The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) have called on the management of Croatia's public broadcaster HRT to withdraw lawsuits it recently filed against the Croatian Journalists' Association (HND) and two of its journalists, Hrvoje Zovko and Sanja Mikleusevic-Pavic.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) have called on the management of Croatia’s public broadcaster HRT to withdraw the lawsuits it filed against the Croatian Journalists Association (HND), its head Hrvoje Zovko, and the president of the HND branch at the HRT, Sanja Mikleusevic-Pavic, the HND said on Wednesday.

In late December, the HRT management filed lawsuits against the HND, Zovko, and Mikleusevic-Pavic for alleged criminal acts against HRT’s “honour and reputation,” seeking 500,000 kuna (€67,000) in damages. Zovko is a long-time journalist at HRT, and Mikleusevic-Pavic is the head of the HND branch at HRT.

According to the Italian-based media watchdog group OBC Transeuropa, Croatia has seen a rise in defamation lawsuits against journalists in recent years, including some 20 lawsuits filed over the last few months against eight different media outlets. The HND said that these constituted a clear case of censorship.

The IFJ and EFJ have joined the Western Balkan’s Regional Platform for Advocating Media Freedom and Journalists’ Safety in asking the HRT to withdraw the lawsuits as soon as possible.

“Managers of HRT should stop pressuring HND… and harassing representatives of the journalists’ association,” IFJ Secretary-General , Anthony Bellanger, said.

EFJ Secretary-General, Ricardo Gutiérrez, added that a recent European Union report on media pluralism in Croatia pointed out the politicised appointments and dismissals in its public broadcaster HRT.

The report also mentioned what it called a “systematic political interference” in HRT management appointment procedures.

“The dismissed Supervisory Committee submitted a 2016 report to the Parliament in which it exposed many irregularities in the management of the public service media. The report indicates a serious management crisis there,” the HND said.

(€1 = 7.42 kuna)

Follow N1 via mobile apps for Android | iPhone/iPad | Windows| and social media on Twitter | Facebook