The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) will sue Social Democrat Zeljko Jovanovic for making a slanderous claim that the HDZ is a criminal organisation and will request the parliament to strip him of immunity from prosecution, the HDZ's legal representative Vladimir Gredelj said on Tuesday.
"By the end of the day we will file a lawsuit for three acts of slander and submit a request for stripping Jovanovic of immunity," Gredelj confirmed to press, adding that the party was considering claiming damages from the Social Democratic Party for not distancing itself from the "hate speech" of one of its leaders.
Gredelj said the slander suit also covered Jovanovic's latest statement that "the HDZ leadership is not only a criminal group but one responsible of high treason" whereby Jovanovic commented on a statement by HDZ president and Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor on Monday that the HDZ had sued Jovanovic.
Gredelj said that he was aware that the parliament did not strip MPs of immunity for defamation, but that he believed "the parliament and other relevant institutions should once and for all put an end to the kind of hate speech practiced by Jovanovic."
Gredelj claims that by describing the HDZ as a criminal organisation Jovanovic has accused all party members of being members of a criminal organisations. "It would be the same as if someone claimed that all Serbs or all Croats were criminals, which is nonsense and a lie," said Gredelj.
