The Croatian Journalists’ Association (CJA) strongly condemns the physical attack on the reporting team of Nova TV’s investigative programme Provjereno, which occurred during the filming of a segment on years-long devastation of land along the Una River. A married couple who have been unlawfully claiming and degrading state-owned land near Štrbački buk on the Una launched a verbal assault of threats and profanities against the journalists on Saturday, followed by a physical attack—first targeting cameraman Miroslav Bokan, and then journalist Danka Derifaj, who was slapped in the face while trying to defuse the situation.
To the CJA, this disgraceful attack is yet another disturbing example of the hostile environment in which our colleagues work. We commend the swift response of the officers from the Donji Lapac Border Police Station of the Lika-Senj Police Department, who promptly apprehended the attackers and handed them over to the custody supervisor with criminal charges filed.
The Ministry of the Interior has confirmed that the case was handled in accordance with the Protocol on Police Procedures in Cases Involving Criminal Offences Against Journalists and Media Workers in the Course of Their Work, which the Ministry signed jointly with the Croatian Journalists’ Association and the Trade Union of Croatian Journalists.
We expect the State Attorney’s Office to impose firm sanctions in this case in order to send a clear message that both verbal and physical attacks on media professionals performing their duty in the public interest are unacceptable. We remind the public that, following amendments to the Criminal Code five years ago, attacking a journalist is now classified as a criminal offence punishable by up to three years in prison.
We also call on the Ministry of Culture and Media to issue a strong and unequivocal condemnation of this attack.
On behalf of the Executive Board of the CJA:
Hrvoje Zovko, President of the Croatian Journalists’ Association
Chiara Bilić, Vice President of the Croatian Journalists’ Association
Dragutin Hedl, Vice President of the Croatian Journalists’ Association