OSIJEK, Sept 9 (Hina) - Members of the Osijek-Baranja County branch of the HVIDR-a (war veterans' association), who on Friday night began the blockade of a local printing house to prevent the distribution of Saturday's issue of the
paper "Osjecki Dom" with a list of the names of over 3,300 disabled war veterans from the county and data on their disability, lifted the blockade on Monday morning and allowed the distribution of the paper.
OSIJEK, Sept 9 (Hina) - Members of the Osijek-Baranja County branch
of the HVIDR-a (war veterans' association), who on Friday night
began the blockade of a local printing house to prevent the
distribution of Saturday's issue of the paper "Osjecki Dom" with a
list of the names of over 3,300 disabled war veterans from the
county and data on their disability, lifted the blockade on Monday
morning and allowed the distribution of the paper. #L#
The veterans' leaders held a news conference in Osijek on Monday at
which they labelled the publishing of the disabled veterans' names
and data on their disability as illegal, and announced that they
would sue the paper.
The veterans asserted that the purpose of the publishing of the list
was to increase the circulation of the paper as well as to smear the
disabled veterans' reputation and help prepare new indictments
from the UN war crimes tribunal.
They claimed that to run such list in public was contrary to the
provision of the Penal Code.
Apart from suing the paper, the veterans will ask the Croatian
Journalists' Association Council of Honour to assess the conduct of
reporters of the local paper.
They will also sue a reporter, Drago Pilsel, who in the Rijeka-based
"Novi List" daily accused the veterans-protesters of practising
Fascism and who labelled them as fascist vandals.
The head of the Osijek-Baranja County branch of HVIDR, Hrvoje
Kurtovic, agreed that the blockade of the printer was not the only
way to settle the problem. He added that the veterans reacted in
such manner due to a lack of time and impossibility to reach
agreement with the Osjecki Dom management as well as due to the huge
pressure of the association's membership.
Kurtovic said the published data on the number of the disabled
veterans, their categories and amounts of pensions were incorrect.
He accused the paper for obtaining illegally the list "which only
the ministry of war veterans possesses."
Another local leader of war veterans, Miljenko Kolobaric, refuted
allegations that his association was protecting false invalids by
this blockade.
He said that with this publishing, the war invalids had been
labelled like Jews.
The director of the privately-owned paper "Osjecki Dom", Andjelko
Balikic, announced that the management would consult its lawyers
and express its stand-point on the entire case in the coming days.