14/1x0/2005 (Agence Europe) - The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, has asked the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to release Croatian journalist Josip Jovic, former editor-in-chief of Slobodna Dalmacija, arrested on 6 October by Croatian police, acting on a 28 September arrest warrant issued by the ICTY after he failed to appear in court. The Croatian journalist has been indicted for contempt of court, consisting of publishing a classified testimony and revealing the name of a protected witness (a high-ranking Croatian politician). Under Rule 77 of the ICTY's rules of procedure and evidence, the five journalists can be sentenced to up to seven years in prison and fined up to EUR 100,000. The OSCE Representative said that according to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the judicial practices of many democracies, imprisonment of a journalist for dissemination of classified information is always disproportionate punishment, and its chilling effect hinders unconstrained debate of public issues. Haraszti asked the ICTY to amend Rule 77 of the Tribunal's Rules of Procedure and Evidence on contempt 'so that it would only apply to those officials who have actually leaked confidential information.'