US embassy cable - 04ZAGREB1351

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 
------- 
 
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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