CRO JOURNALISTS SEEK CONSTITUTIONALITY ASSESSMENT OF WIRETAPPING

ZAGREB, Dec 16 (Hina) - The Croatian Journalists Society (HND) will on Friday initiate proceedings at the Constitutional Court to assess the constitutionality of Article 18 of the Croatian Law on Internal Affairs which states the Interior Minister may allow the wiretapping of citizens for the sake of state security. "If this article survives, we believe Croatia might be turned into a police state in which citizens will permanently feel unsafe," HND attorney Vesna Alaburic told reporters in Zagreb on Wednesday. "We do not dispute the right of a law-based state to decree some measures of limiting privacy, if the state's security is indeed the issue, but we believe it must be precisely stated what security is and when it is endangered. "Besides, there must be a possibility of democratic control over surveillance instruments," Alaburic said. Article 18 of the Law on Interior Affairs stipulates that, when necessary for state security, the Interior Minister may decree that certain persons are subject to measures which depart from the principle of inviolability of the confidentiality of correspondence and other means of communication, and that the President of the Republic be notified. The HND believes this regulation violates the constitutional right to freedom and privacy protection. HND president Jagoda Vukusic called on reporters who believe they are wiretapped or have seen evidence pointing to it, to initiate individual court proceedings. (hina) ha jn