Prosecutorial authorities have launched an investigation into 7Dnevno weekly editor Mark Cigoj, director Marija Dekanic and former deputy editor Vuk Radic, who are suspected of having tried to extort money from businessman Nikica Gabric while preparing for publication a text on a masonic lodge.

Without revealing the suspects’ identity, the prosecutors said that in December 2019 and January 2020 Cigoj and Dekanic contacted Gabric, “with the intention of obtaining an illegal gain in the amount of HRK 200,000” and told him that “the weekly is preparing for publication an article on a masonic lodge and that it would publish a number of articles on that topic.”

The prosecutors note that Gabric met on several occasions with the first and the second suspect, telling them that disclosing the identity of members of the masonic lodge would harm them and their reputation. He went to those meetings with a hidden voice recording device.

Prosecutors allege that the suspects asked Gabric, an ophthalmologist who owns an eye clinic, for a “sponsorship” so that they would not publish articles on the masonic lodge.

Gabric refused this and the weekly ran several articles on the masonic lodge, most of which were authored by the third suspect, Vuk Radic.

In the meantime, Gabric contacted police and Cigoj, Dekanic and Radic were arrested in February 2020, after which Chief State Prosecutor Drazen Jelic had to step down as it was revealed that he, too, was a member of the masonic lodge.

Membership of masonic lodge incompatible with office of state prosecutor

Jelenic was succeeded by Zlata Hrvoj Sipek who asked the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor ethics commission to state if Jelenic’s membership of the masonic lodge was compatible with his holding a post in prosecutorial authorities.

The commission on Wednesday decided unanimously that membership of a masonic lodge is contrary to “the principle of impartiality, dignity and loyalty to the Code of Ethics of state prosecutors and deputy state prosecutors and is incompatible with the office of state prosecutor or deputy state prosecutor.”

It said in a press release that Hrvoj Sipek had asked Jelenic, who is now her deputy, to present evidence of his membership of the masonic lodge or its cessation, after which a decision will be made on whether or not disciplinary proceedings will be launched against him.

Jelenic was unavailable for comment today.