President Franjo Tudjman
President of Croatia
Zagreb
Croatia

Vienna, 7 May, 1999

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors and media executives, strongly condemns the indictment of journalist Orlanda Obad, from the daily Jutarni List, along with four bank employees.

We are informed that a Zagreb public prosecutor indicted Obad and four Zagrebacka Banka employees today for revealing and publishing details of your wife’s bank accounts. According to our sources, two of the bank employees had revealed to Jutarni List that Mrs. Ankica Tudjman had deposited nearly 500,000 German Marks in various accounts, which you had reportedly failed to declare in a formal statement of your family’s assets.

In order for a democracy to function effectively there must be a general acceptance that in all laws and decisions concerning the rights to information and privacy, the public interest in knowing the information should be the primary consideration. In the view of IPI there is certainly an overriding public interest in finding out about your wife’s lodgements, considering she is the wife of the Head of State and that the information conflicts with the declaration of family assets, over her right to privacy concerning her financial transactions. The journalist, therefore, operated in line with internationally accepted standards of journalism. The decision also clearly violates international covenants, such as the European Convention on Human Rights, to which we respectfully remind you, Croatia is a signatory.

We therefore urge you to ensure that the indictment of Obad is withdrawn immediately and that journalists are allowed to report freely and without harassment in your country.

We thank your for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director