ZAGREB, October 29, 2019 - The Zagreb Municipal Labour Court ruled on Tuesday that the president of the Croatian Journalists Association (HND), Hrvoje Zovko, had been fired unlawfully by the Croatian Radio and Television (HRT) public broadcaster last year.

Under the ruling, which may be appealed, Zovko is to be reinstated as an editor at HRT.

In a statement to Hina, Zovko said that he had expected such a verdict and was satisfied with it. "The verdict confirms what I have been saying from day one," he said.

The dispute between Zovko and HRT ensued after the HRT management last September made a decision on an instant dismissal of its reporter and HND president. The dismissal was initiated based on a complaint by the editor-in-chief of Croatian Television's (HTV) news service, Katarina Periša Čakarun.

Some ten days before that, Zovko tendered his resignation as the editor-in-chief of the HTV Channel 4, saying in a letter that his decision was due to pressure, censorship, an unprofessional choice of topics, lack of organisation and serious technical problems on Channel 4.

This was followed by a meeting with Periša Čakarun, at which she accepted his resignation. However, only two hours later, Zovko was invited to a second meeting at which an argument erupted between him and Periša Čakarun.

HRT said Zovko had been dismissed due to a grave breach of rules of office and conduct, a number of insults he said, inappropriate conduct and inappropriate and unprofessional statements, adding that the incident happened during working hours in HRT offices.

The HRT Staff Council voted against Zovko's dismissal but its opinion was not binding on the HRT management.

Zovko has dismissed accusations from his notice of dismissal on several occasions.

Last November HRT decided to reinstate him but he was suspended on the same day pending the completion of the court proceedings.

Apart from the HND's branch at HRT, Zovko was also supported by international journalists' associations.

More news about pressure on journalists in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 3, 2019 - The Croatian Journalists' Association (HND) on Thursday sharply condemned the criminal complaints filed by Krešimir Krsnik, the lawyer for rape suspect Damir Škaro, against a rape victim and a journalist and editor of the Nova TV commercial television channel for divulging a secret.

The HND denounced the move by Krsnik as an act of intimidation and harassment and an attempt at discouraging journalists from covering such topics.

This move "is also a message to victims not to share their traumas with the public and not to point their fingers at the perpetrators, as well as to journalists not to deal with such topics. We hope and believe that Nova TV, the Provjereno programme and its entire team will not give up, will not be intimidated and will continue doing their job professionally as they have so far," the Association's president Hrvoje Zovko said.

He added that this case was confirmation of repeated warnings by the HND about journalists, editors and entire media organisations being harassed by lawsuits and that in the coming days the HND would inform the public about other cases as well. He said that the HND fully supported their colleagues at Nova TV.

The HND's reaction came after Krsnik filed a complaint against the rape victim for divulging a secret and against a journalist and editor of the Provjereno programme for incitement to divulging a secret. The lawyer tried to prevent the programme from being aired in early September and showing the testimony of the woman who accused Škaro of raping her.

More news about journalism in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 1, 2019 - The president of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Mogens Bisher Bjerregaard, said in Zagreb on Monday that the EFJ expected countries to fully support the promotion of the freedom of speech, media, journalism and journalists' professional status as well as their working rights and copyright.

If there are no good working conditions and if journalists cannot live off their work, it is difficult to speak of good journalism. It is very important for the entire society to promote reporters' rights and a joint approach is needed to collective bargaining and conclusion of collective agreements in journalism, the EFJ president said.

It is also important to convince publishers and media owners that it is in their interest to have reports who can do their job professionally, Bjerregard said at a panel discussion organised by the Croatian Journalists Association (HND), the Croatian Journalists Union (SNH), and the Association for Journalist Copyright Protection (DZNAP).

SNH leader Maja Sever said that Bjerregard was visiting Zagreb as part of a project on the management of changes in the media and that as a long-standing Danish unionist, he would organise a workshop on collective bargaining for Croatian reporters.

She stressed that Croatian journalists worked in precarious conditions and that insecurity in terms of labour legislation and undermined professional standards jeopardised the dignity of the profession and journalists themselves.

HND president Hrvoje Zovko said that the current media scene was marked by unprecedented and growing pressure against journalists and the media, notably those involved in investigative journalism, as well as by disregard for the Media Act and violation of in-house statutes in print media.

"There is a terrifying silence about this on the part of people who represent the state, which very soon will take over presidency of the European Union," Zovko said.

More news about journalism in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 18, 2019 - The president of the Association of Croatian Judges, Damir Kontrec, said on Wednesday that if reporter Gordan Duhaček's claims that the trial judge had visited him in jail prior to his hearing, asking that he pleads guilty, proved true, it would constitute impermissible behaviour contrary to the Judges' Code of Ethics.

"If the reporter's claims prove to be true that the judge visited him in jail to say what he intended to do, that sort of conduct is inappropriate, impermissible and contrary to the Judges' Code of Ethics and harms the reputation of the judicial profession," said Kontrec.

"However, it is necessary to first determine the relevant facts in order to make such an assessment," Kontrec told Hina.

He believes that it is good "that the president of the relevant court has requested a detailed report" in order to determine all relevant facts about the case.

Kontrec did not wish to comment on Duhaček's case specifically, saying that it was underway and the Code of Ethics bans judges from commenting on ongoing cases.

Duhaček told the Index news website, for which he works, about the day he spent in jail after being arrested at Zagreb's airport. He claims that misdemeanour court judge Krešimir Ožanić visited him in jail ahead of his hearing, threatening to remand him in custody for 30 days if he did not plead guilty. The judge allegedly told him that he considered him guilty not only of writing an offensive message about the police but also of parodying a patriotic song, for which Duhaček still awaits a ruling.

More news about pressures on journalists in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.

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 to prison, after which the youth died.

"Every possible analysis is under way in that tragic case as to what, if and who might have failed," Plenković said, regretting on the government's behalf the death of Kristian Vukasović, who was mentally ill.

Beljak said it was terrifying that a sick child could end up in prison and die of fright, adding that everything must be done to examine and punish those who he said had disgraced the justice system.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said in parliament on Wednesday he did not have the impression that there was no freedom of the press in Croatia, adding that one should be particularly considerate and attentive towards freedom of the press, journalists and their role in society.

"I can't have the impression that there is no freedom of the press here, that some owner, editor, journalist, analyst or commentator can't write what they think of any of us or of any phenomenon in society," he said during question time after Željko Jovanović of the opposition Social Democratic Party called out the government for corruption, conflict of interest and intimidation of journalists.

"I haven't heard that anyone, under my term, hasn't been allowed to write or say something," Plenković said, dismissing insinuations that someone in government circles was preventing freedoms of speech and press.

"The media may be free, but journalists aren't," Jovanovic said. "You have Đurđica Klancir and Gordan Duhaček as proof that there is pressure on journalists."

More news about human rights in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.

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 airport on Monday morning for ignoring a police summons to report for questioning over alleged public order offences, Zagreb police said.

Interior Minister Davor Božinović on Tuesday said that he had asked the police chief to provide him with a report on the arrest and denied claims that the government was restricting media freedoms and that it was intimidating journalists.

The Croatian Journalists' Association (HND) and the Gong NGO had earlier condemned the way the police acted toward Duhaček.

More news about pressure on media freedom in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.

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 (All Cops are Bastards) is now gaining publicity and becoming a part of the mainstream, he said.

The police consider it a threat to the order and an offence to themselves and that is exactly what they are now about to get, Milanovic said, noting that this would cause revolt among ordinary citizens because it was not ordinary police officers who felt offended but the regime.

Recalling the public outcry of two weeks ago over statements by minority member of parliament Milorad Pupovac, Milanović wondered why Pupovac had not been arrested over those statements as people got arrested for writing graffiti on buildings and for minor offences.

These are not double standards, these are schizophrenic standards, he said.

A few days ago, a group of youths shouted and called for lynching an entire ethnic group at a football match, Milanovic said, wondering if that insulted the moral feelings of citizens.

"Isn't that incitement to hate and why was not anything done about it, are those who lead the police afraid?" Milanovic said, describing Duhaček's rendition of a patriotic song over which he was reported for insulting the moral values and feelings of citizens as a parody.

"I'm not calling for burning flags or mocking the national anthem because that is unacceptable, but this (Duhaček's case) was a type of free speech and mockery for which citizens cannot be prosecuted and arrested," he said, calling for amending the law on offences which dates back to 1990.

"If (Duhaček) really contacted the police on the previous day and that was recorded, why wasn't he detained then? That can be easily established," Milanovic said, adding that police conduct in the case was wrong and that "the regime is losing its sense of reality".

More news about Zoran Milanović can be found in the Politics section.

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 speech. Politicians are obliged to protect institutions from attacks and the office-holders I mentioned above simply have not done so," Glavašević believes.

According to Glavašević, yesterday's incident clearly shows that reports of deteriorating freedom of the media and of free expression over the past few years have not been imagined but are a reality.

"The question of these liberties is not an ideological issue. It is not a matter of 'yours' and 'ours'. It is an issue of democracy, therefore something that requires political consensus of all political factions dedicated to a healthy, free society," he underscored and added that yesterday's incident disclosed serious flaws in the conduct of the police and courts.

The judge's conduct toward Duhaček is particularly concerning, Glavašević said and he called out the president of the Supreme Court and State Judicial Council to take responsibility and examine the conduct of the magistrate Krešimir Ožanić.

More news about human rights violations in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.

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 at their workplace, GONG said.

It voiced concern about judge Krešimir Ozanić's threat to Duhaček, which was published by Index, the website Duhaček works for, and demanded an urgent reaction from the State Judicial Council and the Justice Ministry.

"An attack on journalists is an attack on the freedom of the press, on the right of all citizens to question the government, as well as an attack on our fundamental political liberties, which we must not allow in any way," GONG said.

Duhaček was arrested at Zagreb airport on Monday for not responding to a police summons and was subsequently fined.

The arrest was condemned by the Croatian Journalists Association on Monday, while the House of Human Rights Zagreb and the Centre for Peace Studies said today it constituted unacceptable pressure on freedom of the press in Croatia and yet another problematic police action against persons who expressed social criticism.

More news about journalism in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 30, 2019 - The Croatian Journalists Association (HND) on Thursday asked Zagreb mayor Milan Bandić to apologise for a sexist attack on N1 Television reporter Matea Dominiković, calling on journalists and editors to boycott Bandić's public appearances.

The HND strongly condemned Bandić's latest sexist outburst and joined journalists in their request that he apologise.

The HND said that with his latest comments, Bandić, who is also the president of the BM 365 Work and Solidarity Party, did not want to humiliate only Dominiković but journalists in general, and that this was not his first shameful outburst before the press, especially women journalists.

On Tuesday, Dominiković was asking Bandić about Zagreb's zoning plan and other topics and his response was: "You again. You nag. If only you knew how you excite me, how you delight me, how you entertain me."

The response has been strongly condemned by the city's Gender Equality Commission and Gender Equality Ombudswoman Višnja Ljubičić, who called it sexual harassment.

More news about Zagreb mayor can be found in the Politics section.