PRESS RELEASE

OSCE Media Freedom Representative raises serious concern about lawsuits and brief detention of journalist in Croatia

WARSAW, 17 September 2019 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, expressed his concern over the lawsuits and detention of a journalist in Croatia yesterday morning.

On 16 September, journalist Gordan Duhaček, working for the Index.hr news portal, was arrested at Zagreb airport. According to media reports, he is under police investigation for two critical and satirical tweets he published on his personal account. His first tweet was about police behaviour towards prisoners, while the second one addressed certain environmental issues in a satirical way.

“Such treatment of journalists for their views is unacceptable. Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and should be respected as such. Punishing journalists for sharing comments on social media hinders their right to express their free opinion and encourages self-censorship to the detriment of media freedom in the country,” said Désir. 

Duhaček spent several hours in prison yesterday, before being subsequently released in the evening. The journalist was fined for one social media post, while there are ongoing proceedings over his second tweet.

The journalist has reportedly been prosecuted under the base of an article of the Law on Offences against Public Order and Peace, which, the Representative noted, is problematic for freedom of expression. ”Legislation and policies pertaining to the media must be protective of freedom of expression and provide a safe and enabling environment for press freedom,” said Désir, expressing his readiness to work with the authorities to reform the legislation.

He further recalled the OSCE Ministerial Decision on Safety of Journalists, which urges participating States to “condemn publicly and unequivocally all attacks and violence against journalists such as killing, torture, enforced disappearance, arbitrary arrest, arbitrary detention and arbitrary expulsion, intimidation, harassment, and threats of all forms.”

The Representative is currently in Warsaw, attending the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, which is the largest human rights conference in Europe and organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

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