The Croatian Journalists' Association (HND) said on Friday that the Prime Minister's statements about Dora Krsul, a reporter for the news website Telegram who uncovered a corruption case at the Faculty of Geodesy, were scandalous, adding that the Prime Minister had "dangerous intentions".

“Andrej Plenkovic, in his arrogant tone, told the reporter that her revelations in the case of the Ministry of Culture and Media and the Faculty of Geodesy were politically motivated and not journalism, but the product of illegal actions,” the HND said in a press release on World Press Freedom Day.

For Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, these revelations are not the result of investigative journalism, but “a deal with someone from inside the system”,” which he considers illegal, the HND said, adding that the prime minister’s ambition to be editor-in-chief of all Croatian media “has long since metastasised and become a danger to society.”

“Plenkovic’s statements show that he wants to criminalise investigative journalism”

The HND said that the prime minister likes it when the media are captured and controlled with public money distributed to them under the counter or with which they buy their obedience, and that he does not like it when he is asked sensitive questions.

Plenkovic has labelled the independent media “an ‘axis of evil’,” and when his initials appeared in a corruption case uncovered by the media last year, he amended the Criminal Code and appointed Ivan Turudic as State Attorney-General.

“Plenkovic’s statements show that he wants to criminalise investigative journalism and corrupt the media to prevent them from causing him political damage,” the HND said.

The HND said it would never give up resisting “the high-handedness of politicians and all others who believe that the public interest is in fact their own private interest”. They emphasised that they would continue to fully support the journalist, Ms Krsul and the Telegram editorial team, as well as all investigative journalists.