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Croatian state-run television on Wednesday reinstated a deaf-mute sign-language interpreter who was sacked from a religious show because she got divorced.
The HRT programme board cannot "accept the reasons due to which the editor of religious programme Tonci Trstenjak cancelled cooperation with Dubravka Naumovski," a statement published on the television's web site said.
Naumovski should continue to work in all television shows using a sign language interpreter, including the religious one, it said.
Trstenjak fired Naumovski after four years of employment because she got divorced, arguing that she was leading an "improper private life."
The board labeled the move as a "professional failure", stressing that the reasons to fire someone "should be based on professionalism and quality of work."
Her initial sacking sparked public outrage notably among women's and human rights groups, as well as opposition political parties.
The head of the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human rights, Zarko Puhovski, warned it was "absolutely unacceptable that Christian fundamentalism is trying to be imposed on public television."
Nearly 88 percent of Croatia's 4.4 million people are Roman Catholics.
ljv/smc
Croatia-women-religion-media-rights
AFP 221935 GMT 03 06
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