Željko Peratović – letter from the EFJ

To:

Josip Leko, President, Croatian Parliament

Mladen Novak, President, Committee for Information, digitalisation and media, Croatian Parliament

Ranko Ostojić, Minister, Ministry of Interior

Vlado Dominić, Director, Police Directorate

Dinko Cvitan, State Attorney, Croatian State Attorney Office

Gordana Križanić, County State Attorney, County State Attorney Office in Karlovac

cc.: Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, President of the Republic of Croatia

Zoran Milanović, Prime minister, Government of the Republic of Croatia

 

                              Brussels, 18 June 2015

 

 

Dear Madam, dear Sir, We are writing on behalf of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the largest organisation of journalists in Europe, representing over 320.000 journalists in 61 journalists’ organisations across 40 countries, to express our gravest concern for the safety of our colleague Željko Peratovic and urge your personal intervention for his protection.

Željko Peratović, the winner of the CJA Award for Investigative Journalism for 2014, was severely beaten on May 28 2015 around 19.00h in a vicious attack at his estate in Luka Pokupska, near Karlovac. Three attackers came to his home by car and brutally assaulted him. He was taken to Karlovac Hospital and doctors found he had suffered head trauma and his arcade was broken.

The perpetrators were identified and arrested by police, only to be released after the judge denied the prosecutor’s request for remand. Instead, they were given the restraining order to communicate with the defendant and witness. They were also ordered to report to the police station once a week. According to Peratović, one of the perpetrators has already violated these conditions and threatened him again.

Željko Peratović has filed the suit to County Stated Attorney Office in Karlovac against his three attackers. In this suit against Vladimir Čunko, his son Vladimir and Zihnija Grahović described the attack and perpetrators’ conversation (unknown to him at the time), who said they were attacking him because his writing about illegal pebble extraction. He considers this to be an incitement to commit murder.

Furthermore, we believe that the life of Željko Peratović is still in danger because of his covering of the trial of two agents of former Yugoslav Security Agency  in Munich who have been charged with the murder of a Croatian emigrant in Germany in the 80s.

We strongly supports its affiliate in Croatia, the Croatian Journalists Association (CJA) in its claim that the brutal physical attack on freelancer and blogger Željko Peratović at the end of May amounted to attempted murder by his attackers.

The EFJ therefore joins the CJA in urging the Croatian government to take this assault seriously and ensure it is investigated in a thorough and speedy manner with a view to bringing to justice anyone connected with this crime.

This case has also been submitted to the Council of Europe Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists. We hope your will give your utmost attention to this case and take prompt action to protect our colleague.

Yours Sincerely

Mogens Blicher Bjerregård

EFJ President

European Federation of Journalists Residence Palace Rue de la Loi 155 1040 Brussels Belgium Tel +32(0)2 2352 200 • Fax +32(0)2 2352 219 website: http://europeanjournalists.org • Email: efj@ifj.org