Presidential candidate Ivana Kekin (Mozemo party) held an urgent press conference where she spoke about a disinformation campaign, findings by the NGO GONG and announced a possible deepfake attack against her.

In recent days, the Kekin couple has been in the spotlight because of Mile Kekin’s meeting with Nikica Jelavic. The Kekins explained that it was an unwanted encounter, that it came about because Jelavic misrepresented himself, and that it was a set-up.

At the beginning of the conference, Kekin said that a disinformation campaign was underway and that political parties were behind defamatory posts.

“I will sue Vinko Kojundzic next week”

“According to the GONG, one of the co-authors was Dominik Alpeza, an HDZ member who poses with Andrej Plenkovic and Vladimir Seks on his Facebook profile. Among those spreading disinformation is Vinko Kojundzic, Vili Beros’ favourite IT specialist, and he collaborates on the posts with Dejan Klajic, a member of the municipal assembly of the party that went bankrupt after we came to power,” Kekin said and continued:

“A video was published in which Kojundzic stands in front of my building and claims that I bought a flat without a loan, that I might not have had the money for it, and insinuatingly asks if Nikica Jelavic bought me the flat. I bought it with a loan, as stated in my declaration of assets. Jelavic did not buy the flat for me. I am going to sue Vinko Kojundzic next week. I have already spoken to my lawyer.”

She explained why she was filing the lawsuit:

“Because despite publicly available information, he deliberately spread lies about me, lies aimed at suggesting to the public that I am somehow financially connected to controversial businessman Nikica Jelavic. We call on the State Electoral Commission, the Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries HAKOM and Meta and EU regulators to further investigate who among the political actors launched the disinformation campaign on the TikTok and Instagram accounts linked to Ne Mozemo (“We Can not”, a play on words intended to mock the name of Kekin’s Mozemo party – “We can” in English) in order to prevent further influencing the outcome of the presidential election,” she said.

“This is a classic attempt at intimidation”

She also announced the possibility of deepfake material being released against her and her husband Mile Kekin.

“The campaign’s current method of smearing me and implicating my husband makes it clear that we should expect deepfake material to be used against us. I’m going to play you something that can be produced in 10 minutes,” she said, then played a fake audio clip of “Andrej Plenkovic” saying he would vote for her and agrees with everything Mozemo says.

Finally, she commented on Nikica Jelavic’s new statements, demanding that the Kekins tell the truth and apologise.

“This is a classic attempt at intimidation, but I will not be intimidated. Everything Jelavic has said proves it was a trap. Maybe we were naive, but I think it’s clear that it was a trap. I will not apologise; I have nothing to apologise for,” Ivana Kekin concluded.