CROATIA TAKES SMALL STEP TOWARDS INCREASED MEDIA

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 001351

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/22/2014
TAGS: PGOV PHUM HR
SUBJECT: CROATIA TAKES SMALL STEP TOWARDS INCREASED MEDIA
FREEDOM

Classified By: PolOff Justin Friedman, reasons 1.5 (b and d)


1. (U) In a marathon session on July 15, Croatia's Parliament
approved amendments to the Penal Code concerning media
slander. The burden of proving the intent to slander and the
actual offense now falls on the prosecution, not the
defendant, and responsibility can no longer be transferred
from a reporter to an editor. This is an important step in
the direction of increased media freedom. However, in line
with seldom-used provisions in other European countries, the
possibility of a prison sentence for libel still exists.


2. (U) Two recent cases of prison sentences given to
journalists have stirred public debate. One involves a
&Slobodan Dalmacija8 journalist, Ljubica Letinic, who was
sentenced to prison for libel in Split on July 12. The other
case involves the former editor-in-chief of the Slavonski
Brod-based newspaper &Novi Brodski list8, Miroslav Juric.
Juric was sentenced to prison after refusing to pay a fine
for alleging the corruption of two judicial officials. In an
unusual twist, Minister of Justice Vesna Skare-Ozbolt
personally paid Juric,s fine to keep him out of prison,
saying, &In this country journalists will not go to prison
for libel8.


3. (SBU) The Ministry of Justice provided us with a
background paper stating that because of shifts in the burden
of proof and elimination of editorial responsibility, this
change in the law effectively decriminalizes media slander.
Minister of Justic Vesna Skare-Ozbolt has repeated this
assertion of "decriminalization" in public.


4. (SBU) Legal experts, including Sabor Member Ivo Josipovic
and Croatian Judges Association Head Vladimir Gredelj, have
criticized Skare-Ozbolt on two fronts. They claim, first,
that the Minister paying the fine does not solve the problem
but only reduces respect for the rule of law. Second, they
say that the approved legal changes in fact do not fully
&decriminalize8 libel despite Skare-Ozbolt,s assertions.
They have a point. Because the legal burden now shifts from
the journalists to the prosecution, it will be more difficult
to prove libel. However, media slander does in fact remain
part of the Criminal Code and can therefore be punishable by
incarceration.

COMMENT
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5. (C) The popular Skare-Ozbolt is usually a very sure-footed
politician. What in the U.S., for example, might have played
as a great public relations ploy, appears to have backfired
on her here. In paying Juric,s fine, Skare-Ozbolt may have
been trying to harmonize Juric's punishment with intent of
the new law. In doing so, she has made her first public
relations misstep since taking office. Skare-Ozbolt has told
us that she is ready to use the media to advance her reform
agenda. Oddly, the media has not jumped to defend and
support her but has actually been used by opponents to attack
her actions. She may have inadvertently misstepped here, but
we fully expect her to regain her footing.
FRANK


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