Editor, Journalist Charged with Revealing Witness’ Identity

The unconfirmed indictment alleges that Krunislav Malenica, Editor-in-Chief of “Bum” Magazine, and Eset Muracevic, journalist with that magazine, published an article in 2009 that revealed the identity of a protected witness, who testified at a war crimes trial before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“In addition to the first and last name of the protected witness, the indictees published five photographs of the witness and some parts of her statement in the mentioned article. The person was granted protection measures because she is a victim of multiple rapes and sexual abuse,” says the indictment, which has been forwarded to the State Court for confirmation.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina says that Malenica and Muracevic revealed information about the witness twice, although they knew when they published the article that other media and information agencies had not revealed her identity.

This is the first time that the State Prosecution has filed an indictment for the revelation of a protected witness’ identity in the six years since it was established.

According to the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a person may be sentenced to between three months and three years in prison for revealing a protected witness’ identity, while a sentence of between six months and five years in prison can be pronounced in case of “unauthorized publication, mediation in publication, enabling of publication or providing” protected information.