Prominent Croatian journalist Ivo Pukanic and colleague killed in a car bomb, the latest in a series of violent incidents that have hit the European Union candidate country
Categories: International, Cultures, Conflict, Politics, news
Ivo Pukanic, independent editor and publisher, is seen during a launch event of national daily newspaper 'Republika' in Zagreb in this December 2000 file photo. Pukanic, manager of leading Croatian weekly, 'Nacional' was killed in a car bomb blast in centre of Zagreb on October 23, 2008. This was the latest in a series of violent incidents that have hit the European Union candidate country's capital this year and prompted media to demand a large-scale government crackdown on organized crime.
REUTERS/Nikola Solic/Files (CROATIA)Prominent Croatian journalist killed
ZAGREB, Croatia – A car bomb killed Ivo Pukanic, a prominent Croatian journalist, and a colleague in downtown Zagreb on Thursday, and the country's president and premier called it an assassination.
State-run Croatian TV showed footage of Pukanic's burned-out Lexus and two covered bodies outside his NCL Media Group office in the capital, and police identified the victims as Pukanic and his group's marketing director, Niko Franjic.
Krunoslav Borovec, a senior national police official, said a hidden explosive device had destroyed Pukanic's car and that investigation has been launched to determine who had killed the two men.
Six months ago, Pukanic, 47, said that someone had tried to kill him in front of his house in downtown Zagreb, showing police what he described as a bullet hole in a nearby shop window. Police provided him with protection afterward, but ended that in August at his request, Interior Minister Tomislav Karamarko said.
Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said his government condemned the "assassination" of Pukanic, the owner and editor-in-chief of Nacional, the No. 2 political weekly in Croatia.
Pukanic's media house also publishes several other newspapers.
"Is it mafia or terrorism, that's early to say," he said. "But we are witnessing something bigger" than a common crime, Sanader said.
President Stipe Mesic also swiftly condemned the killing.
"By tonight's assassination, terrorism came to the streets of Zagreb," Mesic said in a statement, adding: "It is now a choice between us — the state of law — and them: criminals, terrorists, mafia."
In Croatia, the term "terrorism" does not necessarily refer to an insurgent group, but to bomb attacks carried out by criminals and criminal gangs.
Last month, Ivana Hodak, a 26-year-old-daughter of a prominent lawyer, was shot twice in the head in her home in the capital, near police headquarters. The government condemned it as a mafia-style murder, not a terrorist attack.
Nacional, launched in 1995, is an investigative newspaper. Pukanic was praised for his work there, but also considered controversial and criticized for being too close to some politicians and a public figure believed to be an organized crime boss.
In April, Pukanic's name also made headlines when his wife Mirjana accused him of buying and using cocaine from dealers, and of persuading emergency crews to admit her to a mental hospital when she was not suffering serious problems.
In 2003, Pukanic won the Croatian Press Association award for publishing an exclusive interview with former Croatian Gen. Ante Gotovina while he was a fugitive. Gotovina was later caught by Spanish police and is now being tried by the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague for allegedly orchestrating the killing and expulsion of ethnic Serbs during a 1995 offensive during the Croatian war.
However, Pukanic also was kicked out of the Croatian Press Association earlier this year after publishing his wife's medical chart.
Article: HERE
Police seals off the site of the explosion near the offices of weekly magazine Nacional in Zagreb, Croatia, Thursday, Oct. 23 2008. Croatian TV reported that the prominent journalist Ivo Pukanic and his colleague were killed by the bomb planted under his car.
(AP Photo/Filip Horvat)
Police investigate the site of explosion near the offices of weekly magazine Nacional in Zagreb, Croatia, Thursday Oct. 23 2008. Prominent journalist Ivo Pukanic and his colleague were killed by the bomb planted under his car.
(AP Photo/Pixsell)
Naslovnica Politika Tko je zapovjedao zločinačkom JNA?
Tko je zapovjedao zločinačkom JNA?
May 24, 2007 at 12:17 PM
Otvoreno pismo
Je li Stipe Mesić ratni zločinac?
1. Koji je kriv za rat na prostorima Jugoslavije, tj. kriv za, pogiblja mnogih ljudi i materijalna razaranja po Republikama SFRJ. I to za vrijeme (svoga) mandata kao predsjednik Predsjedništva SFRJ-a od 15. svibnja 1991. do 5. prosinca 1991. godine.
2. Postavljamo pitanje – Da li je Stipe Mesić odgovoran, i kriv, kao predsjednik Jugoslavije, i kao vrhovni komadant Jugoslavenske narodne armije (JNA). Koja je razarala i rušila grad Vukovar, te 18. studenog 1991. godine ga oslobodila od Hrvata, uz velike žrtve. A na Ovčari je tada poubijano 300 ranjenika i zarobljenika.
3. U to vrijeme u palači Federacije u Novom Beogradu sjedio je Stipe Mesić, dok kronologija „krvavih zbivanja“ se je dešavala u državi Jugoslaviji koju je on predstavljao. To pitanje će biti kamen spoticanja za sve vrijeme – za svakog Hrvata, i drugog čovjeka.
4. Mesić je mirno sjedio u Beogradskom parlamentu sa srpskim i jugoslavenskim vođama, gledao je kako Hrvatska gori u plamenu. Pitamo se: da li je tada Stipe Mesić bio „Hrvatski atentator“? Danas je narod umoran od laži (i lažnih političara) i novinarskih poruka. Mi tražimo istinu!
5. Ustavni predsjednik SFRJ Stipe Mesić je 30. lipnja 1991. donio odluku, kao vrhovni komandant JNA sa ministrom obrane Veljkom Kadijevićem da se obustave sve vojne i ratne operacije u Sloveniji i drugim mjestima Jugoslavije. Znači li to – da je ipak Mesić bio gospodar rata? Dok danas on govori: da je bio (tada) nemoćan, i da je agresor srpsko-četnička JNA za sve kriva. (Sve mnoge Mesićeve zapovjedi kronološki su zabilježene – da nemože biti upitno - da je on bio minorna osoba, koja se nije pitala o glavnim odlukama.)
6. S druge strane Mesić je znao često govoriti – kako dr. Tuđman nije tražio mirna rješenja, nego je agresivno na čelu HDZ-a tražio rat. Zato. I on je kriv za sve što se je „tada“ i „poslije“ događalo. Naravno. Dana 7. lipnja 1991., uslijedio je atentat na dr. Franju Tuđmana, koji je izveo vojni zrakoplov JNA, raketnim napadom na Banske dvore.
7. Zašto je Stipe Mesić igrao duplu igru? Dana 8. listopada 1991. godine donesen je zaključak u hrvatskom Saboru RH, o proglašenju JNA kao agresora i okupatora. Isto, da li je u početku Mesić bio agresor i okupator, koji je poslije prešao na hrvatsku stranu? Dana 27. lipnja 1991., počinje vojna intervencija u Sloveniji i Hrvatskoj, i planira se, po drugim svim prostorima Jugoslavije, vojna diktatura.
8. Bukti velikosrpski hegemonizam i programi nacionalnih Republičkih osamostaljenja, hrvatski Sabor raspisao je referendum za 19. svibanj 1991., isti dan, tada u Sloveniji oklopne jedinice JNA s tenkovima paradiraju ulicama Maribora, i bore se protiv TO.
9. Danas, kad Stipe Mesić se voli hvaliti: „Kako smo rušili Jugoslaviju“. Pitamo: Da li sve žrtve, ubijene i mrtve, pridaju njemu
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