Croat Contempt Case Hots Up

The four Croatian journalists concerned - Domagoj Margetic, Marijan Krizic, Josip Jovic and Stjepan Seselj - will face trial separately from the proceedings heard this week against journalist Ivica Marijacic and the retrired secret service chief Markica Rebic.



All were charged in relation to revealing protected testimonies in the case of Croatian general Tihomir Blaskic.



Margetic, Krizic, Jovic and Seselj are charged with repeatedly publishing over a period of four years, from 2000 to 2004, the testimony of a person who Hague prosecutors have themselves called "a high-ranking politician who holds important state responsibilities".



Despite an explicit ban on again revelaing the testimony, Margetic this week tried to play the testimony at a meeting in the Croatian Homeland War Invalids Association, HVIDRA, headquarters in Zagreb. The police intervened to stop the event, but clashed with war invalids.



When the police tried to arrest Margetic, they were prevented by war veterans, who stopped them from entering their office without a warrant. Two HVIDRA members and Margetic were arrested as a result.



The incident provoked further tensions between police and former military members, which have been stoked by the recent arrest and transfer to The Hague of high-profile suspect General Ante Gotovina on war crimes charges.



Although police claimed they'd done nothing wrong, and had acted within the law, the chief of the Zagreb Police Crime Investigation Division, Zeljko Prsa, was relieved of his duties “for lack of tact shown by the police during raid”.



Margetic though has continued his efforts to republish the testimony. Even after his Croatain website was shut down by the police, he used an American server to publicise the information, telling the Croatian police to “now go to war with United States”.



After this incident, according to a government press release, the senior politician whose testimony lies at the heart of the controversy met with Prime Minister Ivo Sanader on January 12 and accepted a proposal that the tribunal be requested to declassify the politician’s protected testimony and make it available to the public.



The evidence heard during General Blaskic’s trial - a Bosnian Croat convicted to 9 years for war crimes against Muslim civilians in Bosnia in 1993 - provoked considerable debate in Croatia about the country’s involvement in the war in Bosnia. Croatian nationalists have described some of those who gave evidence to the court as traitors.