The leader of the Serb Radical Party was Feb. 5 charged with contempt of court by the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the Balkans over allegedly revealing details about protected witnesses in his own trial. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) announced that it has initiated contempt proceedings against Vojislav Seselj for having disclosed information on 11 protected witnesses in a book he authored, in violation of the Trial Chamber’s orders. The information released included the witnesses’ real names, their occupations and their places of residence. The indictment follows a confidential decision made by the ICTY’s appeals chamber on Dec. 17, 2009 in which it found that the trial chamber had erred when it concluded in August last year that insufficient grounds existed to prosecute Seselj for contempt. (U.N. News Service)
