The United Nations war crimes tribunal for ex-Yugoslavia has ruled
that war correspondents should not be forced to give evidence, unless
their testimony is essential to the case at hand.
The
ruling by the courts Appeals Chamber, which was delivered
on December 11, came in the case of Jonathan Randal, a former Washington
Post journalist. Randal had been subpoenaed to testify in the trial
of Radoslav Brdjanin, a Bosnian Serb politician charged with genocide,
but argued that he should not be compelled to appear in court.
Upholding
Randals appeal, the court said that there was "an important
public interest" in the work of war reporters, and that compelling
them to testify could "have a significant impact upon their
ability to obtain information" and thus inform the public.
"If
war correspondents were to be perceived as potential witnesses for
the Prosecution," the court said, "they may have difficulties
in gathering significant information, because the interviewed persons
may talk less freely with them, and may deny access to conflict
zones. Second, war correspondents may shift from being observers
of those committing human rights violations to being their targets,
thereby putting their own lives at risk."
In
light of these risks, the court stated, war correspondents should
only be forced to appear as witnesses when their testimony "is
of important and direct value in determining a core issue in the
case," and also where the evidence they would provide "cannot
reasonably be obtained elsewhere."
The
ruling is particularly important because it is the first attempt
to establish a standard governing the testimony of reporters before
international tribunals. Lawyers following the tribunal immediately
speculated that it might be adopted by the recently formed International
Criminal Court.
Speaking
to the Washington Post, Randal expanded on his reasons for contesting
the subpoena. "My feeling is that wars are becoming more dangerous
for correspondents and forcing them to testify would only increase
the dangers," he said. "It's hard to gain the confidence
of combatants. Either they won't talk to us at all or they'll kill
us. I wanted the court to think long and hard about that."
"This
landmark decision in international justice will ensure that war
correspondents will not be routinely required to testify before
the war crimes tribunal," said Ann Cooper, executive director
of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Although
it dismissed the subpoena against Randal, the court left Brdjanins
defense team the option of seeking another, if it was prepared to
argue that the evidence Randal could provide would meet the tests
laid down in the ruling
Related
chapters from Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know:
Journalists,
Protection of
Journalists
in Peril
Related
Links
Appeals
Chamber Defines a Legal Test for the Issuance of Subpoenas for War
Correspondents to Testify at the Tribunal
ICTY Press Release
December 11,2002
Can
War Reporters Be Witnesses, Too?
By Nina Bernstein
The New York Times, December 14, 2002
Reporters
Appeal Upheld
Committee to Protect Journalists
News Alert, December 11, 2002
Reporter
Wins Tribunal Appeal
By Glenn Frankel
The Washington Post, December 12, 2002
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