CROATIAN HELSINKI COMMITTEE SUPPORTS STRIKE OF "TISAK" WORKERS

ZAGREB, April 22 (Hina) - The Croatian Helsinki Committee (HHO) on Thursday supported the workers' strike at the largest Croatian newspaper distributor "Tisak", which started yesterday, describing it as a legitimate move. The HHO believes that the strike and the fact that newspapers did not hit news-stands today are the most serious signs of a deep crisis caused by the cases of abuse in the process of ownership transformation, a consequence of which was also the repression of freedom of the media, HHO representatives said in a statement read to the press in Zagreb today. The HHO believes that the Government is responsible for the situation in "Tisak" and it will inform the international community about it and request that it intervene with the aim of solving the current situation. The HHO also intends to request the State Attorney to immediately start an investigation so that those responsible for the situation in "Tisak" could be found. The news conference was also presented a report on freedom of the media in 1998. The 15-page report describes the "most drastic" cases of violation of freedom of the media and expression and proposes changes to the laws regulating these two aspects. (hina) rml