An early classic of Cvitić's, regarded the Croatian war veteran nicknamed Cascarino, who Cvitić and his anonymous sources claimed was a militarily inexperienced alcoholic who never came in contact with General Ante Gotovina and was therefore 'British Intelligence's Greatest Deception.'
Then it transpired, not only was Cascarino’s extensive military experience and connection with the General well documented; but, Cascarino, an individual of whom Cvitić clearly had no knowledge whatsoever, had never had any connection with British intelligence, and was, in reality, a competitive athlete who seldomly drank alcohol.
‘Plamenko Cvitić published an attempted assassination of my character based on the alleged evidence of anonymous witnesses. Presented as in-depth research which he claimed was both in collaboration with unnamed foreign journalists and supported by the testimonials of entirely unnamed former combatants; he perpetually ridiculed himself and in almost 3,500 words practically breached almost every ethical code of the Croatian Journalists’ Association... (he) consciously, deliberately and maliciously fabricated an article by means of generalisation, omission, distortion and invention and attempted to present it as professional well-researched and sourced journalism. All his alleged sources were anonymous, less the one name supplied to him by me, indicating Cvitić’s alleged sources were probably all fictional.... Highly amusing, however, was Cvitić's post-publication claim that a number of anonymous witnesses had contacted him.... to confirm the claims of his alleged anonymous witnesses....’
Next on the list we have Mr Munir Podumljak, President of the anti-corruption Partnership for Social Development (Croatia). Having realised his previous character assassination attempt on Cascarino was devoid of substance and credibility, Cvitić decided to actually do some research on his next target in an effort to increase the likelihood of others believing his lies. Cvitić, in Nacional article, No. 638, from 5/07/2008, along with his legion of anonymous sources, appears to have falsely claimed Podumljak was connected to war crimes and was an 'intelligence mercenary for a foreign government tasked with discrediting the Croatian government and politicians.'
Podumljak’s provided a lengthy response on 07/07/2008, an extract here follows:
‘... Plamenko Cvitić cited more false information, but also violated the law....to gain an impression of credibility journalist Cvitić cited some precise information... (then followed this up with) others which were partially or completely wrong...’
This was followed by a statement on 08/07/2008 issued by Partnership for Social Development Executive Board members, Ana Profeta, Elizabeta Švaljek, Sandra Gajić, and Borna Andrej Bubanj, clarifying Cvitić's xenophobic attack was a pack of lies.
Then came the highly suspicious forced hospitalisation of Mrs Mirjana Pukanić, the estranged wife of, Ivo, then Cvitić’s controversial Newspaper boss, renowned for his links to organised crime and "selective" exposes against criminal and political rivals.
Having announced separation from, and levelled serious allegations against Ivo, Mirjana was being interviewed by the media when police suddenly arrived, handcuffed her, then forcefully transferred her to a psychiatric hospital. I kid you not. Recorded footage of the incident ‘shocked the public and alarmed civil associations.’ Sanja Sarnavka of the B.a.b.e Women’s organisation and Ivo Banac of the Human Rights Croatian Helsinki Committee got involved and were so alarmed at the ‘contentious’ circumstances they protested to the highest levels of government. The mystery deepened when the police stated to journalists that Mirjana's own GP doctor had called them to arrange the hospitalisation - which was flatly denied by the GP.
In summary, a member of the public who claimed she had been seriously abused by her estranged husband, whilst calm, was forcefully arrested and dragged to a psychiatric hospital in front of national media reporters and nobody knew who ordered it. Mirjana was released after 8 days by a Zagreb County Court judge on hearing a psychiatric expert’s testimony which considered Mirjana’s mental state as fine. The judge also considered that ‘severe legal provisions had been violated during her apprehension.’
The case was extensively covered by javno.com (later dalje.com) and one can read of the alarming circumstances in its archives.
But what does this have to do with our dear Cvitić I hear you ask?
Well, whilst respectable journalists reporting on the case naturally queried and investigated the strange circumstances around Mirjana's hospitalisation. Cvitić decided not to and stuck to his preferred method of questioning the sanity of his article’s subjects. Having created his pre-determined argument to absolve his boss of any blame and discredit Mirjana, he proceeded to publish an article with a lengthy diatribe citing supposed instances from her medical history in an attempt to prove her mentally unstable and thus unreliable; but also sought to undermine the human rights workers who supported her.
This, and other similar articles, are located in the Nacional archive penned under Cvitić’s name and should be compulsory viewing for any student studying the art of propaganda.
Cvitić’s next stunt, however, was particularly distasteful. Having failed in his attacks against living people, he decided to smear the memory of a deceased female murder victim.
Following spurious allegations published in a rival newspaper of a love story between the poor victim, Ivana Hodak, and a convicted embezzler, Vladimir Zagorec, Cvitić published unsubstantiated claims alleging that two independent ‘anonymous’ sources informed him that the story was true. Cvitić's claim then served as the base for a ‘fantasy’ article about the deceased and the supposed relationship. What could go wrong – the dead don’t talk. Cvitić thought he got away with it until the outraged deceased victim’s father, prominent lawyer, Zvonimir Hodak, threatened legal action resulting in Cvitić, along with another journalist and Editor in Chief being forced to issue a humiliating published apology and concede that the claims could not be substantiated. Naturally, having no other option but to apologise, Cvitić attributed the issue to supposed ‘unreliable sources’ for providing him incorrect information...
The reader can make their own mind up about the quality of this disgraceful individual’s 'journalism.'
We simply believe that he should be exposed for who and what he is.
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