Croatia's police union issued a press release on Wednesday, demanding that the national police chief steps down over an incident earlier this week in which uniformed police ID'-d a reporter at her workplace.
On Tuesday, a reporter working for the Net.hr news website, Djurdjica Klancir reported that uniformed police officers had come to the website’s newsroom to ID her, in relation to a libel lawsuit being filed against her by a local-level politician from the central Croatian county of Sisak-Moslavina, Ivo Zinic, who is a member of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).
Klancir is known to have published several articles alleging corruption and nepotism in the county ruled by Zinic.
The unprecedented move of sending police officers to a newsroom caused public outcry and drew condemnations from other media outlets and the journalists’ association.
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On Wednesday, the police union joined the condemnations, saying in its press release that the incident constituted “a clear case of abuse of police powers” which served as an “attack on the freedom of the press,” in which police officials were used as a tool to intimidate a reporter, based on a request from a local politician who “just happens to be a member of the ruling political party.”
