The OSCE has already informed you of the increased amount of calls from worried reporters, under pressure from HNS activists, to the organisation's helpline for journalists. This widespread campaign of harassment has also been aimed on an individual level at soldiers, the police and business people. Soldiers are either called or visited at home. We have information that many police officers are also being visited at home, where HNS activists demand they sign papers declaring loyalty to them. The OHR cannot give names or allude to individual cases because these Bosnian and Herzegovinian Croats fear for their lives and the lives of their families.
Business people are also under threat.
The bomb attack against the Ivankovic brothers, for their outspoken stand against the HNS, is just the most public example. At the weekend, Mr Jerko Ivankovic, a member of the BiH House of Peoples as well as the joint owner of the Lijanovici meat factory, said the threats have only got worse since the bomb attack, telling the media at the weekend that he and his family have been threatened with death if he doesn't leave the Federation government. The businessman refused. This kind of activity has nothing to do with Croat rights and has everything to do with a small bunch of extremists who have to rely on fear to get their way. These are a group of people who themselves fear the rule of law, which is getting stronger day by day in Bosnia and Herzegovina.