The police have reported today that Damir Taslidžić, the attacker of journalist and Croatian Journalists’ Association (CJA) member Dario Topić, has been detained. According to a statement published on the website of the Osijek-Baranja Police Department and communicated to CJA President Hrvoje Zovko, a criminal investigation conducted by officers from the First Police Station Osijek with the Čepin branch revealed suspicion that the 75-year-old committed the criminal offense of “coercion against a person performing duties of public interest or public service.”
On December 4, at around 10 a.m., in the premises of an Osijek-based company, the 75-year-old physically attacked the 56-year-old editor-in-chief of an online news portal, whom he had invited to the location due to published articles. During the incident, the company owner struck the editor multiple times on the head and body before forcibly ejecting him from the premises. Following the attack, the 56-year-old sought medical assistance at the Clinical Hospital Center in Osijek on the same day, where he was treated and issued medical documentation indicating no serious injuries. The perpetrator has been handed over to the custody supervisor along with a criminal complaint to the competent State Attorney’s Office.
The statement from the Osijek-Baranja Police Department also emphasized that this case was handled in accordance with the Protocol on Police Procedure in Cases of Criminal Offenses Against Journalists and Other Media Workers Performing Their Professional Duties. This protocol was signed by the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia, the Croatian Journalists’ Association, and the Croatian Journalists’ Union.
Let us recall that Hrvoje Zovko, on behalf of the Croatian Journalists’ Association, filed a report of the physical attack on journalist and CJA member Dario Topić by Damir Taslidžić, the owner of the company Elektromodul.
We are appalled by this violent physical attack, which occurred after the attacker invited our colleague to his office for a conversation, only to assault him. Colleague Topić had been professionally reporting on the issue of parking space concessions in Osijek, which the city had revoked from Damir Taslidžić. We demand that the police act in accordance with the Protocol on Police Procedure in Cases of Criminal Offenses Against Journalists and Other Media Workers Performing Their Professional Duties, which we signed with the Ministry of the Interior, and ensure our colleague’s protection by bringing the attacker to justice, stated Zovko.
The CJA statement on this brutal attack against colleague Dario Topić can be read here.