Croatia

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), has said that it is worried about a number of recent incidents of pressure on journalists and media in Croatia. Ante Tomic, a writer and columnist with the daily Jutarnji List, reported that he was attacked on February 23 while sitting in a cafe in the centre of the town of Split by an...

A Zagreb criminal court’s decision on Monday dismissed the charges that prosecutors had brought against the journalist Zeljko Peratovic at interior minister Tomislav Karamarko’s request, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). For the past two years, Peratovic has been target of several prosecutions initiated by Karamarko accusing him variously of defamation...

The police in Croatia have detained the alleged perpetrators of the brutal attack on Jutarnji List journalist Dusan Miljus, according to the South and East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO). On December 22, in the scope of operational actions under the name of "Shock 3", the Croatian police detained four suspects allegedly connected to the Miljus case. Two years ago, on June 2, 2008, in front of...

Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned the latest proceedings that Croatian interior minister Tomislav Karamarko has initiated against journalist Zeljko Peratovic, the target of repeated legal actions by the minister during past two years accusing him variously of defamation, violating the confidentiality of a judicial investigation and divulging information...

The South and East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) has expressed concern about and condemned the recent telephone and email threats to the Croatian weekly Novosti. On October 6, the weekly Novosti, which is published by the Serbian national minority in Croatia, received numerous phone calls and emails in which anonymous persons went as far as posing death threats to the Novosti staff members...

Reporter Ivonu Ramadzu and cameraman Kresimira Morica of national radio and TV station HRT were attcked on August 5 while they were covering celebrations marking the 15th anniversary of Operation Oluja, a major military victory for Croatia in the Yugoslav Wars. The TV crew went to the village of Čavoglave, the birthplace of controversial singer Marko “Thompson” Perković, where his ultranationalist...

The UN war crimes tribunal on Wednesday sentenced a Croatian journalist to three months in prison after finding him guilty of contempt for revealing the the names and personal details of confidential witnesses who had testified in one of its cases. Croatian journalist Domagoj Margetic awaits the verdict of his case at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal (ICTY) in The Hague, Netherlands, February 7...

The contempt of court proceedings against several Croatian journalists before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) are a new development in the history of the international courts that were created in the early 1990s to try senior officials suspected of war crimes or crimes against humanity. REVEALING MORE THAN CALLED FOR: The International Criminal Tribunal for...

A U.N. tribunal charged a Croat journalist with contempt of court on Monday for revealing the names of two witnesses who testified in a war crimes case. Freelance journalist Domagoj Margetic named the protected witnesses from the trial of General Tihomir Blaskic on his personal Web site in July and August of this year, the tribunal said in a statement. The U.N. tribunal for the former Yugoslavia...

The chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, has decided to withdraw the indictments against three Croatian journalists charged with contempt. She says that “in the interest of justice and judicial economy” she’s chosen not to proceed against Stjepan Seselj, Domagoj Margetic and Marijan Krizic, who had been all charged in connection with revealing the identity, statement and testimony of a protected...