Present & Past U.S. Government Officials
January 19, 2006
President George W. Bush
Vice-President Dick Cheney
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice
UN Ambassador John Bolton
Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns
Assistant Secretary Daniel Fried
Ambassador to Croatia Ralph Frank
Acting War Crimes Ambassador Samuel M. Witten
Ambassador William Montgomery
Former War Crimes Ambassador Pierre Prosper
Former Secretary Colin Powell
Former President William Clinton
Former Vice-President Al Gore
Former Defense Secretary William Perry
Former Secretary Warren Christopher
Former Secretary Madeline Albright
Former Ambassador Richard Holbrooke
Former Supreme Allied NATO Commander Wesley Clark
Former Undersecretary Marc Grossman
Former War Crimes Ambassador David Scheffer
Former CIA Director George Tenet
Former CIA Director John M. Deutch
Former CIA Director R. James Woolsey
Former Deputy Secretary Strobe Talbott
Former Ambassador Charles E. Redman
Former Ambassador Peter Galbraith
Former National Security Advisor Anthony Lake
Former Chairman Joint Chief of Staff John Shalikashvili
Former National Security Official Morton Halperin
Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole
Dear Honorable current/former U.S. government officials:
On behalf of the Croatian Worldwide Association, we write expressing our deepest gratitude for all that you have done for the Croatian people. However, this is a crucial time in Croatia’s history and we ask for your help.
As current and former U.S. government officials who have been and are actively involved with the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), we write requesting that the United States of America, the world’s champion of democracy and human freedom, demonstrate its exceptional leadership and address the serious problems and corruption within the ICTY. While we are dissatisfied and saddened with every Croatian indicted by the ICTY, we call your attention to the case of Croatian journalist, Domagoj Margetic.
Created in 1993, the ICTY was intended to be an impartial ad hoc institution independent of any bias or politics, and whose only function was to dispense justice to war criminals. Its original intent was never to prosecute innocent journalists.
Yet the UN tribunal indicted Mr. Margetic for the alleged crime of “contempt of the tribunal,” pursuant to Rule 77 of the ICTY’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence in April 2004, for publishing the identity and statements of a protected witness in the 1997 Croatian General Tihomir Blaskic case. He faces a possible punishment of a 100,000 Euro fine and seven years in prison.
His indictment is based on the publication of “secret testimony” given by current Croatian President Stipe Mesic to the ICTY. In 2001, Mr. Mesic’s testimony was already available on the Internet. Moreover, Mr. Mesic himself publicly admitted that he was the source of the “secret testimony” in the Tihomir Blaskic case (Mesic audio during a press conference in 2000 http://mprofaca.cro.net/HRT_Mesic_28112000.ram). In a functioning democracy, the public’s right to be informed, along with the rights of journalists to publish their reporting free of any censorship, is at the core of an open and free democratic society. Freedom of the press and freedom of expression and speech should never be compromised.
This past week, the Croatian police have raided Mr. Margetic’s apartment a total of 6 times. He was arrested by Croatian police pursuant to an ICTY order for advertising a meeting where the ‘secret witness’ testimony audio CD would allegedly be played to the public. The audio CD was mailed to Mr. Margetic directly from the ICTY Prosecutor's office. Right at this very moment, the Croatian government is doing everything in its power to completely silence Mr. Margetic and strip him of any basic freedom of speech rights. Several weeks ago, the government turned off Mr. Margetic’s phone, gas and electric. The Croatian police seized his laptop computer and disenabled his website www.domagojmargetic.com from the internet. Mr. Margetic switched his website to a U.S. based server and hosting company, www.lunarpages.com. UPI and Lunar Pages have both reported the U.N. Court has issued an “injunction” against the U.S. company to shut down his website. The Croatian Worldwide Association has confirmed with lunarpages they did in fact receive correspondence from the U.S. office in Holland.
Agence France Press reported the following:
“The audio recording of the testimony was posted on the website late on Wednesday but early Thursday the site was blocked by police order, police official Marijan Benko said.
“Meanwhile, Mesic's office said the president wanted to remove the secrecy from his testimony.
"‘Mesic agreed that Zagreb asks from the UN court to remove the notion of secrecy from his testimony in order that it becomes available to the Croatian public,’ his spokeswoman Danijela Barisic told AFP.”
Once again, Mr. Mesic has publicly admitted to being the ICTY’s secret witness. Why is the UN war crimes tribunal insisting on protecting a “secret witness” who does not want to be protected?
The indictment against Mr. Margetic is a clear violation of basic press freedoms and human rights. This is why the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, and Reporters without Borders have strongly criticized and condemned the tribunal’s actions.
The UN war crimes tribunal’s assault on freedom of expression is undermining the credibility and legitimacy of the ICTY not only in Croatia, but throughout the region. It is also undermining the U.S. policy of promoting democracy and the rule of law in the former Yugoslavia. The ICTY’s actions violate and undercut the efforts at democratization and building truly independent institutions, such as a free media. More ominously, it is opening up the United States and its allies to charges of hypocrisy and a double-standard—one for the West and another for the peoples of the region.
Moreover, the injunction issued against the U.S. firm by the ICTY poses a direct threat to American sovereignty and jurisdictional authority. The tribunal is now seeking to trample on basic press freedoms here on American soil. This is no longer an ICTY issue or a Croatia issue, but an American issue. The tribunal’s injunction and attack on freedom of expression is establishing a very dangerous precedent for America’s constitutional sovereignty and democratic values.
We are hoping each of you will consider and take up this matter, and demand that the indictment against Mr. Margetic be dropped as quickly as possible. Mr. Margetic has just announced to the media he will go to the U.S. Embassy in Zagreb if the police continue to harass him and his family. We are here to offer any assistance. Thank you for your attention and consideration and we look forward to your responses.
Sincerely,
Jackie Prkic
President