IFEX- News from the international freedom of expression community

ACTION ALERT UPDATE – CROATIA

16 July 1999

Croatian journalist charged

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

**Updates IFEX alert of 7 May 1999**

(CPJ/IFEX) - CPJ is deeply concerned about the criminal prosecution of Orlanda Obad, a Croatian journalist with the independent political daily "Jutarnji List", who was charged with violating Article 295 of the Croatian Penal Code for revealing alleged business secrets about President Franjo Tudjman's family's financial holdings.

The Croatian Public Prosecutor's office filed charges against Obad on 22 April 1999. The accusations were based on an article Obad published on 17 October 1998 in "Jutarnji List", in which she reported that the president's wife had approximately US$150,000 in a bank account at the Zagrebacka bank in Croatia. This information was excluded from an earlier earnings declaration, despite a new Croatian law (the Law on Rights and Obligations of State Employees passed in September 1998 by the Croatian parliament) that requires public officials to release the amount of their entire family holdings.

Although the revelations in Obad's article may have caused embarrassment to the president's family, information about the financial holdings of government officials and their families falls well within the category of public interest. CPJ believes that no journalist should be prosecuted for publishing such information.

This is the second attempt by President Tudjman's government to charge journalists under Article 295. A final court hearing is expected to take place in the fall for Ratko Boskovic, a journalist with the independent weekly "Globus". He has been accused of revealing the content of bank documents in a 1995 "Globus" article which examined possible financial improprieties of the Viktor Lenac shipyard in Rijeka. His trial is still pending.

CPJ is also very troubled by the precedent that this case sets in regard to the treatment of sources. Two employees from Zagrebacka bank in Croatia, who admitted freely to the bank that they had provided the information to Obad, were immediately fired, an act which has been severely criticized by the public and the press in Croatia. On 3 December 1998, Obad and the former bank employees were called to testify before an investigative judge regarding the case. They have since filed a complaint against the charges, but are expected to be tried in the fall. If convicted, they could all face up to five years in prison.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Send appeals to the president:

- strongly protesting against the prosecution of all these individuals for practicing their profession

- reminding his excellency that Article 19 of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights, to which Croatia is a signatory, grants journalists the freedom "to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers"

- urging him to take a leadership role in ensuring that Croatian officials cease the unjustified harassment of Obad and other individuals accused under Article 295

APPEALS TO:

His Excellency Franjo Tudjman President of Croatia Zagreb, Croatia Fax: +385 1 456 5208 E-mail: www-admin@president.hr

Please copy appeals to the source if possible.

For further information, contact Chrystyna Lapychak at CPJ, 330 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10001, U.S.A., tel: +1 212 465 1004 x 101, fax: +1 212 465 9568, e-mail: europe@cpj.org, Internet: http://www.cpj.org/.The information contained in this action alert update is the sole responsibility of CPJ. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit CPJ.

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