Saturday, 04. February 2012 - 09:02
:: Home > General News > First Croat to go to prison for blog comment
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
Today
Videos
Polls
RSS Feed General News08. 10. 09. - 12:00
First Croat to go to prison for blog comment
Croatian Times
Vukovar resident Damir Fintic will be the first Croat and possibly the first European who will end up in jail for comments on his blog at www.vukovarac.net in 2005.
Fintic has been sentenced to 20 days in prison for comments written by someone else on his blog criticizing former Vukovar Mayor Vladimir Stengl and his wife Dragica.
Blog visitors have written critical comments about how the Stengls acquired property.
Stengl pressed three criminal and three civil charges against Fintic and demanded a total of 250,000 kunas or 33,311 Euros in damages.
Considering that he had no money with which to pay the damages, Fintic decided to go to prison.
He needs to check himself into Osijek prison on 27 October. After that, he will need to spend time in prison once more for a second fine connected to the Stengl case.
The Croatian Journalists Association (HND) has strongly opposed prison for Fintic. It believes Fintic could be the only blog writer to go to prison in Europe. If that happens, HND fears it will change the picture of Croatia as a country that respects freedom of expression.
Fintic told the daily Novi list he had no money with which to pay damages and had refused to accept money from other people because he did not see anything wrong in opening a public forum on his blog.
He added: "I wanted to offer all Vukovar residents a chance to express their opinions in public. Considering that Vukovar suffered a lot in the Homeland war in the 1990s, I expected intensive comments on my blog. But I need to stress I deleted all insulting comments that expressed animosity towards anyone."
The Stengl family has pressed numerous charges against blogs, the media and journalists, demanding in total almost 100,000 Euros in damages.
Tag cloud Fintic Novi blog pressed European expression Croatian Vukovar prison charges Euros Croat forum damages freedom Stengl total money resident Journalists
Employers unhappy with public sector status quo
Association of Croatian employers (HUP) has expressed concern over Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic's intention not to cut jobs in the public sector or change labour laws.
No rush from abroad for Croatian property
Foreigners are in no rush to buy up properties in Croatia now that the country has received the green light to join the European Union, some experts believe.
Croatian government faces three big challenges, WB says
The new government's three biggest challenges are urgent fiscal consolidation, structural reforms and maximising benefits from Croatia's upcoming European Union accession, the World Bank (WB) says.
IKEA shopping centre to hire 2,000
The new IKEA shopping center expected to open in over a year in Croatia will be 105,000 square metres, consist of 187 shops, and employ 2,000 people, daily Jutarnji List writes.
HRT introduces optional Croatian subtitles for films from Serbia
Croatian Radio Television appears to have found a compromise to settle a recent polemic discussion on whether to provide Croatian subtitles for movies from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
State companies HEP and HRT champions in overtime pay
The companies HEP and Croatian Radio Television (HRT) are this year's record makers when it comes to paying for overtime, business portal Poslovni Dnevnik writes.
Croatian officials at prayer breakfast with Obamas
State Attorney General Mladen Bajic and several other Croatians have attended the traditional prayer breakfast held by the United States President Barack Obama.
Snow Day announced in Adriatic port of Split
A Snow Day has been announced in tourist destination Split, Croatia.
ZagrebDox festival brings 150 documentaries to Croatia's capital
More than 150 documentaries from around the world will be shown at the eighth annual ZagrebDox festival to be held between 26 February and 4 March in Kaptol Centar Movieplex.
Late Oxford University professor honoured in Dubrovnik, Croatia
A late Oxford University professor has got her stone plaque of honour placed in the centre of the ancient Croatian town of Dubrovnik.
The most popular stories –
last 7 days
