The President of the Croatian Journalists’ Association (HND) Zdenko Duka tonight strongly condemned the murder of the director of “Nacional” Ivo Pukanić, emphasizing that this is the first murder of a journalist since the Homeland War.
"What happened is terrible, everything indicates that crime in Croatia has taken on enormous proportions," Duka stated tonight for Hina. "We condemn this in the strongest terms and demand that the police and the Government take the harshest measures against crime," Duka added. Tonight, in a car explosion in front of the headquarters of the weekly "Nacional", according to still officially unconfirmed information, the owner of "Nacional" Ivo Pukanić and journalist Niko Franić were killed. Ivo Pukanić was expelled from the journalists’ association at the end of June this year due to an article in Nacional, in which his wife’s medical diagnosis was revealed. Eight years earlier, Pukanić was awarded Journalist of the Year. The HND awarded him in 2004 for the best interview, with Ante Gotovina, then a fugitive from The Hague. (H)
