Sacked Croatian journalist feels harmed by RFE

croatian-journalist-feels-harmed-by-rfe/365089
pub lished: 11.03.2009, 17:49

PropuÅ¡tÄ?ná novináŒka chce, aby Ã?stavnà – soud vyslechl Clintonovou

Brno – Croatian journalist Snjezana Pelivan, dismissed by the Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), demands that the Czech
Constitutional Court (US) question U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton in the proceedings over her complaint, Pelivan’s lawyer David
Uhlir told CTK today.

Pelivan worked in the Prague RFE/RL office and she was given a notice
in 2004 that was, according to her account, not properly explained,
Uhlir said.

The U.S.-sponsored radio station treated its staff from the third
countries in a discriminatory and anti-constitutional way, Uhlir said.

Before the Czech Republic joined the EU, the RFE/RL staffers who were
not from the USA or the Czech Republic were insufficiently protected
against immediate and unsubstantiated sackings, Uhlir said.

This was the case of not only Pelivan, but also of Armenian Anna
Karapetyan, another client of Uhlir, the lawyer said.

Uhlir said the foreigners who work in the Czech Republic for foreign
companies deserved the same protection as other employees.

Uhlir said that Clinton’s testimony before the Czech Constitutional
Court was rather hypothetical. In her position, she enjoys diplomatic
immunity and she can refuse the testimony,20Uhlir said.

Pelivan said that Clinton might make it clear in the court whether the
approach to the employees was dictated by the aim of the general U.S.
foreign policy.

Pelivan is demanding the cancellation of earlier verdicts that rejected
her complaint.

According to the complaint, there were three groups of employees in the
Czech RFE/RL office. The first consisted of U.S. nationals subjected to
the U.S. law. The second included Czech citizens with whom the radio
station concluded work contracts according to the Czech law and who
were protected by the Labour Code.

The third group consisted of foreigners from the third countries, who
were, according to Pelivan, disadvantaged.

The RFE/RL broadcasts to 20 countries. It has its headquarters in
Prague.

Author: Ä?TK