YOU MAY KISS... OUR FRONT PAGE

AIM Zagreb, 6 May, 1997

On Friday, May 2, according to a court decision which is still not enforceable, the Split weekly "Feral Tribune" was fined with 40,000 kunas (about 11,000 DEM) because of a rigged photo published on its front page. According to the Court's decision, Viktor Ivancic, the paper's editor-in-chief, - as "the person in charge" - was fined with 8,000 kunas (around 2,300 DEM) because the front page showed a male body of an athletic build, but completely naked, with a mounted head of Tomislav Mercep, until recently a deputy in the Parliament's Upper House of Districts.

Thus constructed figure was shown from the front, holding his sex organ while peeing on flowers. A large title above the picture read: "Tomislav Mercep, exclusively for Feral Tribune: Why did I piss off the HDZ".

The front page was published on, as far back as, March 10, i.e. two months earlier and was the usual Feral-style satirical commentary of Mercep's troubles with his registration for the last local elections. The electoral commission did not allow Mercep to run for the elections as an independent candidate until he withdrew from the HDZ membership, which he claimed to have already done.

In the opinion of the Split Magistrate Court, the front page was "shameless, obscene and repulsive", and the "Feral men" were found guilty of "promoting a publication with a pornographic contents on its front page".

But, what makes this case different from some forty law suits pending against Feral in various courts of Croatia, is the fact that the charge regarding the front page was not filed by Mercep personally, but by the Public Relations Office of the Croatian Government (the governmental spokesman with the official name: Information Office of the Government of the Republic of Croatia).

The charge was signed by Neven Jurica, its recently appointed chief, who is directly answerable to the Government of the Republic of Croatia for his work and the work of the Office. For the time being Jurica claims that the decision to file the complaint on behalf of the Office was his own, but that he did it without the approval of the Government, the prime Minister Zlatko Matesa or Ministers. He claims that he has the authority for that.

According to the press, Jurica's complaint - and the decision of the Split Magistrate Court - are a part of new pressures which the Government is after the elections exerting on "Feral Tribune" since only a day after the news on the fine imposed on Feral by the Split Court hit the streets, it was published that a court of higher instance had revoked the acquitting verdict of the Communal Court in Zagreb in the case of the "President of the Republic vs. Feral Tribune".

This concerns the last year's suit which was instituted by the Public Prosecutor's Office on behalf of the President against Viktor Ivancic, editor-in-chief and Marinko Culic, journalist. They had criticised Tudjman's idea on the transformation of the memorial complex Jasenovac, built on the location of the Ustasha concentration camp during World War II. The Communal Court will have to re-examine its decision that Ivancic and Culic had neither offended nor slandered anyone but only stated their opinions to which they are entitled.

These court deliberations have been followed by articles in the papers close to the Government, which criticise the professional behaviour of Feral, while Government officials and friends of the ruling HDZ keep on filing charges against the paper demanding enormous libel damages almost every time their names are mentioned in a negative context.

The Split proceedings attracted public attention because the judge Mladen Katunaric - probably fascinated by the fact that an office of the Government had entrusted this case personally to him - decided on the so called emergency procedure which does not envisage the examination of the accused!

Although envisaged by the law, this procedure is usually resorted to in less important cases, i.e. for traffic offences, parking at forbidden places, driving through red lights, etc. Still, the accused may request a regular procedure if he lodges an appeal within eight days as of the date of receipt of the ruling. Feral will lodge an appeal and, for the time being, does not have to pay the fine.

The judge based his decision on the new Law on Information which was adopted in Parliament last year with much difficulty. From options offered by the legislator, the judge selected the most severe penalty. In case the decision becomes enforceable and the accused fail to pay the fine, the debt will be collected from the paper under coercion, while Ivancic will have to serve 16 days in prison.

However, the Feral attorney, Vesna Alaburic, expects the new hearing of the case under regular procedure. For the AIM she stated that Feral will first insist on the omissions the magistrate has committed during the trial. It will challenge the authority of the Government's office to bring charges for infractions. The point is that in procedures of this type Ivancic is not "the person in charge", but rather the Manager of the firm (Feral's Manager is Zoran Erceg).

It will be insisted on the fact that Feral had committed no offence as it did not promote a cover with pornographic contents, which is punishable under the Croatian law. The law in Croatia does not prohibit pornography, but advertising and display of pornographic magazines are only allowed in specialized shops. Others deal with the advertising, public display and sale of "Feral Tribune" - distributors, neswvenders...- so that they might possibly be held responsible.

But, the question is what is pornography. The Law on Information explicitly prescribes the seizure of papers with pornographic covers which are on public display, without compensation and on the basis of a decision of the Ministry of the Interior. At the time Feral with the disputable cover page was sold, the police issued no such decision. The sale proceeded quite normally, without any public debate whether the cover page was "pornographic" or not. The "naked Mercep" - who is himself famous for his fierce attacks on his opponents - did not "disturb the public".

If the police officials thought it at all necessary to discuss that issue of Feral Tribune, by not prohibiting it they have proven themselves more liberal than Neven Jurica thus making his demand ungrounded. The Feral's defence will insist that the disputable front page is not pornographic. "For some people a naked male body might be pornography. But, not for me", said counsel Alaburic.

In his statement to the "Novi List" (The New Paper) daily, Neven Jurica emphasized that this charge was a part of the regular activities of his Office and that it was no reason to raise dust. He refused to produce the charge so that it was impossible to confirm whether claims on "shamelessness, obscenity and repulsiveness" which was how the decision of the magistrate described the front page, were contained in his charge.

Still, he admitted that magazines with covers which could be labelled pornographic in the usual sense of the word - with explicit photos of sexual intercourse, etc...- are without problem sold at news-stands and announced an adequate action in that regard. "You have to begin somewhere", said Jurica rejecting claims that this was a case of political pressure which was being exerted on Feral.

For the time being the "Feral men" are not too much anxious. Predrag Lucic, one of the main authors of the paper's satirical part sent a message to their adversaries in the well known style: "Kiss our - front page".

IGOR VUKIC