Haxhiu, Baton

Baton Haxhiu was a well-known journalist in Kosovo. He was is charged with contempt of court committed during the trial of Ramush Haradinaj et al. when he allegedly revealed the identity of a protected witness in an article he wrote and published. Having been arrested and transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on 20 May 2008, Haxhiu pleaded not guilty at his initial appearance on 21 May 2008.

On 24 July 2008, Trial Chamber I of the ICTY convicted Haxhiu of contempt of Tribunal and fined him € 7,000.

Baton Haxhiu is one of three individuals charged with contempt during the trial of Haradinaj et al. At the time of rendering its judgement in the case of Haradinaj, the Trial Chamber noted the significant difficulties encountered in securing testimony of a large number of witnesses during the trial.

On 19 August 2008 Baton Haxhiu’s defence filed a notice of appeal. It was subsequently rejected by the Chamber on 4 September 2008, as it had been filed outside the prescribed time-limits.