Croatia: Rule of (Bad) Law

[Ivo Skoric]

In Croatia people do not go in jail for corruption. They go in jail 
for writing about corruption. Ashcroft should send a team to Croatia 
to study the system that would keep his bosses in power, while 
draining all F911 revenues on court costs.

In Croatia, there is a defamation law, carried on from the ancient 
communist regime through the Tudjman's country, and it is still on 
the books, two regime changes later. The defamation law is there to 
protect high ranking fat cats from criticism.

High level corruption is always secretive and hard to track down. And 
something that newspapers publish, is immediately public and easy to 
document. So, while corrupted officials may easily deny wrongdoing, 
the journalists who write about corruption find it hard to defend 
themselves against acusations of defamation.

That makes it easy for corruption to continue and flourish regardless 
of the changes of government. A court in Split, southern
Croatia, sentenced state television and radio journalist Ljubica 
Letinic to a two-month suspended prison term for defamation of Jozo 
Parcina, a local businessman.

Letinic, had accused Parcina of corruption during a talk show that 
aired on the main television station on 18 March 2002. Meanwhile, 
Croatia has its own version of Dick Cheney in the person of Miomir 
Zuzul.

Miomir Zuzul used to be a psychology professor at the University of 
Zagreb, Croatia. There, he was also a high-ranking member of the 
Communist Party. One of the young cadres, slated for pampered future. 
But, Yugoslavia collapsed, and he became a high-ranking member of the 
nationalist Croatian HDZ party - opposing communists.

Chosing the winning side, under Tudjman he got the coveted post of 
Croatian Ambassador to the United States. Once in the U.S., guided by 
his opportunism, he quickly got onto the payroll of the U.S. military-
industrial complex. Not Halliburton, though, but Bechtel. During 
Racan's government, Zuzul worked as a "consultant" for Bechtel in 
Croatia. His job was to lobby for Bechtel's contracts in the country.

Under the new HDZ government led by Ivo Sanader, Zuzul became 
Croatia's foreign minister. Like Cheney, who claims to have broken 
the ties with Halliburton since becoming the vice-president, Zuzul 
claims not to be working for Bechtel any more, as he took the #2 
position in Croatia's government.

Just recently, however, Bechtel was awarded a contract worth $257M to 
build 37 km of highway South of Split (Dugopolje - Šestanovac) 
WITHOUT public tender. Zuzul swears he did not help. Just as 
Haliburton miraculously won the contract in Iraq, with no help of 
Cheney.

If, however, someone writes in Croatian media that Zuzul is, perhaps, 
a corrupt official serving his American corporate masters, rather 
than the people of Croatia, that someone would be liable for 
defamation, and could expect a suspended prison sentence by Croatian 
courts at best.

That policy is wrong and must be changed.

ivo


IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
_________________________________________________________________

ALERT - CROATIA

15 July 2004

Journalist given two-month suspended jail sentence

SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has expressed shock after a court in Split, southern
Croatia, sentenced state television and radio journalist Ljubica 
Letinic to a two-month suspended prison term for defamation of Jozo 
Parcina, a local businessman.

Letinic, who is also an RSF correspondent, had accused Parcina of
corruption during a talk show that aired on the main television 
station on 18 March 2002. Her case will now go before the Split 
Appeals Court.

RSF said the sentence conflicted with United Nations and Organisation 
for Security and Co-operation in Europe recommendations that press 
offences not be punishable by prison sentences. "As Croatia became an 
official candidate for European Union membership last month, this 
sentence goes against all progress in press freedom in the past few 
years," the organisation said.

In its 2004 annual report, RSF highlighted the fact that Croatia had
carried out major but often controversial legislative reform of the 
media, with a view toward European integration. The country's 
defamation law remains out of line with European and international 
standards.

The last prison sentence for a press offence was given to Ivo Pukanic 
on 23 December 2002. The former editor-in-chief of the weekly 
"Nacional" received a suspended two-month sentence for threatening 
Ivic Pasalic, a former political advisor to late president Franjo 
Tudjman.

For further information, contact Soria Blatmann at RSF, 5, rue 
Geoffroy Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 65, fax: +33 
1 45 23 11 51, e-mail: europe at rsf.org, Internet: http://www.rsf.org

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