Croat journalist jailed for contempt of U.N. court

AMSTERDAM, Feb 7 (Reuters) The UN war crimes tribunal today sentenced a Croatian journalist to three months in prison after finding him guilty of contempt for revealing the names of protected witnesses who testified in a war crimes case.

Judges also fined freelance journalist Domagoj Margetic 10,000 euros (,990) after concluding that by publishing the names of witnesses who testified during the trial of Croat militia commander Tihomir Blaskic, he had put them at risk.

''The trial chamber finds that Margetic has committed contempt of the tribunal ... by disclosing information in violation of an order and by interfering with witnesses,'' judge Alphonsus Orie said.

Prosecutors said Margetic had published a list of witnesses on his personal website between July 7 and Aug. 2, 2006 despite receiving explicit warning that the material was confidential.

He also published three articles on the site which contained further confidential material including witness pseudonyms.

Prosecutors had sought a prison sentence of six months and a 50,000 euro fine.

Judge Orie said Margetic had displayed a ''reckless disregard'' for the safety of witnesses, many of whom were protected because of their vulnerability.

Three witnesses whose names were disclosed would be reluctant to testify before the tribunal again because of fears for their security, prosecutors argued during the trial.

''This makes his contemptuous behaviour all the more severe,'' Orie said.

The Hague-based tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, set up to investigate wars in the region in the 1990s, sentenced Blaskic to 45 years in prison in 2000 for crimes against humanity, war crimes and other charges.

His sentence was reduced to nine years on appeal in 2004.

REUTERS BDP PM2310