| The Committee to Protect Journalists 330 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001 USA Contact: Catherine Fitzpatrick or Amanda Onion Phone: (212)465-1004, x 101 or 110 E-mail: Europe@cpj.org |
New York, Sept. 24--The Committee to Protect Journalists today urged Croatian President Franjo Tudjman today to ensure that charges against two independent journalists be dropped and that the legislation used to try them be abolished from the Croatian Criminal Code. The journalists are accused of defaming President Franjo Tudjman.
"Such laws have no place in any country, and are especially to be condemned in a self-proclaimed democracy such as Croatia," notes CPJ in a legal brief presented to the court. "No journalist in any Western democracy is in prison as a result of a conviction of seditious libel."
Adjourned June 14, the criminal trial against the Feral Tribune journalists will reopen tomorrow -- Sept. 25. The defendants face up to three years in jail if convicted.
The charges against Viktor Ivancic, the editor in chief of the satiric newspaper Feral Tribune, and Marinko Culic, a reporter with the weekly, stem from an April 29 article criticizing Tudjman's proposal to rebury the remains of World War II Fascists alongside their victims. This is the first application of a law passed by the Croatian Parliament on March 29 which effectively criminalizes any critical reporting or satirical commentary on the president, the prime minister, the parliament speaker or the chief magistrates of the supreme and constitutional courts.
The CPJ brief condemned the prosecution as an example of seditious libel, a legal concept that the Committee characterized as "fundamentally antithetical to the values of a democratic society." Croatia's new statutes constitute seditious libel because they shield only high government officials from criticism. The Croatian Constitutional Court rejected an appeal by the newspaper's attorneys on June 10.
In recent months CPJ has followed with alarm the increasing constraints on press freedom in Croatia. On Sept. 3, the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) brought charges against four editors and reporters from Nacional, an independent weekly, and Novi List, the largest independent newspaper in Croatia. Still pending, the libel charges were launched under the same criminal code articles applied in the Feral Tribune case.
| The Committee to Protect Journalists 330 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001 USA Contact: Catherine Fitzpatrick or Amanda Onion Phone: (212)465-1004, x 101 or 110 E-mail: Europe@cpj.org |
March 22, 1995: Responding to an appeal on behalf of the independent weekly newspaper Feral Tribune, the Croatian Constitutional Court finally withdraws a 50 percent sales tax on the paper. The tax, usually levied only on pornographic publications, had been in effect since July 1, 1994.
Aug. 11, 1995: The Croatian government takes away the frequency of Radio LAE, known for its opposition to the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), and turns it over to a government company, FFI Commerce. FFI Commerce is said to have connections with HDZ and President Tudjman.
March 29, 1996: The Croatian Parliament passes into law two amendments to the Penal Code that threaten press freedom. One, a seditious libel law, authorizes the public prosecutor to start legal proceedings against anyone who has offended or slandered the president, the parliament speaker, the prime minister or the presidents of the supreme and constitutional courts. Earlier legislation required the public figures themselves to file charges against individuals for slander or offense. Under the new law, the government leaders need only consent to charges brought by the public prosecutor.
The second law makes it a criminal act to divulge classified information "vital to state interests," though such state secrets are left largely undefined.
*Note: President Tudjman did not have to approve the laws before they took effect, as previously reported. The amendments only needed to be signed into law by the president. This "act of promulgation" is only a formality, not comparable to a veto, and the law can only be abolished by an act of parliament.
April 7, 1996: The Croatian government imposes a US$2.5 million fine on the independent daily Novi List for its alleged use of printing equipment from Italy, which the government claims is reserved for Italian-language newspapers in Croatia. On May 10, the Croatian Minister of Finance decides to suspend the fine, although by law Novi List must first pay the penalty and then follow with an appeal. Novi List's editor in chief, however, is optimistic that the fine against the newspaper will be suspended indefinitely.
April 12, 1996: The two new amendments to the Penal Code, which were passed by parliament on March 29 and signed by the president, are published in the official government newspaper. As per Croatia's procedures, the laws take effect eight days after publication.
April 20, 1996: The two new amendments to the Penal Code passed by Parliament on March 29, 1996, go into effect.
April 25, 1996: Members of the Croatian financial police enter the offices of the weekly independent newspaper Panorama and order all staff to leave within 15 minutes. The police proceed to lock all the offices and charge the newspaper with violating "ecological" standards. The offices are reopened on May 10 after CPJ and others protest the shut-down.
April 29, 1996: The Feral Tribune publishes an article by Marinko Culic entitled "Bones in the Mixer." The article is critical of President Tudjman's recommendation to turn a World War II concentration camp in Jasenovac, where thousands of Serbs were killed by Croatian Fascists, into a memorial that would also honor Croats killed under Communist rule in the former Yugoslavia as well as those who died during the 1991 Croatian war against the Serbs. The cover of the Tribune issue in which the article appears displays a cartoon of a skeleton wearing a presidential sash that reads: "We're all going to Jasenovac."
May 3, 1996: Viktor Ivancic, editor in chief of Feral Tribune, is taken to police offices and informed that the general prosecutor of Croatia has brought criminal charges against him and Feral Tribune reporter Marinko Culic for "rudely and falsely slandering" the president under the new "seditious libel" amendment to the Penal Code approved March 29 by the Croatian Parliament. The charges stem from the April 29 Feral Tribune article described above. The journalists face up to three years' imprisonment if convicted.
May 23, 1996: Nevenko Kosutic, the daughter of President Tudjman, files a civil libel suit against Feral Tribune demanding 3.5 million kuna (US$635,000) in damages. Ms. Kosutic claims that the Feral Tribune slandered her by publishing allegations that she set up a prosperous business using government connections. Ms. Kosutic's lawyer later asks the court to order the provisional withdrawal of the money from Feral Tribune's bank account pending a verdict in the suit.
May 30, 1996: Leaders of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) announce that the party intends to sue the weekly independent newspaper Globus for a May 21 article that contends that the ruling party has drafted a list of opposition politicians whom they plan to denounce as public enemies. No legal action has yet been taken.
June 14, 1996: The first session of the trial of Feral Tribune editor Viktor Ivancic and reporter Marinko Culic on charges of seditious libel opens in Zagreb. The judge at the trial unexpectedly adjourned proceedings until September 25 to call new witnesses. CPJ board member and First Amendment lawyer, James C. Goodale, traveled to Zagreb to present an amicus brief, which protested the grounds of the case, at the trial. Although the judge did not accept the brief to be cited in court records, the document was widely distributed at press conferences and public meetings and segments were published in the Zagreb weekly, Globus. CPJ followed up by writing press releases documenting the trial, and a letter of protest to President Tudjman.
July 2, 1996: The editor of the television news program "Slikom na Sliku" (Frame on Frame) is informed by officials at the government television channel HTV, that HTV would no longer air the popular program. No explanation was given for the program's cancellation. CPJ wrote to Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, urging him to allow "Slikom na Sliku" to continue broadcasting. The show, which had been running since January 1992 was a 45-minute program containing interviews with prominent newsmakers and broadcasts from abroad. It was the only television news program in Croatia to cover the trial of Feral Tribune journalists Viktor Ivancic and Marinko Culic.
Sept. 3, 1996: The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), the ruling party of Croatia, brought libel charges against Veljko Vicevic, editor-in-chief of the independent daily Novi List, and Tihana Tomicic, a columnist for the newspaper. The charges were filed under the same legislation applied against the Feral Tribune journalists -- Article 71 of the Croatian Criminal Code -- which forbids publishing or broadcasting false information that can injure the "honor and reputation" of public officials. The charges stemmed from a recent column by Tomicic in which she compared the political climate in Croatia before its first democratic elections, held in 1990 to the situation in Germany just before Adolf Hitler was elected. CPJ wrote to President Franjo Tudjman on Sept. 4 to urge that the charges be dropped.
Sept. 3, 1996: The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), the ruling party of Croatia, brought charges against Ivo Pukanic, editor in chief of the weekly independent newspaper Nacional, and Srecko Jurdana, a columnist for the newspaper. The charges were filed under the same legislation applied against the Feral Tribune journalists -- Article 71 of the Croatian Criminal Code -- which forbids publishing or broadcasting false information that can injure the "honor and reputation" of public officials. Although no stories were specified, the charges singled out Jurdana, known for his frequent columns criticizing HDZ leaders. CPJ wrote a letter to President Franjo Tudjman on Sept. 10 protesting the charges.