The Catholic commission calls on the president to withdraw the decoration conferred on Hedl, who, it said, had fought against the right to freedom of religion during Communist rule. It recalled that at that time Hedl had branded the Blessed Alojzije Stepinac as "a butcher among the saints" and had also negatively written against the Blessed Ivan Merz.

"A person who, like an informer, called for repression against those who thought differently and thus put at risk the lives of innocent people, a person who in the democratic Croatia was convicted of defamation, and a person who has often portrayed himself as a victim, while at the same time it was never proved that that he was threatened, in no way deserves such an honorable decoration," the commission said in a statement.

The commission expressed concern about the fact that a democratically-elected president, who has the duty to ensure respect for the rights of all people and to protect and promote the historical truth, had awarded a medal to a person who had distorted or withheld the facts and the truth during the Communist regime.

At a ceremony held in Josipovic's office on Wednesday to mark the International Human Rights Day, decorations were conferred on journalist Drago Hedl, the GOLJP civil human rights committee and the Osijek-based Nansen Dialogue Centre.