The Croatian Helsinki Committee on Human Rights (HHO) on Tuesday protested against the cover of the latest issue of Novosti weekly, which is published by the Serb National Council, which shows a photo of two MIG jets with Croatian insignia and the caption "Both of them, both are down!", and against the fact that the paper is financed from the state budget.
In a protest letter to the government and the parliament, the HHO recalls that the shout "Both of them, both are down!" was uttered by a Croatian soldier near Sibenik on 21 September 1991 when two Yugoslav People's Army jets were shot down.
The HHO goes on to say that most Croatian citizens were shocked by a recent accident near Slunj, when two Croatian army MIG jets crashed during a military exercise, while Novosti reported about the accident in an extremely questionable way.
Respecting freedom of speech and editorial freedoms, including those of Novosti paper, the HHO objects to the fact that the weekly is financed from the state budget.
"In Croatia it seems to be possible to ridicule indisputable values of most Croatian citizens-taxpayers, with the support of the government and the parliament," said the HHO.
Novosti is published by the Serb People's Council (SNV), the nongovernmental umbrella institution of ethnic Serbs which is headed by a vice-president of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) and member of parliament, Milorad Pupovac, the HHO says, objecting that this constitutes conflict of interest and is incompatible with the concept of civil society.
