Appeal For “Croatian Six” Defence Fund!

This is the time in history in the defence of the Croatian name and truth when it is necessary for all Croats and their friends to extend their helping hand as one voice!

Donate today, donate now, your monetary gift to continue and end the defence of the “Croatian Six” injustice out of which the blackening of the Croatian name arose! I, Ina Vukić, am one among many supporters for the achievement of final justice for the six Croatians who were sentenced to 15 years prison each in 1981 for the so-called plans for terrorist attacks on several locations in the city of Sydney, including its water supply, and which charges were evidently false and set up by the Secret Police of communist Yugoslavia UDB, which made efforts in utilising all means, including false allegations and evidence planting, in order to blacken the name of Croats in Australia and the world.

Today it is clear that the convictions against the “Croatian Six” resulted from a deliberate operation by the Yugoslav UDB to portray the people who make up the Croatian-Australian community as extremists and terrorists and to increase public support for communist Yugoslavia. It is up to all of us to stand together and support the judicial inquiry now proceeding within the confines of the Supreme Court of NSW in Sydney and thus participate in the final victory of justice, truth and cleansing in the “West” of the Croatian name that is so blackened and because of which almost Croats themselves personally suffer directly or indirectly!

Maksimilijan Bebic, Mile Nekic, Vjekoslav Brajkovic, Tony Zvirotic and brothers Joseph and Ilija Kokotovic were arrested, and police raids ensued in Sydney and the town of Lithgow in New South Wales in February 1979. Arrested with them (and quickly released as the main witness against the Croatian Six) was a man they knew as Vico Virkez, who reported the alleged, concocted, plot to Lithgow police. Virkez, who will become a key witness for the crown prosecution in their trial, received a two-year sentence and after his release returned to Yugoslavia/Bosnia and Herzegovina). The real identity of Virkez was discovered in 1991 by Australian investigative journalist Chris Masters in and confirmed that Virkez was a Serb named Vitomir Misimovic, an Yugoslav UDB agent infiltrated into the Croatian community in Australia as a Croat.

The “Croatian Six” always claimed that they were innocent, claiming that the Yugoslav secret police, UDB, with the help of Virkez, had set them up. They have consistently denied that the explosives, such as gelignite sticks, and bomb-making devices found in some of their homes were their property, that the same were planted in the homes, and have always contested oral confessions of guilt presented as evidence in court by police as not their confessions or admissions of guilt.

Appeals during the years to the NSW Court of Appeal and the High Court of Australia were unsuccessful, as were subsequent petitions to the NSW government by the Croatian community for a judicial review of the case. Each member of the group known as the “Croatian Six” served 11 years in prison when they were released on parole in 1992 after it became clear that Virkez had fabricated his story of plotting terrorist attacks. Later revelations showed that the conviction against the Croatian six was the result of a deliberate operation by the Yugoslav UDB to portray the Croatian-Australian community as extremists and terrorists and to increase public support for Yugoslavia. In this case, according to Sydney Morning Herald correspondent Hamish McDonald, neither the police nor ASIO were able to spot that the hired agents were provocateurs, despite years of monitoring Croats.

In 2022, NSW Supreme Court Justice Robertson Wright ordered a judicial inquiry into the 1981 convictions against the “Croatian Six”, citing “doubts” and “questions” about the evidence at the original trial given by police officers and Virkez. Subsequently declassified Australian Security Service ASIO documents reveal that ASIO had identified Virkez as an informant for the Yugoslav consulate in Sydney who was suspected of having links to Yugoslav intelligence.

Key questions being addressed at the judicial inquiry currently afoot in Sydney  include what did the Australian and NSW police, ASIO and the Crown Prosecution Service know about Virkez’s identity and activities and when? Why was information about Virkez not given to the defence at the original trial? And did the withholding of information lead to a miscarriage of justice? The judicial inquiry – presided over by Judge Robert Hulme – also examines the conduct of police officers involved in the arrests and investigation from 1979 to the original trial, a court hearing in 1980.

One remembers that when judgement against the Croatian Six was handed down in 1981 by Judge Maxwell it was evident that Judge Maxwell either thought it inconceivable that police force can be corrupt, or he made a point of disguising the possibility of corruption even further by suggesting to the Jury that such corruption is inconceivable? Today, in 2024, we know that police corruption has been proven to have existed via a number of inquiries and commissions since 1981 and the only question is did it occur in the “Croatian Six” case?  

The aim of this court investigation is to try to determine whether the convicted members of the “Croatian Six” verbally admitted to participating in the bomb plot, for which the confessions were charged by the police – and if so, why the NSW police records of their confessions presented in court were not signed by the police? Were these Croats forced or pressured by threats to confess?

The judicial inquiry, based on the findings in this court proceeding, in its finality and in its decision forms recommendations to the Supreme Court of NSW which, depending on the findings, may include the claim that the convictions from 1981 against the “Croatian Six” are not safe and that they be overturned. In such an outcome lies the hope of the Croatian community in Australia, for the Croatian name and reputation around the world.

For these purposes, the Croatian community in Australia has been holding campaigns to collect financial aid for the defence costs of the “Croatian Six” in this historic court inquiry for some time. As is well known, such a process requires significant sums of money, and this defence of Croatian truth and justice depends on all of us Croats. That’s why I decided to write this article, an appeal for help, in the hope that there will be good people around the world who will donate some of their money to this fund for the “Croatian Six”, which is run by the law firm Marsdens from Sydney.

I too ask you – please help! Help today, this week.

Here is the letter accompanying this appeal, which was written on May 22, 2024 by the law firm Marsdens to the supporters of the “Croatian Six”:

22 May 2024

Dear Supporters of the Croatian Six,

Inquiry into the Convictions of the Croatian Six

We are engaged in assisting Mr David Buchannan SC, and Mr Sebastian De Brennan with the Criminal Appeal/Inquiry for members of the group known as the Croatian Six.

The trial was the longest trial in Australia’s legal history, occupying 172 sitting days and with 111 witnesses giving evidence. Since then, the matter has gone to the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, the High Court of Australia and been the subject of a number of other applications for review prior to its successful reopening in 2022.

Prior to the decision ordering the Inquiry into the convictions, Mr De Brennan and Mr Buchanan SC had been working on the matter on a completely pro bono basis since 2011. We, too, took carriage of this matter without funds, given the public interest in this matter, and the necessity for these men to have sufficient legal representation given the extensive legal issues that will be raised on Appeal.

However, in order to meet essential legal expenses, we are now seeking legal funds in this matter for the purposes of reading, considering and summarising the material before the Inquiry (currently 42 large lever lever arch folders), Mr David Buchanan SC’s fees, Mr Sebastian De Brennan’s fees, Marsdens Law Group’s fees for daily maintenance of the matter, meeting with with the clients, filing fees, disbursements, including extensive copying of materials (the original trial transcript being in excess of 5,000 pages, with thousands of further documents coming into existence since the original trial in 1980).

In accordance with the Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW), we are required to provide you with an estimate of Marsdens fees for conducting this matter.

A significant number of hours have been dedicated to preparing for the Inquiry, with conferencing, research and document review and preparation accounting for a significant number of these hours.

Further to this preparatory work, the hearing of this matter commenced in December 2023. Since that time there have been a number of hearing blocks, with the following additional dates having been set down:

• 1 to 5 July 2024

• 15 and 16 August 2024

• 24 to 26 September 2024

• 1 to 4 October 2024

• 1 November 2024

• 4 to 8 November 2024

In order to cover essential costs and on a heavily discounted basis, we estimate that a minimum amount of $500,000 (inclusive of GST) will be necessary to meet essential legal costs and to protect the position of the Croatian Six at the Inquiry.

In respect to these fees and ongoing donations in this matter, I confirm that to date we have been able to raise $156,126. We continue to rely on the community’s generous donations to cover these estimated fees.

We provide the Marsdens Trust Account details below for the deposit of any money you are able to donate to the Croatian Six’s legal funds:

Commonwealth Bank of Australia,

Shop 66/67A Campbelltown Mall, 271 Queen St, Campbelltown NSW 2560, Sydney, Australia

Account Name: Marsdens Trust Account

BSB: 062517

Acct No: 10526169

Reference must be left: 446838 Cro6 SLR

Name and Address of firm administering bank trust account: Marsdens Law Group, 49 Dumaresq Street, Campbelltown NSW 2560, Sydney, Australia

(People who are paying a donation to this account from outside Australia also use the SWIFT code: CTBAAU2S. If a country outside of Australia requires you to use an IBAN when making the payment, then use IBAN 06251710526169, and if the bank in your country does not accept it, then try IBAN AU06251710526169. Namely, we have been informed that Australia does not use an IBAN number for bank payments outside of Australia like some other countries do, but if your bank needs one then try this.)

Consistent with requirements of the Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW), funds paid into this account must be fully accounted for and are audited by the Law Society of NSW.

Should you be able to donate any money towards this matter, I confirm our standard terms of engagement will be provided, which is an acknowledgement of the terms of our engagement in this matter. Further, this information will acknowledge where your money is being used.

We appreciate any and all support that is shown towards this matter, and we encourage that should you have any further questions, you contact our office.

Yours faithfully,

MARSDENS LAW GROUP

SHARON RAMSDEN

Partner

Accredited Specialist Criminal Law

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Thank you all for helping! Ina Vukic