ZAGREB, March 22, 2019 - Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović said on Thursday that "police acted in line with the law" in the case of a recent traffic accident involving Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Gabrijela Žalac and a traffic accident involving her close friend Marijana Obradović.

"With regard to the traffic accident of several weeks ago, police did all they should have done, following professional rules. After a police investigation, the case is now in the hands of prosecutorial authorities. My answer is similar as regards the other case, too," Božinović told reporters.

Speaking of the accident involving Žalac's friend, Božinović said: "As for the difference between a crime and a misdemeanour, it lies in the gravity of injuries. A lighter injury means a misdemeanour charge and a more serious injury means a criminal charge. The police are not the ones to determine the severity of injuries," said the minister.

On March 9, Žalac hit with her car a 10-year-old girl who was crossing the street in the eastern town of Vinkovci. She was driving with an expired driver's licence. After the accident, misdemeanour charges were pressed against the minister. The girl suffered a fracture to the lower leg and is recovering well.

Žalac's friend Marijana Obradović in late December 2018, while driving under the influence of alcohol, swerved off the road in the eastern municipality of Jakšić, hitting a 35-year-old woman who was walking on the pavement, after which she drove off.

Požega-Slavonia County police said in a statement that they did not press criminal charges against Obradović but rather misdemeanour charges because medical staff had described the injuries sustained by the 35-year-old as light.

More news about regional development and EU funds minister Žalac and her ever-growing list of scandals can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, March 15, 2019 - Croatian non-governmental organisations the Centre for Peace Studies (CMS) and Are You Syrious (AYS) issued a joint statement on Thursday drawing attention to three dangerous aspects of Croatian police behaviour: dehumanisation, torture and humiliation of refugees, rhetorical legalisation of violence, and discrediting organisations that warn of such actions.

The statement was prompted by Interior Minister Davor Božinović's response to the international human right watchdog Amnesty International's report on violence and abuse experienced by refugees and migrants along the Balkan route.

Božinović said in his response that Croatia was successfully controlling and protecting its border in line with international and national law and that his ministry's priority was to ensure legal and sustainable migration in cooperation with neighbouring countries for the purpose of maintaining security.

The CMS and AYS accused Božinović of selectively interpreting legal provisions in an attempt to give the impression that police actions are legal when in fact they violate basic human rights.

"The Ministry of the Interior is actively trying to silence citizens who question the legality of some of the police actions, portraying the CMS and AYS as organisations associated with illegal migration," the two NGOs said in their statement.

"After footage from Border Violence Monitoring clearly showed Croatian police driving refugees away from Croatia, pushing around exhausted individuals, or footage of Croatian police forcing refugees on their knees to chant 'Dinamo Zagreb!' and 'For the homeland ready!', and after numerous medical documents about fractures and serious injuries suffered by refugees during their encounters with police truncheons on the border, it is unacceptable and utterly disgusting to claim that Croatian police do not use force and power against them," the statement said.

Commenting on Božinović's statement that all of the 202 complaints of violations of refugees' human rights received by the ministry were unfounded, the two NGOs said that they themselves had made some of those complaints, categorically stating that their complaints contained precise information on the times and places where Croatian police found refugees and expelled them by force back to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The CMS and AYS noted that Croatia had so far been criticised by four international organisations over violent expulsions of refugees and migrants to Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the Human Rights Watch, the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, and most recently by Amnesty International. They also recalled criticisms made at a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg late last year.

The international organisations reported thousands of documented cases of illegal expulsions of refugees and migrants from Croatia since 2016. The UNHCR said that last year at least 5,537 persons were forcibly returned to Serbia, while according to some indicators the number of illegal expulsions to Bosnia and Herzegovina could be twice as high, the CMS and AYS said.

More news on the migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, March 13, 2019 - Interior Minister Davor Božinović said on Wednesday that Croatia protects its borders like any other country. "If any of the European countries wants illegal migrants, we can open a corridor and let them through as we did in 2015. But we know that this isn't so, that, for example, Germany and Austria don't want them, that Slovenia and Hungary have erected wire fences. Every country in the world protects its borders and so does Croatia, and we will not allow illegal migration," Božinović said in an interview with Croatian Radio.

Speaking of the latest report by the human rights watchdog Amnesty International, which accused Croatia and other countries of violence against migrants, Božinović dismissed the accusations, saying that his ministry had immediately responded to the organisation's report.

"Whenever any irregularities or unacceptable behaviour are identified, as is the case of a police officer who tried to 'teach' migrants football chants, they are penalised. The young police officer has promptly been removed from service and another two are facing disciplinary action. On the other hand, there are quite a few examples of Croatian police assisting migrants, such as the case of a badly injured migrant who was rescued in rugged terrain and was hospitalised," the minister said.

Speaking of the case of Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Gabrijela Žalac, who hit a 10-year-old girl while driving through a residential area in the eastern town of Vinkovci on Saturday, Božinović said that the police had done their part of the job professionally.

He said that the police cannot bring charges if there are no grounds. "I have consulted reports on similar cases of car accidents that resulted in the injury of pedestrians and have found many cases in which the police did not bring criminal charges because there were no grounds in those particular cases. The case of Minister Žalac is now in the County Attorney's hands."

Žalac was found to be driving with a driving licence that had expired in 2016. Božinović said that 1,759 drivers had been fined this year for driving without a valid driving licence, adding that the annual average was over 13,000.

More news about the migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, March 9, 2019 - After a meeting of expert task forces in the Interior Ministry and the Police Directorate over the case of reporter Đurđica Klancir, who was IDed by police at her workplace on Tuesday in relation to a private lawsuit against her, the ministry reiterated that no law was violated in that particular case, adding that after the adoption of amendments to the law on police affairs and jurisdiction, police official will be able to establish the identity of any person just by going through the ministry's information system, without going in the field.

The interior ministry said that its task force has completed a draft bill in late 2018 and that public consultation ended on March 4, 2019.

National police director Nikola Milina on Friday once again said that the process of identifying Đurđica Klancir, a reporter for the Net.hr web portal, was lawful and that there had not been any political influence and that the "entire case," emerged because Sisak police had requested the assistance of police at the Trešnjevka police station in Zagreb.

Carding the reporter in her newsroom led to suspicion of abuse of the police system and violation of the Constitution after Klancir posted on her Facebook profile that two police officers had come into her newsroom to card her, explaining that they were doing so at the request of Sisak police, who were requested to do so by an attorney of Sisak-Moslavina County Prefect Ivo Žinić, a prominent Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) official, who is suing the reporter for defamation.

Asked to comment on the opinion of constitutional experts that the Constitution had been violated and whether he would step down if any irregularities were identified, Milina said that the "most important thing is that police officers act freely, independent of any political influence."

"In this case the police acted routinely, the two police stations communicated mutually with each other," Milina said. According to him, the objections are being collected and a meeting of the police directorate has been convened to analyse overall police practice. "The most important thing is that police officers act lawfully, regardless of who is in question, equally toward every citizen regardless of their profession," Milina reiterated.

Responding to claims by journalists that attorneys have been claiming for days that they were never given that sort of police assistance as Žinić’s attorney was given, Milina said that police officers and police stations regularly provide attorneys with information, that is regular procedure.

"In this case the police officer at Sisak police station did not determine beyond doubt, I saw a lot of comments that he could have, however he did not determine that. He requested the assistance of police at the Trešnjevka police station in Zagreb and that resulted with this case," Milina said.

Interior Minister Davor Božinović on Thursday said he had convened a meeting of top officials in the police directorate to inspect the existing rules in detail in this regard to see whether they can, or should be amended so that neither citizens nor police are found in a similar situation due to imprecise rules.

A police union on Friday once again called for Milina's resignation and called him out for misinforming the minister.

Commenting on the case of reporter Klancir, Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović said on Thursday that if police conduct in the case should prove to be problematic, it was up to those in charge to deal with the problem and he announced possible changes to rules of police conduct or the police law if they proved not to be sufficiently clear.

"If the police officers acted lawfully, if their conduct was in line with professional rules, and if despite that there is a problem, it's up to those in charge of the police system to deal with it. If the problem concerns insufficiently clear rules that were defined by the minister of the interior in 2010, then we can deal with it promptly by adopting certain changes, and I will sign them," Božinović told Hina in Brussels where he was attending a meeting of the EU ministers of the interior.

He said that upon his return to Zagreb he would convene a meeting of the Police Directorate to discuss in detail existing rules and see what can or should be amended so that citizens as well as police officers do not find themselves in situations such as the one in question due to possibly unclear regulations. "If that requires changes to certain laws, we are authorised to launch a legislative procedure," said the minister.

The Croatian Journalists Association (HND) has condemned the case as an act of political and police pressure" against the journalist and the Union of Police Officers has called on Božinović to replace national police director Nikola Milina over the case in which, it said, police were used for political purposes.

"This is not the first case where rules are interpreted differently. On the other hand, as minister I have to do my best for citizens not to feel intimidated or under pressure in cases of standard police conduct, as was this case," said Božinović.

He said that the Police Directorate, in charge of police conduct, had established that police officers in the specific case had acted in line with the law. "But, if certain conduct, regardless of its lawfulness, can cause disputes of such proportions, we have to ask ourselves... what we can do to avoid them in the future," said the minister.

"It is important that there is no hidden agenda, that police did not act on an order that would be outside the usual, legal procedure. The information I have received from the Police Directorate suggests exactly that... but I repeat, it is also our job to make laws and rules better, in the interest of all, and we will do it."

The head of the parliamentary Domestic Policy and National Security Committee, Ranko Ostojić of the SDP party, told a press conference on Friday that the committee would call on the Interior Ministry to explain why the police went to the Net.hr newsroom to card one of its reporters, Đurđica Klancir, based on a request by an attorney representing Sisak-Moslavina County Prefect Ivo Žinić in a private defamation lawsuit against Klancir.

Ostojić, who referred to this as an example of abusing police authorities in an attempt to scare the reporter, expects the matter to be discussed by the committee next Wednesday as part of a debate on a bill of amendments to the Police Law,

Ostojić expressed his opinion that the draft amendments were further step in reducing the parliamentary surveillance of the police work.

"We had a serious case in which the police in trying to determine the identity of reporter Klancir, burst into her newsroom in such a way that is not appropriate for the police procedure," the opposition MP insisted.

"Something that may be legal does not mean that it is not necessary to respect fundamental human rights prescribed by the Constitution and that is to apply those measures that are required to achieve a purpose that is lawful, because it is true that someone can seek information but the tactics used (In this case) were absolutely wrong," Ostojić said.

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

ZAGREB, March 8, 2019 - There is still no consensus among European Union member states about reforming the European asylum system, the topic that has been on the agenda for the past three years, Croatian Interior Minister Davor Božinović said in Brussels on Thursday.

"After three years of talks we can say that the idea about a set of migration laws, including the asylum system, has failed, at least in the term of the present Commission," Božinović said after a meeting of the EU interior ministers.

Carmen Dan, Romania’s Minister of the Interior and the president of the Council of the European Union, also said no progress was made in sharing out the burden of asylum seekers which would replace the existing Dublin regulation.

The Commission and several countries are calling for the adoption of the parts of the package of laws on which consent has been reached, such as setting up a European asylum agency and improving a database with migrant fingerprints.

"I am not sure that a common position has been reached on this either," Božinović said.

The reform is at a stalemate because some member states do not wish to take in asylum seekers, not even in cases of a sudden migrant influx to share a burden with countries on external EU borders.

More news on the migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, March 7, 2019 - A union of Croatian police officers on Wednesday sent a letter to Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović, asking him to replace the national police director, Nikola Milina, over a case involving reporter Đurđica Klancir in which, the union says, police was used for political purposes.

Klancir, who works for the web portal Net.hr, was IDed by two police officers at workplace on Tuesday and the police officers told her that they were doing so at the request of an attorney who was filing a private lawsuit against her on behalf of Sisak-Moslavina County Prefect Ivo Žinić of the HDZ party, who was suing her for slander.

The Union of Police Officers (SPS) believes that police were used for political purposes in the case, which it describes as an attack on media freedoms. The police were used as the long arm of politics to intimidate the reporter based on a request by an attorney for a local politician who is a member of the ruling party, the union said.

The politician in question can be often seen in the company of Marko Rašić, who serves as Zagreb Police Department head and used to head the Sisak-Moslavina County Police Department, the union said.

Police could have established the reporter's identity also through the Ministry of the Interior's information system, the union said, noting also that the latest amendments to the Police Act that had been drafted without the participation of any police union, would put the police entirely under the control of politics.

MOST MPs Nikola Grmoja and Ines Strenja Linić will call for the parliamentary Committee on Information, Computerisation and the Media and the Domestic Policy and National Security Committee to discuss the abuse of police powers in the case of reporter Đurđica Klancir, the party said on Wednesday.

MOST believes that this is yet another example of intimidation and attempt to control the media by those in power to prevent reporters from writing about numerous scandals.

"It is unbelievable that HDZ County Prefect Ivo Žinić sent the police to identify Đurđica Klancir. This is an unprecedented case because police don't take action on a call from a private person - in this case the attorney, who on behalf of his client, Prefect Žinić, called the police to personally go and collect information from the reporter," Nikola Grmoja, who is a member of the Media Committee said.

He believes that that could have been done based on a written request, however this government's aim is to stifle any freedom of the media and to demonstrate their power.

Strenja said that the party would submit a motion for the Domestic Policy Committee to examine the case due to justified suspicion that the police had been misused. "Public trust in institutions is already very low, and the more cases of this nature the more people are buying one-way tickets to Ireland and Germany," Strenja said.

More news on attacks on the independent media in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, February 27, 2019 - Croatian Interior Minister Davor Božinović and his North Macedonian counterpart Oliver Spasovski on Tuesday visited Bogorodica, the North Macedonian-Greek border crossing where 11 Croatian police are helping the police of North Macedonia.

Their main job is to prevent the illegal crossing of the border. The Croatian police told Božinović that the patrols in which they had taken part had uncovered a majority of the migrant smugglers arrested on this route.

Speaking to the press, Spasovski thanked the Croatian Interior Ministry and Croatia as the first state which sent police to Macedonia on a bilateral basis. "I wish to honour them for their professional work and for the exchange of experience with the Macedonian police. This is an example of how we should work together to resolve global problems."

Božinović said he was especially pleased when praise came from international partners and friends, adding that this was an example of how states dealt with transnational problems.

"No state can resolve alone issues which are cross-border in nature, from terrorism to organised crime and... more and more illegal migration. Croatian police do not protect only the Croatian border but 11 of them are transferring their experience in dealing with the migrant crisis in Croatia to their colleagues here in North Macedonia," he said.

He said the trends in both countries were similar and that it was very important that police forces exchanged experience and were always ahead of smugglers. He added that last year North Macedonia prevented 16,900 illegal migrants from crossing the border.

More news about the migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, February 26, 2019 - Croatia strongly supports security cooperation within all three internal security pillars of the Brdo Process - fighting terrorism, preventing organised crime and protecting the borders, Interior Minister Davor Božinović said at a Southeastern European ministerial conference in Skopje on Tuesday.

Božinović said in his address that Croatia was aware that by developing and strengthening security structures in neighbouring countries it was helping to create a secure environment on the external borders of the European Union.

That's why Croatia is ready at all times to assist and support the countries of Southeastern Europe in making further progress on their path to EU membership and will continue sharing its experience and knowledge, he added.

Speaking to Hina, Božinović said that it was in Croatia's interest "to fill the gap in security cooperation between Southeastern European countries, and between the EU and this part of Europe."

"Our interest is for the EU to focus on this region as much as possible, given that many challenges to the security of the European Union, and hence Croatia as well, lie here. That's why we are making, as one of the pillars of our security policy, strong diplomatic efforts not just within the EU but also outside of it," Božinović said.

He recalled a recent summit of leaders of the EU and the Arab League which was dominated by the issue of illegal migration as a consequence of economic and political developments in certain parts of the world.

"We need to cooperate in the joint search for solutions in confronting this major challenge to Europe's security. At each stage of the migration route, from sources to transit countries, we look for partners to try and find the best solutions through dialogue. The countries of Southeast Europe are our immediate neighbours from where migrants are coming and we have to find solutions together with these countries, but as EU members we also have to ensure that the administration in Brussels pays more attention to this part of our continent," Božinović concluded.

During the conference, Božinović held a bilateral meeting with Kosovo Interior Minister Ekrem Mustafa, who said that his country was using the good experience of the Croatian police in modernising its police force.

The conference was also addressed by Interior Ministers Oliver Spasovski of North Macedonia and Boštjan Poklukar of Slovenia, as well as by EU Deputy Director General for Migration and Home Affairs Olivier Onidi.

More news about the relations between Croatia and the countries of the region can be found in the Politics section.

The IT system of Croatia’s Interior Ministry has failed, which has caused long lines at Croatian border crossings. Personal documents and passports also cannot be issued at police offices around the country, reports Index.hr on February 22, 2019.

The police did not initially confirm the information.

According to the Bosnian media, the system for checking biometric documents at the majority of border crossings between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia has failed. Therefore, the traffic is currently suspended, and long columns of vehicles are being formed at the border crossings.

The system failed at about 10 am this morning, and the columns of vehicles at border crossings have been getting longer ever since.

“Due to the failure of the border inspection system of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia today at 10.30 am, the traffic of persons and vehicles through international border crossings is stopped or significantly slowed down at different intervals," Sanela Dujković, the spokesperson of the Bosnian border police, said for Klix.ba.

“Due to technical difficulties, longer waiting times are possible at most border crossings,” said the Croatian Auto Club (HAK).

At 1.40 pm, the Interior Ministry finally issued a statement about the latest events.

“The Ministry of Interior Affairs of the Republic of Croatia informs the citizens that during the day the operation of a part of the Ministry’s IT system has been interrupted, which is why certain assignments are being conducted slower than usual. The Ministry's expert services are working diligently to restore the system to being fully functional. We ask the citizens, who have found themselves at the border crossings and in the Ministry’s administrative affairs offices, for understanding and patience,” they said.

The website of the Croatian Auto Club has live cams with video from some of the border crossings.

Translated from Index.hr.

More news about the Ministry of Interior can be found in the Politics section.

The Ministry of the Interior has launched the public consultation process for the draft amendments to the Road Traffic Safety Act, which drastically increase the penalties for many driving offences in Croatia. For example, the changes introduce the possibility of seizure of vehicles from drivers who repeatedly commit serious crimes such as driving under the influence of alcohol or driving at speeds 50 kilometres per hour above the limit, reports Večernji List on February 21, 2019.

The fee will be increased, for example, for running the red light at intersections to up to 20,000 kuna. However, the changes also foresee an increase in penalties for less serious traffic offences. Drivers who break the rules of the right of way will have to pay a fine in the amount of between 3,000 to 7,000 kuna and will receive three negative points on their driver’s licence. Currently, the penalty is 3,000 kuna. Such drivers will also be banned from driving for a month, three months or six months, depending on how many times they have already committed the same offence.

A driver who does not stop at a pedestrian crossing with traffic lights when he or she has the red light will pay a fine of between 3,000 and 7,000 kuna; so far, the penalty was 1,000 kuna. They will also have their driving licence suspended for a period of one, three or six months, depending on how many times they have committed the offence previously. And there will also be three penalty points.

Drivers who are using the left lane on motorways although the right lane is empty will see their fines increased from 500 kuna to 2,000 kuna.

In winter, drivers must clean their frosted windscreens and remove snow from the vehicle. In addition to the snow, they will have to remove ice and water from the car. If they do not, they will pay a fine of 1,000 kuna. So far, the penalty amounted to 700 kuna.

Among other changes, the penalty for using mobile phones while driving will be increased from 500 to 1,500 kuna, and the penalty for not using the seat belt from 500 to 1,000 kuna.

Translated from Večernji List (reported by Josip Bohutinski).

More news about driving in Croatia can be found in the Travel section.