HND PROTESTS AGAINST YUGOSLAV EMBASSY ACT IN ZAGREB

ZAGREB, March 28 (Hina) - The Croatian Journalists' Society (HND) on Tuesday expressed dissatisfaction with acts of the Yugoslav Embassy in Zagreb who refused to issue a visa to the HND deputy president Drago Pilsel. Pilsel was to attend a discussion on the role of the media in the past war which is organised by Belgrade's Media Centre and is scheduled to take place on April 3. The Embassy personnel orally informed Pilsel that, since he was a reporter, his visa application had to be checked "in a certain place" and that "there is no chance he will get the visa in a period shorter than 30 days," even if "the President of the Republic" requested it, the HND statement said. Following Pilsel's protest for the fact that such acts hindered free communication by reporters in countries of the region, Embassy staff said Yugoslavia was only applying "the policy of reciprocity". The Croatian Embassy in Belgrade refused a visa for a reporter from Belgrade, an assistant of Croatia's Feral Tribune weekly, Petar Lukovic, explaining a certain amount of time was necessary for checking out of the application. The HND pleads with Croatian authorities to do everything on their part to make it possible for reporters to freely communicate with their colleagues abroad, and forwards a harsh protest to the Yugoslav Embassy for this act of stifling the freedom of the media, the statement, signed by HND president, Dragutin Lucic, said. (hina) lml jn