeditious proceedings in his case." The ICTY has charged Seselj with three counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes. When the trial began last year, the prosecution made an opening statement accusing Seselj of inciting atrocities through speeches he made during the Balkan Wars.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on January 23, 2009 (boomark / email).