Gender Equality Ombudswoman Visnja Ljubicic is receiving abusive e-mails, some of which include death threats, after filing a criminal report against former MP Ivan Pernar over his report to the Zambian police against eight Croats who have adopted Congolese children, Croatian Jutarnji List daily reported on Friday.

According to the daily, the ombudswoman is receiving threatening e-mails every day.

Her office has recently explained that Pernar could be prosecuted on suspicion of violation of the law on gender equality and incitement to hatred and abuse of personal data.

Pernar has been posting on Facebook for days that he has reported to the police the four Croatian couples arrested in Zambia on child trafficking charges. A message from him to the Zambian police has surfaced on social media, and in it he informs the police that one of the arrested Croatians is a transgender person, and notes that “as far as he knows, such persons cannot adopt children from Congo.”

Pernar also posted photos of some of the adopted children and their adoptive mother, claiming that she used forged documents for the adoption. Jurists warn that Pernar has thus also violated the children’s right to privacy.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic strongly condemned hate speech and the behaviour of those who, driven by hatred and under the pretext of protecting children’s rights, denounce others without evidence.

“This is an irresponsible and dangerous behavior, motivated by intolerance and hatred,” he said.

Plenkovic assessed that the politicization of this topic clearly is solely for the personal promotion of individuals and gaining visibility of certain parties who do it under the guise of protecting the rights of children in Africa and those children who have already gone through the adoption process, acquired Croatian citizenship and live in Croatia.

“There is talk about the alleged well-being of these children, their safety, and on the other hand,it is insinuated without evidence that their parents are traffickers. This kind of rhetoric has led to these children experiencing abusive comments on the street and at school,” he warned at the government’s meeting.