ICTY: No Investigation into Disclosure of Slobodan Milosevic’s Personal Data

The Hague Tribunal rejected to open an investigation against Timothy McFadden after the Wikileaks website published in January this year, a letter to US in which he allegedly disclosed personal data about Milosevic’s prison days.

Milosevic, who was charged before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, with crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Kosovo, died in March 2006 before the completion of his trial.

The proposal for opening an investigation against McFadden, the then Chief of the ICTY Detention Unit, was filed by Radovan Karadzic, former President of Republika Srpska, and Vojislav Seselj, former President of the Serbian Radical Party, SRS, who are on trial before the ICTY for crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Hague Tribunal Chamber pointed out that, although McFadden, as a member of the United Nations, UN, “had an obligation not to share protected information with authorities or other persons”, the disclosure of the personal data about Milosevic “had no influence on the administration of justice”.

“The information that was allegedly disclosed pertains to private data about Milosevic’s health and his stance about his Defence. The information that was disclosed to the USA in relation to private matters, like, for instance, what types of books Milosevic liked to read or how often he spoke to his wife, are irrelevant for the court proceedings before the Tribunal,” ICTY’s decision says.

Nevertheless, the Tribunal Chamber’s decision mentions that disclosing data about the persons on trial may “damage the Tribunal’s reputation”.

“This case could be solved through the rules for UN staff members or other internal measures, which would stop such behaviour, or through court or non-court mechanisms,” the ICTY decision reads.D.Dz.