ICTY Sets Aside Subpoena for War Correspondent

On December 11, 2002, an Appeals Chamber for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in an interlocutory appeal filed in the Brdjanin/Talic case by counsel for Mr. Jonathan Randal, a journalist who spent several years working for THE WASHINGTON POST, set aside the subpoena and explained that only narrow circumstances should enable a tribunal to compel testimony from such a correspondent. Mr. Randal appealed from a decision rendered on January 29, 2002 by Trial Chamber II in the Brdjanin/Talic case. At the request of the Prosecution and pursuant to Rule 54 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, the Trial Chamber issued a confidential subpoena compelling Mr. Randal to testify at trial. On June 7, 2002, in response to Mr. Randal’s counsel motion to set aside the subpoena, Mr. Randal, the Tribunal confirmed the subpoena. The Appeals Decision has the potential to set a standard for determining whether an international tribunal can compel war correspondents to testify.