Tudjman urged to drop case against satirical journalists

A group campaigning for two journalists accused of insulting Croatian President Franjo Tudjman urged him on Wednesday to drop the case against them, the Croatian news agency HINA reported.

The trial in Zagreb of Viktor Ivancic, editor-in-chief of the satirical weekly `Feral Tribune', and reporter Marinko Culic on charges of defaming the president is due to resume on 22nd December.

The `Feral Tribune' Committee - which includes 23 Croatian human rights groups and eight international organisations which campaign for press freedom - on Wednesday published a letter it had sent to Tudjman, in which it called on the president to withdraw the approval he had given for the trial to continue.

According to changes in the penal law, the trial of the two journalists, who were acquitted in September 1996, could not be renewed without the president's approval.

The committee said the trial was politically motivated and continued to stand in the way of freedom of expression in Croatia.

It said the decision to renew the trial was a declaration by the authorities that they would "go all the way in persecuting those who think differently", HINA reported.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.