Predstavničko vijeće hrvatskih ustanova i zajednice Francuske (CRICCF), koje tuži Boba Dylana zbog njegova intervjua za list Rolling Stone iz listopada 2012. u kojem je Hrvate usporedio s nacistima, spremno je povući tužbu protiv slavnog američkog pjevača ukoliko se ispriča. Ipak, ne učini li to, pred sudom u Parizu tražit će odštetu. Dylan je izjavio kako crnci mogu nanjušiti rasiste, baš kao Židovi naciste, a Srbi Hrvate.

Moji klijenti kažu da su spremni povući tužbu ukoliko se gospodin Robert Zimmerman (Bob Dylan) ispriča, ali ako ćemo morati ići do kraja tražit ćemo i odštetu, rekao je u telefonskoj izjavi za Hinu odvjetnik CRICCF-a Ivan Jurašinović.

Naglasio je i kako tužba nije pokrenuta radi odštete, jer nijedna odšteta ne može nadoknaditi ono što je učinjeno tim intervjuom. Također je izjavio i kako iznos odštete koju će tražiti neće biti senzacionalan. Istodobno je izrazio nadu kako će se pjevač, koji je prije tri godine nastupio u Zagrebu, ipak ispričati te dodao i kako je istražni postupak u tijeku no da još nije određen datum suđenja.

Francusko je pravosuđe prihvatilo tužbu CRICCF-a protiv Dylana za uvredu i poticanje mržnje. Sporni tekst pojavio se u tamošnjem izdanju spomenutog američkog lista.

Pjevač je saslušan i optužen prigodom posjeta Parizu sredinom studenoga gdje je održao nekoliko koncerata, a francuska ministrica kulture Aurelie Filippetti dodijelila mu je orden Legije časti.

BBC: Bob Dylan faces French legal inquiry over Croat remarks

US singer and song writer Bob Dylan has been placed under judicial investigation in France for allegedly provoking ethnic hatred of Croats.

It follows a legal complaint lodged by a Croat association in France over a 2012 interview Dylan gave to Rolling Stone magazine.

In the interview he allegedly compared the relationship between Jews and Nazis to that of Serbs and Croats.

The singer, 72, was served notice of the investigation last month.

At the time he was in Paris to receive the Legion of Honour, a prestigious French award.

In the Rolling Stone interview, Bob Dylan was sharing his thoughts about US history and the country’s racial divide.

He is reported to have said: “Blacks know that some whites didn’t want to give up slavery – that if they had their way, they would still be under the yoke, and they can’t pretend they don’t know that.

“If you got a slave master or [Ku Klux] Klan in your blood, blacks can sense that. That stuff lingers to this day. Just like Jews can sense Nazi blood and the Serbs can sense Croatian blood.”

During World War Two, the Croat Ustashe fascist movement killed hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Roma and others in their death camps.

Croats and Serbs also fought each other during the break-up of Yugoslavia, in a 1991-1995 war that left around 20,000 people dead.

After the interview was published, the Council of Croats in France (CRICCF) filed a complaint.

Being placed under judicial investigation means that authorities are taking the complaint seriously but that it won’t necessarily go further, the BBC’s Hugh Schofield in Paris says.

Dylan, who played concerts in Serbia and Croatia in 2010, rose to fame in the 1960s partly for his support of the US civil rights movement.

Last year, US President Barack Obama awarded Dylan the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the highest US civilian honour – and said: “There is not a bigger giant in the history of American music.”