Former petition

Trial Chamber
ICTY-TPIY International Criminal Court For Ex-Yugoslavia
Churchillplein 1
2517 JW, The Hague
Netherlands

Re: Order in lieu of Indictment of Mrs. Florence Hartmann.

To the Judges of the ICTY,

Your Honours,

We the signatories, NGOs, institutions, individuals and legal persons, are grateful to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for its work in searching out the truth, which is so essential to the restoration of lasting peace in the region. We welcomed the creation of the Tribunal and its proceedings, and we fully realise the difficulties it has had to overcome up to now.

This is why we are at a loss to understand the indictment of Mrs. Florence Hartmann and have therefore taken the liberty of submitting them to you.

First, by conferring confidential status on the archives of the Supreme Defence Council of the FRY, did not the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia commit an initial legal error, with serious consequences?

Secondly, did it not thereby enter into conflict with point 7 of UNSCResolution 827, which stated that it should carry out its task "without prejudice to the right of the victims to seek, through appropriate means, compensation for damages incurred as a result of violations of international humanitarian law"?

Consequently, did it not obstruct justice in the proceedings against Milosevic by depriving victims of their right to know the truth? And did it not thereby prevent the International Court of Justice from pronouncing a fully informed judgment in the case brought by Bosnia against Serbia?

The Chamber itself acknowledged this first error when it recognized that Belgrade had wrongfully been granted confidentiality on grounds of “vital national interest”. Why then did other judges reinstate this mistake in law, rather than seize the opportunity to render justice to the victims?

Did not the ICTY commit a second error in law on August 27, 2008 with its indictment of Mrs. Hartmann? Did the former spokeswoman of Prosecutor Carla del Ponte really breach the rule of confidentiality regarding the restrictions on access to the verbatim report of the Supreme Defence Council meetings, these limitations having been the subject of public controversy since February 2007, i.e. several months before the publication of her book “Peace and Punishment” and her article “Vital genocide documents concealed”? It is our impression that, in discussing the motivations of the ICTY, Mrs. Florence Hartmann was merely doing her duty as a journalist, by rigorously searching for and publicising the truth, and that in doing so she was acting within the limits of her right to freedom of expression.

Would not the Chamber specially appointed for this case be committing a third error if it were to find her guilty? We believe that in ordering Mrs. Hartmann to appear in before a court set up to establish the truth, render justice to the victims and judge the perpetrators of genocide, this prosecution will tarnish the image of the International Justice system.

Because we firmly believe in the mission of International Justice and because we defend the rights of victims, we have no doubt that the ICTY is wholly committed to the prosecution of Radovan Karadzic on the one hand, and to the arrest of Ratko Mladic on the other, who are the genuine criminals.

For these reasons, we could neither comprehend nor accept a guilty verdict against Mrs. Florence Hartmann.

The signatories.

Copy to the President of the ICTY, Justice Sir Patrick Robinson