ZAGREB, Aug 25 (Hina) - A new Croatian Helsinki Committee (HHO) for human rights has been established and this committee is the one which can legally and legitimately operate under that name, the committee's founders told reporters in
Zagreb on Friday. They claim the new HHO has been established because the existing HHO has been operating illegally for three years. The president of the new HHO, Natko Kovacevic, said the new HHO was registered as an association on August 22. "The so-called HHO has so far been working against the Croatian state and people, and the real HHO will work differently and secure human rights protection for Croats as well," one of the founders of the new committee, Zvonimir Trusic, said. The old HHO did not respect regulations from the Law on Associations of 1997, according to which it should have harmonised its statute with the Law and request that it be registered as an associat
ZAGREB, Aug 25 (Hina) - A new Croatian Helsinki Committee (HHO) for
human rights has been established and this committee is the one
which can legally and legitimately operate under that name, the
committee's founders told reporters in Zagreb on Friday.
They claim the new HHO has been established because the existing HHO
has been operating illegally for three years.
The president of the new HHO, Natko Kovacevic, said the new HHO was
registered as an association on August 22.
"The so-called HHO has so far been working against the Croatian
state and people, and the real HHO will work differently and secure
human rights protection for Croats as well," one of the founders of
the new committee, Zvonimir Trusic, said.
The old HHO did not respect regulations from the Law on Associations
of 1997, according to which it should have harmonised its statute
with the Law and request that it be registered as an association
with the Justice Ministry within 90 days, and it should therefore be
erased from the register at the Economy Ministry, Kovacevic and
Trusic claim.
As evidence on the illegal operation of the HHO Kovacevic mentioned
an interview with the former HHO president Ivan Zvonimir Cicak,
published in the Vecernji List daily in December last year. Cicak
then allegedly said that "the HHO and the Institute Open Society are
operating illegally in order to hide money."
In a phone conversation with Hina, Cicak, however, said the
interview was made up and that he had reacted to it and denied having
ever had such an interview with the daily. "The HHO and Open Society
have always operated in line with the existing laws," Cicak said.
"This operation regarding the establishment of a new HHO is
obviously just the continuation of the operation 'Chameleon', and I
suspect Vjekoslav Magas has his fingers in this," Cicak said.
The existence of the operation 'Chameleon', which the Croatian
secret services had conducted against the HHO, was revealed to the
public by the then HHO worker Franjo Tot, who admitted that he had
received money from secret services to spy on the HHO and its
leadership.
There have been no official statements from the HHO, which is headed
by Izet Aganovic. According to HHO executive director Tin Gazivoda,
the HHO executive committee will discuss the case next week.
(hina) jn rml