Freelance journalist arrested and subsequently released
The Croatian freelance journalist
Željko Peratovic, who publishes a political blog called ’
45 lines’, was detained on 17 October for suspicion of revealing documents that contain a state secret. After interrogation, he was released next day.
Peratovic, a former journalist of the Globus political weekly and Vjesnik daily, was investigated by the Police in co-operation with the Zagreb County Prosecutor's Office on request of the Security and Intelligence Agency (SOA).
Stressing that all the data in question has been publicly available in other media for the past two years;
Peratovic believes he was arrested simply because he had ‘stepped on someone’s toes’. His detention, described as a severe attack on the freedom of speech, prompted the Croatian Journalists’ Association (HND), the Croatian Helsinki Committee on Human Rights Media Council (HHO), the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Democratic Centre (DC), Rapporteurs sans Frontičres and many individual journalists to protest, stressing that the officials leaking information should be targets, not the journalists.
The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media and the Special Representative on Freedom of Expression, noted that in accordance with the Joint Declaration by the UN Special Rapporteur of Opinion and Expression, journalists are not responsible for protecting state secrets and, therefore, should not be held accountable for publishing of classified information that was, for example, leaked to them. Normally, only the officials who have a specific legal duty to maintain confidentiality may be held liable if they allow disclosures.
In the Croatian media scene some felt that this case brought remembrance of things past, of the early nineties. But there is a significant difference in today’s situation compared to the early 90’s: media associations and human rights organizations in Croatia today have developed into potent and responsible institutions which react swiftly to any sort of pressure or harassment against journalists. The fact that reactions from the media corps, media associations and civil society circles were so prompt and loud, (and apparently effective in causing investigators to pull back from their actions, tell that public awareness of protecting this democratic value is high. It is per se a good sign, indicating that the achieved level of media freedom in Croatia will be preserved.
News in brief, OSCE Mission to Croatia, 17 – 30 October 2007
Vezano uz ovu staru vijest koju do sada nije prenio ni jedan hrvatski medij, napomenuo bih da je aktualni Kodeks časti HND-a u točki 6. u suprotnosti sa gore spomenutom UN-ovom deklaracijom.
Nadam se da će tijela HND-a koja su na sebe preuzele rad na izmjenama Statuta HND-a razmisliti i o izmjenama Kodeksa, između ostalog jer smo na prošloj 48. Izbornoj skupštini HND-a na prijedlog kolegice
kao 1. zaključak skupštine usvojili: