PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE TOMAC SUES RULING HDZ & CROATIAN TELEVISION

( Editorial: --> 9341 ) ZAGREB, Feb 4 (Hina) - Court proceedings initiated by Zdravko Tomac of the Social Democratic Party against the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and Croatian Television (HTV) began at the Zagreb Municipal Court Wednesday. Tomac demands indemnity for slander and forgery used in a television commercial during the 1997 election campaign. The commercial had been requested by the HDZ and broadcast by national television on 8 April 1997. The proceedings began with Tomac's hearing. The commercial asked the viewer "Who is guilty for hundreds of thousands of Croatian victims and who voted against Croatia's independence and sovereignty?". The question was followed by a close-up of Zdravko Tomac from a parliament session at which all representatives but Tomac raise their hands. The commercial was banned by the Croatian Constitutional Court the next day. Tomac told the court he had not been a parliament member when the Constitutional decision on the independence and sovereignty of Croatia was reached. By using his image from another parliament session, the HDZ made a conscious and deliberate forgery aimed at discrediting him as a man and politician and presenting him as a traitor of Croatia, said Tomac. He had been the victim of numerous unpleasant situations as a result of the commercial, Tomac said. "The culmination of this open invitation to lynching occurred two months after the commercial was broadcast when, during a presidential election campaign in Zadar, I was physically attacked", said Tomac. Tomac was one of three candidates during the 1997 presidential election. Judge Marija Zrilic announced a VHS recording of the commercial in question would be seen at the next hearing. She demanded of HTV representative Nevenka Sintic to deliver HTV's election programme rules. (hina) ha mm 041455 MET feb 98