The Croatian Journalists’ Association (CJA) strongly condemns the threats made against Jurica Pavičić, an award-winning journalist and writer, and a member of both the CJA and the Journalists’ Honor Council.
What is particularly alarming is that the threat was spray-painted on the facade of the building in Split where Pavičić lives, marking yet another in a series of increasingly frequent attacks on journalists aimed at silencing them.
Recently, similar threats were made against another journalist and writer, Miljenko Jergović, through graffiti scrawled on the wall of the building where he resides.
Instead of issuing a clear condemnation of such acts of vandalism, the Croatian Government cynically focused its previous statement on Jergović’s Facebook post, in which he had called on the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior to take responsibility for these kinds of attacks.
The CJA calls on the Government, and in particular on the Ministry of Culture and Media, to respond firmly and decisively to threats directed at journalists.
Like cultural workers, journalists have recently become targets of groups that promote ideological conformity and seek to suppress anyone who dares to express a different opinion.
Freedom of thought and expression is guaranteed by the Constitution as a fundamental human right that the state should protect as one of the highest values of a democratic society.
Instead, the silent approval of such criminal acts only further fuels an atmosphere of fear and deepens divisions within society.
We remind that an attack on a journalist, as a person performing work in the public interest, constitutes a criminal offense punishable by up to five years in prison.
For the CJA Executive Board:
Hrvoje Zovko, President
For the CJA Branch in Split-Dalmatia County:
Damir Petranović, President