U.N. Prosecutors Insist 'Wash. Post' Reporter Testify

By: Toby Sterling, Associated Press Writer (AP) U.N. prosecutors are insisting that a former Washington Post reporter testify in the case of a Bosnian Serb accused of genocide, opposing arguments by some of the world's largest news outlets that journalists should get an exemption.

The prosecutors' brief, released Thursday, also urged the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal to avoid setting sweeping ground rules for summoning reporters to the witness stand, saying judges should decide each case separately.

The brief was addressed to the appellate court that will hear The Washington Post's request to overturn a lower court's decision forcing Jonathan Randal to testify against Radovan Brdjanin, whom Randal interviewed in 1993. Brdjanin is accused of the persecution and expulsion of more than 100,000 non-Serbs during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.

Lawyers for the Post argued that newsgathering will be made more difficult and dangerous if sources fear anything they say or do in front of a reporter may be used against them later in a war crimes trial.

In a brief also submitted to the appeals court, the media groups, including The Associated Press, urged the court to establish a "qualified privilege" for reporters that would exempt them from subpoenas "unless their testimony is absolutely essential to the germination of the case and the information cannot be obtained from any other means."

In their reply, the prosecutors said Randal was not trying to protect a source, since he already published his interview with Brdjanin, and he has no reason to fear reprisal for his testimony. They added that the Randal case meets the media group's criteria anyway, since his testimony cannot be obtained elsewhere and it may be essential in the prosecution of Brdjanin.

Randal's lawyer, Mark Stephens, did not return a call late Thursday seeking comment. No date has been set to hear the appeal.

The debate between the media and the prosecutors coincided with the appearance by British Broadcasting Corp. reporter Jacky Rowland, who testified this week in the trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

The BBC was among the media groups supporting Randal's appeal, but Rowland said she testified willingly. In an article for the Guardian newspaper, she wrote that reporters shouldn't be allowed special privileges.

Milosevic faces 66 counts of war crimes and is accused of being responsible for offenses committed under his regime during the Balkan wars of the 1990's.

Rowland was the second reporter to testify in the Milosevic case. Dozens more, mostly from the Balkans, have testified in other cases since the court was founded in 1993.

Rowland sparred with Milosevic, who is representing himself. She looked at him directly and addressed him by name, unlike other witnesses who were victims of Serb violence and who mostly avoided the gaze of the former president.

Milosevic asked Rowland if NATO bombs could have been responsible for killing 25 people whose bodies she saw at a prison in Kosovo. She said that was unlikely.

"If for example I look at you now, Mr. Milosevic, I can see that you have both of your arms, I can see the features on your face, I can see that your body is intact. If, however, you were hit by a bomb, heaven forbid, I think that I would be able to tell by looking at your body whether that was, in fact, the manner of your death."

When he asked about a different report she made portraying Serbian police in a positive light, she said it was evidence of the BBC's objectivity.

"There's a proverb in Serbia that says one swallow doesn't make a spring, so please don't generalize on the basis of this one objective report," Milosevic responded. "It does not necessarily show that everything the BBC publishes is true. Perhaps you are an exception."