ZAGREB, February 6, 2019 – The MP of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS), Milorad Pupovac, on Wednesday commended Science and Education Minister Blaženka Divjak’s initiative to make it an obligation for primary schools to organise visits to the Jasenovac memorial complex, and condemned attempts at restricting freedom of the press.
“In 2017, only nine schools visited that awful World War II execution site, and last year there were more visitors from Italy than Croatia,” Pupovac said in parliament.
“Today, children don’t know what’s right and what’s wrong anymore and whether the salute ‘For the Homeland Ready’ and the glorification of the Ustasha regime is allowed or not,” he added.
Speaking of freedom of the press, Pupovac said that some MPs were “trying to stifle it from parliament benches.”
He was alluding to the opposition Živi Zid party, whose conflict with the owner of a daily newspaper turned into a conflict with one of its journalists who in her article about the party’s finances quoted from a report by the State Auditor’s Office. “You’re settling accounts with the employee and not with the employer. You should attack flaws in the system and not employees,” Pupovac said.
He expressed concern over the fact that the HRT public broadcasting service had brought 33 lawsuits against other media outlets in recent months. “Why? Because they were fighting against fake news or hate speech? No, but because someone noticed elements of censorship in certain cases. That’s why we are considering prohibiting (the HRT) from mentioning our name.”
More news on the Jasenovac memorial complex can be found in the Politics section.
