hrvatsko novinarsko društvo croatian journalists' association
Perkovčeva 2 | 10 000 Zagreb | Tel: 482-8333 | Faks: 482-8332 | E-mail: hnd@hnd.hr

Arhiva priopćenja

IFEX javlja o prijetnji smræu Dragi Hedlu

09.12.2005.

IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community

_________________________________________________________________

 

ALERT - CROATIA

 

8 December 2005

 

Newspaper editor receives death threat for reporting on war crimes

 

SOURCE: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), New York

 

(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a CPJ press release:

 

CROATIA: Newspaper editor receives death threat for reporting on war crimes

 

The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by an anonymous death threat made against Drago Hedl, editor of the independent Croatian satirical weekly Feral Tribune. Hedl said on Wednesday he received a letter mailed December 5 in his home city of Osijek that, in letters cut from newspapers, threatened to kill him and his source, local and international press reported.

 

The letter alluded to Milan Levar, an ethnic Serb who was killed in a 2000 explosion after testifying before the Hague-based United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia about war crimes committed against ethnic Serbs in Croatia.

 

"We call on the authorities in Croatia to pursue their investigation aggressively and prosecute those responsible for threatening our colleague Drago Hedl," said CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper. "Ensuring accountability for these kinds of abuses is important because journalists in Croatia continue to face threats in retaliation for their reporting."

 

In a statement on December 7, Feral Tribune linked the threat to an article it published in July about former Croatian soldier Krunoslav Fehir, who admitted helping to abduct, torture and murder ethnic Serb civilians in Osijek in 1991-92. The soldier implicated Branimir Glavas, a wartime commander of Croatian forces and current head of the Osijek municipal council, in those war crimes. Glavas has publicly denied responsibility for the abuses.

 

Osijek police chief Stipo Rimac said on December 7 that authorities were investigating the letter and providing Hedl with protection, the state news agency HINA reported.

 

In the past, several journalists have been threatened in retaliation for criticizing Glavas. Sandra Krizanec, a reporter at the Osijek Studio of Croatian Radio and Television (HRT), was threatened over the telephone by Glavas in May 2002, according to the local press. Krizanec had prepared a report about financial irregularities committed during the privatization of state-owned companies in the 1990s and alleged that Glavas had been involved in corruption. Several hours after the report aired, Glavas called the journalist and physically threatened her.

 

CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information on Croatia, visit http://www.cpj.org.

 

For further information, contact Alex Lupis (x101) or Nina Ognianova (x106) at CPJ, 330 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10001, U.S.A., tel: +1 212 465 1004, fax: +1 212 465 9568, e-mail: europe@cpj.org, Internet: http://www.cpj.org/

 

The information contained in this alert is the sole responsibility of CPJ. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit CPJ.

_________________________________________________________________

DISTRIBUTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

EXCHANGE (IFEX) CLEARING HOUSE

555 Richmond St. West, # 1101, PO Box 407
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5V 3B1

tel: +1 416 515 9622    fax: +1 416 515 7879

alerts e-mail: alerts@ifex.org    general e-mail: ifex@ifex.org

Internet site: http://www.ifex.org/

_________________________________________________________________

 

Povratak

AKTUALNO