The Croatian Journalists Association (HND) on Tuesday warned about what they called "a new wave of court rulings against media outlets and reporters, and lawsuits with enormous damages claims, including those filed by judges," describing it as "the continuation of prosecution that could trigger a new mass protest," state agency Hina reported.

“The judicial aggression against reporters and media in Croatia is continuing. If the financial destruction of reporters and media continues at the current pace, the HND cannot rule out new protests,” head of HND, Hrvoje Zovko, said.

Zovko “recalled a large protest of journalists in 2019,” stressing that “a rally of that kind was easy to organise again,” Hina quoted Zovko.

Despite several favourable rulings in cases of lawsuits against reporters and media outlets at the end of 2020, hopes for an end to the “judicial aggression” have been dashed, and judges who are suing reporters and media outlets have now become its main participants, Zovko explained.

“The HND is horrified by Osijek County Court president Zvonko Vrban having announced five lawsuits against the Telegram news website over five stories by reporter Drago Hedl,” Zovko said, warning also about a case in which Zadar County Court judge Ivan Markovic sued the Index.hr news website over articles on court rulings in a case of a group rape, seeking 99,000 kuna (€13,200) in damages.

Telegram editor-in-chief Jelena Valentic said that judge Vrban, who had been accused of corruption by former football manager and fugitive Zdravko Mamic, was seeking €100,000 in damages from the news portal due to five articles penned by their reporter Drago Hedl.

The articles mostly concern Vrban’s property and are a result of months of investigative work. “Everything is substantiated with documents and contracts, and we tried to contact Vrban a dozen times, but he would not tell his side of the story,” said Valentic.

HND vice-president Branko Mijic said Vrban’s actions, as well as those of “the entire judiciary,” are “unprecedented” and called for an international inquiry.

“We ask Prime Minister Plenkovic, who so cares about the fundamental freedoms and democracy in Belarus, to do the same in the case of Croatian media and reporters,” Mijic said.

According to Hina, Mijic “recalled” a negative report by Freedom House on media freedoms in Croatia, as well as the case of HND president Zovko, who had been fired a second time from his job at the state television HRT.

The Coalition Against SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) in Europe (CASE) a few days ago named HRT “the biggest European SLAPP addict,” with Zovko saying that the “HRT management would be replaced” if Croatia was a normal country.

State agency Hina chose not to elaborate on state television HRT’s history of lawsuits against other media outlets and its own employees.

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