(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter addressed to Croatian President Stipe Mesic, RSF protested the ongoing detention of Laszlo Liszkaï, a French journalist of Hungarian origin, in Zagreb. “The prolonging of his detention with no explanation consitutes an abuse of power. As such, without wishing to comment on the facts of the case, we ask you […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter addressed to Croatian President Stipe Mesic, RSF protested the ongoing detention of Laszlo Liszkaï, a French journalist of Hungarian origin, in Zagreb. “The prolonging of his detention with no explanation consitutes an abuse of power. As such, without wishing to comment on the facts of the case, we ask you to take charge of the file and see to it that the journalist’s rights are respected,” said Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general. RSF also asked the French authorities to keep the organisation informed of efforts undertaken to secure the journalist’s release.
According to the information collected by RSF, Liszkaï, who was sentenced in Hungary to a two-year prison term, has been held in Croatia since 18 February 2000, awaiting his eventual extradition to Budapest. His preventive detention was to have ended on 18 May, but instead was extended for two months by the Croatian courts, even though Croatian legislation provides for a maximum delay of three months. The journalist was arrested by Croatian authorities on 18 February at the Zagreb airport, following a request by Interpol’s Budapest office.
In 1998, Liszkaï, who headed the Hungarian private television station RTL-Klub at the time, was sentenced to a two-year prison term after being found guilty of fiscal fraud. The journalist then returned to France, where he continued working for the television station Canal +, the weekly “Le Point” and the magazine “Le Monde du renseignement”. Liszkaï is also the author of a book titled “Carlos Safe behind the Iron Curtain”, published in 1992 in French and Hungarian. In his book, he made allegations against the Hungarian police, accusing them of providing refuge to the terrorist Carlos, in Budapest. According to his colleagues, the legal action against the journalist is linked to this work.
