Politics

ZAGREB, September 18, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in parliament on Wednesday he had asked the ministers of the interior and justice to examine all the circumstances in the arrest of journalist Gordan Duhaček. I said yesterday already that all authorities must treat with special care and attention any representative of the media or journalist, he said during question time after Krešo Beljak of the opposition Croatian Peasant Party asked what he intended to do to punish judges' "evident omissions". Beljak singled out a Zagreb judge who allegedly threatened Duhaček and a Split judge who sent an 18-year-old…

ZAGREB, September 18, 2019 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović is travelling to the United States on Thursday to attend the 74th UN General Assembly, where she will support the implementation of UN reform, advocate the strengthening of multilateralism, and warn about the importance of sustainable development and preserving the environment, notably the protection of the Adriatic Sea. Grabar-Kitarović will address the General Assembly next Tuesday. By advocating the importance of multilateralism, which is currently in a crisis and which is especially important for smaller states, Croatia is not ignoring bilateral relations, a source in the president's office has said, adding that…

ZAGREB, September 18, 2019 - Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović on Tuesday tweeted that the arrest and fine of Croatian reporter Gordan Duhaček was "pure intimidation of the press", and called on Croatian authorities to protect media freedom and avoid undue pressure on the journalists. "The arrest and fine of Croatian journalist Gordan Duhaček for his posts on Twitter amount to pure intimidation of the press. I call on Croatia’s authorities to protect media freedom and avoid undue pressure on journalists," Mijatović tweeted. Gordan Duhaček, a reporter for the Index web portal, was detained at Zagreb…

ZAGREB, September 18, 2019 - A meeting with 30 representatives of missing persons family associations from Croatia was organised in Zagreb on Tuesday by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) with the participation of representatives of the Croatian Veterans Ministry's Directorate for Detained and Missing Defenders. This was the second in a series of meetings with families of the missing, organised to share information about the missing persons process on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, the ICMP said in a press release, adding that the first meeting was held with families from Bosnia and Herzegovina in January 2019.…

ZAGREB, September 17, 2019 - The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Zoran Milanović, said on Tuesday that Index news website reporter Gordan Duhaček was reported, prosecuted and sentenced over tweets in which he had mocked the police, claiming that the order for his arrest had come from the top and that it was a political matter. "This is not about the police, this is about the HDZ, the evil mother of Croatian democracy and an obstacle to Croatia's future," Milanovic told reporters, noting that such events pushed the Croatian society backwards. A subcultural expression such as ACAB…

ZAGREB, September 17, 2019 - Independent MP Bojan Glavašević on Tuesday said that the police are exposed to pressure by radical, ultra-conservative groups and that in the case of the arrest of Index reporter Gordan Duhaček, the charge was filed for offending an official person and citizens' moral feelings in a selective manner. "This sort of pressure on the police has resulted due to the permissiveness of the President, the Prime Minister and Interior Minister. As we have seen in numerous cases, the police are nowhere near as expeditious in domestic violence cases, or threats to public persons or hate…

ZAGREB, September 17, 2019 - Interior Minister Davor Božinović has said that Croatia will not change its policy towards migrants, which has been recognised by the European Commission, underscoring that the country will continue reinforcing the protection of its borders against irregular crossings and, in parallel, enable the integration of migrants who want to stay in Croatia. "We are ready to respond to any situation in the event of a stronger influx (of irregular migrants)," Božinović told reporters at an international conference on homeland security in Zagreb on Tuesday. Addressing the conference, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović warned about possible recurrence of…

ZAGREB, Sept 18, 2019 - After a two-month recess, lawmakers will return to parliament on Wednesday for the autumn session which will last until the end of October. The session will begin with Question Time when 38 lawmakers both from opposition parties and from the ruling majority will put questions to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and his ministers. The prime minister is also expected to inform parliament of meetings held by the European Council and practice has shown that that debate can often be quite heated. The Credentials and Privileges Commission will inform parliament that it has stripped of immunity…

ZAGREB, September 17, 2019 - The GONG NGO said on Tuesday that the police treatment of journalist Gordan Duhaček represented unacceptable pressure on journalists and the continuation of the erosion of freedom of the press. "Situations appropriate to repressive regimes are occurring under the government of Andrej Plenković, who is preparing to take over the presidency of the Council of the EU," GONG said, responding to Monday's arrest of Duhaček over, as the NGO said, a satirical little song on Twitter. The media in Croatia are swamped in lawsuits, politicians harass journalists and the police go after them, visiting them…

ZAGREB, September 17, 2019 - Interior Minister Davor Božinović on Monday closed the headquarters for the implementation of security measures during the 2019 tourism season that was opened in Zadar at the start of the summer, saying that this year the number of tourist arrivals was up five percent compared to last year and that foreign tourists chose Croatia as their destination because of the country's security. Božinović presented the results of the "Safe 2019 Tourism Season" project. During the tourist season in Croatia, there are four to five tourists to one Croatian, and despite this increase, the police and…