Reporter Wins War Crimes Case Ruling

A U.S. reporter won a landmark legal battle against being forced to testify at the Hague war crimes tribunal Wednesday after he convinced appeals court judges that it could jeopardize journalists’ lives and press freedom.

The tribunal’s appeals court set aside a subpoena compelling former Washington Post reporter Jonathan Randal to give evidence at former Bosnian Serb Deputy Prime Minister Radislav Brdjanin’s trial, after a lower court ordered him to testify.

Randal interviewed Brdjanin during the 1992-95 Bosnian war and quoted him as saying he wanted to get rid of the non-Serb population in Banja Luka in a Post article in February 1993.

Brdjanin was charged with playing a pivotal role in deporting, torturing and murdering Croats and Muslims during the war. Randal insisted that the article spoke for itself and there was no need for him to testify.

Randal’s decision put him on a collision course with the tribunal and highlighted concern that journalists would become targets in wars if they were regarded as potential witnesses at tribunals.

Randal had argued that reporters should only be compelled to testify if their evidence was essential to determining guilt or innocence and the information could not be obtained elsewhere.