“The salute is already now illicit. This is something that no one questions,” Plenković told reporters in Zagreb after a meeting of the HDZ leadership.
He went on to say that on Monday, when Black Ribbon Day, the Europe-wide Day of Remembrance for the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes was observed, some protagonists from left parties had tried to politicise that issue.
In this context he recalled a recent “semi-incident” in Knin when that salute was shouted and said that the police had reported the case to the court which should now have a say.
Asked by the press whether the penal code should outlaw that salute, Plenković said that initially, this had been suggested by a Croatian Jewish leader, Ognjen Kraus, while representatives of other ethnic minorities in the parliamentary majority did not insist on that to such extent.
“We will discuss the issue, however, such things are already treated as illicit,” Plenković told reporters.
He condemned hate speech on social networks aimed at a reporter of the commercial RTL broadcaster, Danka Derifaj, and announced that draft amendments to the Electronic Media Act would soon receive a second reading. He admitted that hate speech on social networks could be successfully halted only when a global solution was found for that problem.
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