“This action can undermine freedom of the media in the country, of which the public service broadcaster should be a cornerstone,” reads the statement signed by commissioner Dunja Mijatovic.

“I urge the Croatian Radio Television’s management to ensure that professional standards are upheld and that the rights of Denis Latin, Katja Kusec and Ruzica Renic, are protected. I also call on the government and the HRT management to refrain any action that could lead to censorship and threaten editorial independence,” the OSCE press release says.

HRT news programme acting editor Domagoj Novokmet replaced the three journalists because of HSP AS party president and MP Ruza Tomasic's appearance in Sunday's late evening news.

MP Tomasic was called in as a guest on HRT's evening news show and she accused the president of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS), Vojislav Stanimirovic, of "being with the Chetniks and that he selected people who were taken to the Ovcara farm" during the 1991-1995 war.

The Electronic Media Council issued with a warning to HRT for the intolerable statements made by Tomasic.

The replacements came after Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic's statement in which he criticised and lectured all media, especially the HTV for allowing Tomasic to spread chauvinistic comments and hate speech. HTV reacted with a press release in which it claimed that Milanovic's performance was "impermissible pressure on the media" but also pointing out that HTV was not running from its own mistakes.