As part of the project “Improved response to hate speech through legal research, advocacy and training – REASON”, a pilot training programme “Legal framework and processing of hate speech in the Republic of Croatia” was held In Zagreb on September 25. The training programme was intended for police officers, state attorneys, misdemeanour and criminal judges, and aimed at providing additional knowledge and professional skills necessary to improve the regular work of these groups of professionals on hate speech cases. In addition to the members of the research team of the project and the employees of the project partners, the lecturers also included prominent external collaborators. Specifically, the work program of the one-day training was implemented by (in order of presentations/lectures: Ivana Eterović, Croatian Law Centre (Introduction to the project and the research methodology); Professor Maja Munivrana and Associate Professor, Aleksandar Maršavelski, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb (Hate speech in Croatia – overview of the legal and conceptual framework); Danijela Petković, MoI, Police Directorate (Hate speech in police practice); Snježana Oset, High Misdemeanour Court of the Republic of Croatia (Misdemeanours sanctioning hate speech in judicial practice); Andrea Šurina Marton, State Attorney’s Office of the Republic of Croatia (Criminal Prosecution of Hate Speech – Procedure of the State Attorney’s Office); Lucija Lerga, Office for Human Rights and Rights of National Minorities of the Government of the Republic of Croatia (Statistical Monitoring of Hate Speech Cases); Professor Ksenija Turković, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb (Delineation of punishable hate speech and freedom of expression in the light of recent practice of the European Court of Human Rights). In addition to the lectures, the workshop “Recognition of hate speech and some perceived problems” was held.
