Open Letter to the Director of N1 Croatia

Dear Mr. Ladišić,

 

We are writing to you regarding the reporting by N1 Croatia from the commemoration of the Day of the Croatian Defenders of Vukovar in Bogdanovci on 10 March 2026, broadcast in the programme Novi dan. During the live report from that event, your journalist Ivan Hrstić stated:

 

“The central name, the one mentioned most often, is that of Tomislav Merčep, a war hero, and on the other hand a man who was subjected to prosecution by the Croatian judiciary.”

 

It is important to emphasize that in this case the journalist was not quoting speakers at the gathering, but used the qualification “war hero” in his own journalistic report. Therefore, this statement cannot be considered a private opinion of an individual, but a public characterization expressed on the N1 programme and in the name of the media outlet he represents.

 

Tomislav Merčep was convicted by a final court judgment for war crimes against Serbian civilians. Describing a person convicted of war crimes as a “war hero” means denying judicially established facts and relativizing the crimes for which he was convicted.

 

Such a statement is unacceptable in any public space. However, the fact that it was made precisely in Bogdanovci, while the journalist was standing next to the memorial to victims of war crimes – Croats and Albanians, civilians and prisoners of war killed during the autumn of 1991 – makes it particularly grave. At a place dedicated to paying respect to victims and remembering their suffering, words were spoken that rehabilitate a person convicted of war crimes and represent a trampling of the memory of the victims.

 

We recall that for the crime committed on 11 November 1991 in Bogdanovci, Boško Soldatović, a member of the Military Police of the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA), was convicted by a final judgment before the court in Belgrade and sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for the murder of nine civilians. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) represented the victims’ families in this trial, while Documenta – Centre for Dealing with the Past filed a criminal complaint with the Croatian State Attorney’s Office regarding crimes committed in Bogdanovci.

 

Following the broadcast, N1 issued an apology. However, the text that was published does not constitute a professional apology for such a serious failure. It does not clearly acknowledge what was wrong, the characterization used is not withdrawn, and responsibility is relativized through wording that diminishes the gravity of what was said. Such a response leaves the impression of an attempt to soften and minimize the seriousness of the statement, instead of clearly and unequivocally acknowledging a professional mistake.

 

Journalism that describes a person convicted by a final judgment for war crimes as a hero is not merely a mistake in wording, but a serious professional and ethical

failure.

 

We expect N1 to clearly condemn this manner of reporting and to take measures to ensure that the relativization of war crimes and the rehabilitation of convicted perpetrators never appear again in N1 programming.

 

Sincerely,

Nataša Kandić
Founder, Humanitarian Law Center

Vesna Teršelič
Documenta – Centre for Dealing with the Past