A staff reporter for the popular Index.hr news website, Gordan Duhacek, was detained by Zagreb police on Monday over tongue-in-cheek tweets, in a case which caused a public outcry and renewed warnings of increased pressures on press freedom in Croatia.

Although he was released later that day, the court had fined him 754 kuna (€100) for using the acronym ACAB in a tweet from July last year, in which he commented on an incident of excessive police violence at a Zadar night club.

The English-language acronym ACAB – which stands for All Cops Are Bastards and is a well-known anti-police slogan – is on the list of proscribed hate symbols guidebook used by Croatia’s police.

Duhacek was pronounced guilty according to Art 17 of the law on public disorder which prohibits disparaging remarks about law enforcement officers.

In another contentious tweet from August 2019, Duhacek posted a satirical reworking of a popular patriotic song, in which he used the word ‘shit’ several times, in reference to news reports that Plitvice Lakes, one of the country’s main tourist attractions and best known natural parks, regularly discharges local sewage into a nearby lake.

Based on an anonymous report, Duhacek was also charged for this tweet, per Article 14 of the same law, which prohibits “publicly insulting moral feelings of citizens,” and which is punishable by up to €100 fine or 30 days in prison. The verdict in this case should be delivered on Thursday.

Support for Duhacek streams in 

Upon the news of his arrest on Monday, Duhacek received support from the Croatian Journalists’ Association (HND) and several democracy and free speech NGOs, who saw this as another case of pressure on reporters and free press.

The website he works for, Index.hr, is well known for being highly critical of the conservative government, and often slams right-wing groups and individuals for using symbols and slogans inspired by Croatia’s fascist World War II regime – something also listed in police’s guidebook, but in practice rarely processed by police or courts.

“We wish to warn that police detaining Duhacek is unprecedented, and this case cannot be interpreted as anything other than intimidation,” HND said in a statement.

In neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, 20 journalists signed a petition supporting Duhacek, and on Tuesday, several Croatian democracy NGOs said they condemned police behaviour and said this was part of a wider pattern of intimidating reporters and the free press.

“We see this as a case of unacceptable pressure applied to journalists, and yet another step towards reducing the freedom of the press. News media has been swamped with thousands of lawsuits, politicians offensively disparage women and men reporters, and police persecute them – they get carded in their newsrooms, as in the case of Djurdjica Klancir, or they get arrested like Gordan Duhacek – even though he had reported to police a day earlier,” election-monitoring NGO Gong said in a press release.

In March, uniformed police officers visited the newsroom of another popular news portal, Net.hr, to check the ID of a well-known investigative reporter, Djurdjica Klancir. She was carded after a civil lawsuit was filed against her by a local politician and member of the ruling HDZ party in the town of Sisak. Klancir had previously published articles about suspicious hirings in the county, which seemed to point to a cultuire of nepotism and clientelism, and the case was also strongly condemned by HND and several opposition politicians.

‘Pressure on free speech’

Also on Tuesday, Duhacek appeared on N1 television to talk about the case. He explained that although he had reported to a police station on Sunday and received assurances that he would be fine flying to Germany the following day, he was nevertheless detained at Zagreb Airport and held several hours in a cell.

Duhacek said that after his lawyer left, he was visited by the court judge in his holding cell, and was told to either plead guilty or prepare to spend 30 days in prison.

“This was a case of pressure on journalists, on citizens, and on free speech in Croatia… I was practically charged and sentenced beforehand… This (came as a result of) a combination of what the climate in our society is like, and how those in charge of police treat what is desirable and what isn’t,” Duhacek told N1. He also announced that he would take further legal action to appeal the verdict.

Former prime minister and a candidate in the upcoming presidency election, Zoran Milanovic, also condemned the arrest and fine.

“The man was reported, processed and sentenced in court over tweets – an entire year after he had posted a tweet in which he mocked the police. To me this is unfathomable. This order clearly came from the top, this is a regime matter, this is politics at work. Cases like these just work to ‘bury us’ as a society… ” Milanovic said.

Meanwhile, Croatia’s Interior Minister, Davor Bozinovic, dismissed the view that arresting Duhacek was a form of intimidation, and added he would order a detailed police report about the case.

“I wish to stress that this is not about limiting media freedoms or intimidating journalists in any way… Police do their job professionally, and everyone in that system has its role and remit. When I get the report, anyone who is interested will be able to read it,” Bozinovic said.