Croatia journalists slam ‘life-threatening attack’ on colleague

By

 AFP

The Croatian Journalists’ Association (HND) on Wednesday slammed what it called a life-threatening attack on an award-winning journalist and demanded a swift response from the authorities. 

Melita Vrsaljko, a fact-check journalist and a documentary filmmaker, said she was attacked twice by relatives of a local elected official after filming an illegal dump.

In a statement, the HND called the authorities to “respond promptly, sharply and unequivocally to the life-threatening attack”.

It is a “drastic warning on the working conditions of journalists and all media workers… exposed daily to numerous verbal and even physical attacks”, it added.

Vrsaljko said in a post on Facebook that she was physically attacked by a man on Monday while walking by his land where an illegal dump was emerging.

She was accompanied by a cameraman.

Vrsaljko, who works for Faktograf.hr, posted a short video of the man attacking her to her Instagram page.

She also claimed that the man’s daughter burst into her home on Tuesday and attacked her.

The woman was hitting and choking Vrsaljko as she was trying to take away her mobile phone to delete the footage of her father, the journalist said.

Vrsaljko eventually managed to push away the attacker and call the police who filed charges against the attacker.

Meanwhile, the culture and media ministry strongly condemned the incident.

The ministry “condemns any form of insults and threats, any violation of rights and jeopardising the safety of journalists”, it said in a statement.

Both Faktograf.hr and the European Fact-Checking Standard Network (EFCSN) have also condemned the attack. 

According to Croatia’s law, an attack against a journalist is punishable with up to five years in prison.