News

Bačić's persecution of the leaders of the CJA and the Journalists' Union is a new blow to media freedom

13.03.2021.

The termination of the employment contract of journalist Hrvoje Zovko, also known as the president of the Croatian Journalists' Association, is a new blow to journalists and media freedom. The conduct of the director general of the HRT (Croatian Radio and Television), Kazimir Bačić, is no different in terms of methods and performance from the staged Stalinist trials: Zovko was fired on Tuesday, March 9, 2021, through the media, and two days later journalist Maja Sever, president of the SNH (Trade Union of Croatian Journalists), was handed out a "warning before possible dismissal", due to an interview published in the weekly Nacional.

Since Zovko has now been fired for similar charges for which he received an exceptional dismissal in 2018, which was declared illegal by a final court ruling and returned to work, it is clear that the HRT director general does not respect the decisions of Croatian courts. By brutally putting pressure on the judiciary, without choosing the means, he pursues to eliminate all who stand in the way, through their public and professional activities, to his governing with the public service as his personal affair, which is confirmed by the "warning before possible dismissal" of SNH's President Maja Sever.

Apparently, targeted are all who dared to speak publicly about the serious accusations of sexual harassment and mobbing against the director of the HRT Business Unit Mislav Stipić, reported by a female employee and then followed by two other testimonies. Director general Bačić tried unsuccessfully to cover up the allegations, however then pardoned his close associate Stipić like a nobleman, of any guilt.

The CJA is therefore seeking an urgent statement from the Government and the Ministry of Culture and Media over the unprecedented persecution of journalists and the threat to media freedoms inherent in authoritarian regimes rather than Western European democracies.

At the assembly of the Parliamentary Committee for Information, Informatization and Media on March 1, 2021, Bačić deceived members and the Croatian public by false claims that the procedures on HRT were carried out "in accordance with the law and internal acts". He stated that four commissioners were in charge of the procedures, while at the same time he was conducting his own individual investigation against Zovko, without a given possibility for the defendant to personally plead to the accusations and call his witnesses, (unlike Stipić, who was given the opportunity).

In the light of the latest persecutions, we demand from the Parliamentary Committee for Information, Informatization and Media the establishment of an independent commission that will examine all reports and proceedings on HRT. Since there is double criteria on HRT, and they are designed by Kazimir Bačić, who is both an investigator and a jury and a judge, but also that the two reports related to the director general, we believe that this is the only possible way to, with the protection of victims, transparently and without pressure, establish all the facts. Regardless of who the defendant might be.

Therefore, we reiterate our call on the Government, the Ministry of Culture and Media and the Committee on Information, Informatization and Media, as well as the HRT Supervisory Board, to reassess the management of the public national service, the public good of all citizens and stakeholders.

As journalists and citizens of one of the member states of the European Union, we cannot allow that in the most influential media house in Croatia, prominent journalists and editors are persecuted, intimidated and pushed into the streets because of their justified professional and public activities. Such a situation is unsustainable in societies that want to be democratic and need to be stopped urgently. There is no free society without free media. CJA has always advocated for freedom of opinion and against all violence, so now again it will not remain deaf nor blind to persecutions from HRT.

For the Executive Committee,
Branko Mijić, vice president of CJA
Goran Gazdek, vice president of CJA

The termination of the employment contract of journalist Hrvoje Zovko, also known as the president of the Croatian Journalists' Association, is a new blow to journalists and media freedom. The conduct of the director general of the HRT (Croatian Radio and Television), Kazimir Bačić, is no different in terms of methods and performance from the staged Stalinist trials: Zovko was fired on Tuesday, March 9, 2021, through the media, and two days later journalist Maja Sever, president of the SNH (Trade Union of Croatian Journalists), was handed out a "warning before possible dismissal", due to an interview published in the weekly Nacional.

Since Zovko has now been fired for similar charges for which he received an exceptional dismissal in 2018, which was declared illegal by a final court ruling and returned to work, it is clear that the HRT director general does not respect the decisions of Croatian courts. By brutally putting pressure on the judiciary, without choosing the means, he pursues to eliminate all who stand in the way, through their public and professional activities, to his governing with the public service as his personal affair, which is confirmed by the "warning before possible dismissal" of SNH's President Maja Sever.

Apparently, targeted are all who dared to speak publicly about the serious accusations of sexual harassment and mobbing against the director of the HRT Business Unit Mislav Stipić, reported by a female employee and then followed by two other testimonies. Director general Bačić tried unsuccessfully to cover up the allegations, however then pardoned his close associate Stipić like a nobleman, of any guilt.

The CJA is therefore seeking an urgent statement from the Government and the Ministry of Culture and Media over the unprecedented persecution of journalists and the threat to media freedoms inherent in authoritarian regimes rather than Western European democracies.

At the assembly of the Parliamentary Committee for Information, Informatization and Media on March 1, 2021, Bačić deceived members and the Croatian public by false claims that the procedures on HRT were carried out "in accordance with the law and internal acts". He stated that four commissioners were in charge of the procedures, while at the same time he was conducting his own individual investigation against Zovko, without a given possibility for the defendant to personally plead to the accusations and call his witnesses, (unlike Stipić, who was given the opportunity).

In the light of the latest persecutions, we demand from the Parliamentary Committee for Information, Informatization and Media the establishment of an independent commission that will examine all reports and proceedings on HRT. Since there is double criteria on HRT, and they are designed by Kazimir Bačić, who is both an investigator and a jury and a judge, but also that the two reports related to the director general, we believe that this is the only possible way to, with the protection of victims, transparently and without pressure, establish all the facts. Regardless of who the defendant might be.

Therefore, we reiterate our call on the Government, the Ministry of Culture and Media and the Committee on Information, Informatization and Media, as well as the HRT Supervisory Board, to reassess the management of the public national service, the public good of all citizens and stakeholders.

As journalists and citizens of one of the member states of the European Union, we cannot allow that in the most influential media house in Croatia, prominent journalists and editors are persecuted, intimidated and pushed into the streets because of their justified professional and public activities. Such a situation is unsustainable in societies that want to be democratic and need to be stopped urgently. There is no free society without free media. CJA has always advocated for freedom of opinion and against all violence, so now again it will not remain deaf nor blind to persecutions from HRT.

For the Executive Committee,
Branko Mijić, vice president of CJA
Goran Gazdek, vice president of CJA
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