ZAGREB, September 17, 2019 – Independent MP Bojan Glavašević on Tuesday said that the police are exposed to pressure by radical, ultra-conservative groups and that in the case of the arrest of Index reporter Gordan Duhaček, the charge was filed for offending an official person and citizens’ moral feelings in a selective manner.
“This sort of pressure on the police has resulted due to the permissiveness of the President, the Prime Minister and Interior Minister. As we have seen in numerous cases, the police are nowhere near as expeditious in domestic violence cases, or threats to public persons or hate speech. Politicians are obliged to protect institutions from attacks and the office-holders I mentioned above simply have not done so,” Glavašević believes.
According to Glavašević, yesterday’s incident clearly shows that reports of deteriorating freedom of the media and of free expression over the past few years have not been imagined but are a reality.
“The question of these liberties is not an ideological issue. It is not a matter of ‘yours’ and ‘ours’. It is an issue of democracy, therefore something that requires political consensus of all political factions dedicated to a healthy, free society,” he underscored and added that yesterday’s incident disclosed serious flaws in the conduct of the police and courts.
The judge’s conduct toward Duhaček is particularly concerning, Glavašević said and he called out the president of the Supreme Court and State Judicial Council to take responsibility and examine the conduct of the magistrate Krešimir Ožanić.
More news about human rights violations in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.
