Croatia journalists' association warns on attack, threats

ZAGREB: Croatia's journalists' association HND warned Friday against recent threats made against its chief and an attack on an investigative reporter, which were condemned by the European security body OSCE.
"After insults and threats on social networks, HND head Sasa Lekovic received a letter with a threat," an HND statement said, adding that a police report had been made.
Lekovic, a target of nationalist attacks on social media, told AFP that the letter contained an "indirect death threat".
In addition, Zeljko Peratovic, a well-known investigative journalist and last year's winner of the HND award for investigative journalism, was attacked late Thursday outside his home near the central town of Karlovac, the statement said.
Peratovic was hospitalised with head injuries, while the state-run HINA news agency reported that police have detained three men suspected of having carried out the attack.
Peratovic told HINA he believed that the attack was linked to his reports on a former Yugoslav spy chief whom Croatia extradited to Germany last year for trial over the 1983 murder of a dissident on German soil.
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has also condemned the attack.
"The attack on Peratovic is unacceptable," OSCE media official Dunja Mijatovic said in a statement.
But, she said that she was encouraged by reports that the authorities "acted swiftly, arresting possible perpetrators". – AFP