Minister 'pays journalist's fine'

Journalist Miroslav Juric said the minister, Vesna Skare Ozbolt, told him she had paid the $2,000 fine, though she declined to confirm this.

However, she promised journalists would no longer go to jail, and the offence would become civil not criminal.

Mr Juric was found guilty of libel over an article accusing a district attorney of corruption.

The editor-in-chief of a now-defunct newspaper based in the city of Slavonski Brod, he had chosen to serve 70 days in prison rather than pay the fine.

Mr Juric reported to the prison in the eastern town of Pozega on Monday morning, but was told he could not enter the compound as his fine had been paid.

Ms Skare Ozbolt said in Monday's edition of the daily Vjesnik that she was considering paying the fine herself because she was ashamed to live in a country where journalists were imprisoned.

The Croatian parliament has recently amended the criminal code to decriminalise libel, but the changes have not yet come into force.