Attack on Croatian journalists condemned

ZAGREB, 1 March 2001 - Participants in the OSCE-Council of Europe conference on 'Free Media in South-Eastern Europe - Protection of Journalists and Their Role in Reconciliation, Promoting Interethnic Peace and Preventing Conflicts' in Zagreb released the following statement upon learning of an attack on two Croatian journalists:

"We, the Participants at the OSCE-Council of Europe Conference on 'Protection of Journalists and Their Role in Reconciliation, Promoting Interethnic Peace and Preventing Conflicts' express our deep concern at recent attacks on journalists in Croatia and Slovenia and we strongly condemn these attacks. We also express our concern that attacks by non-state actors pose an increasing threat to journalists in South-Eastern Europe.

"We firmly believe that the governments of Croatia and Slovenia will do their duty as established by the European Convention on Human Rights and confirmed by the European Court of Human Rights to protect journalists and to ensure that the attacks are investigated and that the perpetrators do not enjoy impunity. We call on all governments in South-Eastern Europe to take the necessary measures to ensure that the exercise of media freedom is not threatened by such violent actions."

Statement agreed by all participants present at plenary session, 16:50 hrs, 1 March 2001, with two exceptions.

For more information, please contact Alessandro Fracassetti, Spokesperson, OSCE Mission to Croatia, Florijana Andraseca 14, 10 000 Zagreb, tel.: +385 1 3096 620, fax: + 385 1 3096 297, e-mail: osce-croatia@oscecro.org