Asylum-seekers were denied access to asylum; the police pushed back and abused people entering irregularly. The legal framework on gender-based violence was improved, but cases continued to attract minor penalties. Access to abortion remained severely constrained. Same-sex couples were granted the...

On 4 December, police investigations identified a man who is believed to be responsible for the latest death threats against Croatian journalist Drago Hedl. The case was sent to the County Prosecutor in Osijek for further investigation

Journalist Drago Hedl has received a series of death threats, most recently on 27 November. The threats are believed to be connected to his investigative reports linking a high-level Croatian politician to the killing of Croatian Serbs in the town of Osijek during the 1991-1995 war. Drago Hedl’s...

D.B., I.N., I.M., Jovanka Relic (f, 61), Milan Veljaca (69), Milka Maljkovic (f, 65), Ljuba Borojevic (f, 60), Jovan Borojevic (71) and other Croatian Serbs: According to reports from the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights and others, several Croatian Serbs and others were ill-treated by...

On 22 November 1996, arsonists attacked the offices of the humanitarian assistance centre in Vrhovine in the former United Nations Protected Area. The building was set on fire but, as it was empty at the time, no one was hurt. Although attacks against the building are being investigated by the...

AI fears for the safety of the above and other human rights defenders in Croatia. On 18 July, a bomb was detonated 20 metres from Ivan Z Cicak’s house in Sumartin on the island of Brac. AI believes that he was targeted because he is president of the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, a...

Frane Gugo and Damir Bumber, Bosko Simic, Ivan Velic, Jurica Babic, Senka Bule, Andrija Simic, Slavka Maricic, Marija Jelencic, Natasa Maric, Ana Simic, Marija Jelic, Marija Goles, their families, and others: AI is concerned for the safety of scores of people living in apartments previously owned...

The above, a 20-year-old Jehovah’s Witness has been discharged from hospital and has been declared as being temporarily unfit for the military service. AI is investigating further reports of his ill-treatment by military police officers while still in hospital. Criminal charges are still in process...

The above, a 20-year-old Jehovah’s Witness who refused to carry arms because of his religious convictions, was allegedly severely beaten by military police in Split on 16 and 17 May 1996. He is reportedly now in the Firula hospital in Split. AI fears that the Croatian Army may be putting pressure...

AI continues to be concerned about the refoulement of refugees and the reported ill-treatment by police of some of the Muslim refugees from Bosnia-Herzogovina who are in a collection centre around Kuplensko.

AI is concerned by continuing reports of refoulement of members of a group of more than 20,000 Muslim refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina who are in a collection centre around Kuplensko. Some have been ill-treated by the Croatian police. The Croatian authorities have refused to formally grant them...

AI is concerned for the safety of the journalist Goran Flauder, editor of the weekly newspaper, Bumerang, which is published in the eastern Croatian town of Osijek. On 26 October Goran Flauder was beaten and ill-treated by what appeared to be a plainclothes police officer. The beating followed a...

AI is still gravely concerned for the safety of Serbs remaining in the Krajina region, as reports continue of extrajudical executions, ill-treatment and acts of intimidation perpetrated by the Croatian forecs. This concern is further heightened by the poor security conditions in the area. An...