discrimination – Croatia, the War, and the Future

Australian Croatian Voters Have Lustrated From Their Lives Croatian Communists and Former Communists!

July 6, 2020 by inavukic 13 Comments

Candidates for Croatian General Elections
4th and 5th July 2020 on “Independent List Zeljko Glasnovic
From left front row! Marko Juric, Zeljko Glasnovic, Ina Vukic, Mate Knezovic Back row from left: Milena Matic, Tomislav Sunic, Marina Sunić-Zakman, Elizabeta Mađarevi, Srecko Telar Candidates not on photo: Marko Perkovic, Martina Ćurić, Franjo Miroslav Perkovic,
Marina Sabljic, Kresimir Tabak,

Only about 18 months ago I wrote that lustration in Croatia starts in Australia. Yesterday’s General Elections for Croatian Parliament results have proved that is the case.

Knowing in advance that candidates running for Croatian Parliament from the diaspora have no chance of getting in due to discrimination built into the Electoral law I am pleased to say that an overwhelming victory by our Independent list Zeljko Glasnovic in every polling booth in Australia where I live was achieved, with the highest percentage of votes being in Sydney (states of NSW and Queensland) 77% and Melbourne (States of Victoria and South Australia) 63% Canberra 51%…

The sadly realistic point about running as a candidate at elections for the Croatian Parliament from the Croatian diaspora has never been about possibility of winning because winning, due to brutal discrimination within the Electoral legislation, which makes winning a parliamentary seat an impossible outcome! The point about running as a candidate at elections for the Croatian Parliament from the Croatian diaspora is about fighting for justice and fighting against discrimination and collecting evidence of that abominable discrimination against people (the Diaspora) who were crucial in the fight for independence from communist Yugoslavia. Croatian HDZ and SDP governments since year 2000 have ensured that they place the Croatian diaspora within the same Electorate (XI) as Bosnia and Herzegovina and that they reduce the number of seats from 12 to 3! Furthermore, more than 90% of Croatian eligible voters in the diaspora physically cannot reach a polling booth due to distance and prohibitive personal costs for travel to the booth. Bosnia and Herzegovina has thousands upon thousands more voters who are able to access polling places on election day than the Diaspora. In the Diaspora in 2010 the Croatian government has done away with accessible voting booths that used to exist within Croatian clubs etc in the diaspora and limited the polling booths to Croatian Consulates and Embassies!

Talk about passive aggression against own people! This is a painful example!

This is purposeful discrimination against citizens by a government and it cannot be ignored nor unattended. This is a purposeful action of former communists and their followers who want corruption, nepotism and citizen-unfriendly laws to continue, to thrive just as they did in former communist Yugoslavia. I have felt it on my own back as a candidate from Australia but Australian Croats have done me proud, have done retired General Zeljko Glasnovic proud. Overwhelming majority of voters in Australia – true fighters for democracy and freedom and lasting well-being of all Croats. Even if official Croatia has failed miserably at lustration, the General Elections’ results in Australia (and I am quite confident it will be the same for rest of the Croatian diaspora, e.g. USA, Canada, South America…) overwhelmingly demonstrate that they themselves have managed to implement lustration in their local communities. They have managed to decimate HDZ/Croatian Democratic Union and SDP/Social Democratic Party to smithereens!

This should be a glorious wake-up call for democracy-loving Croatians of today whose voices have been silenced by discrimination and lies!

My personal gratitude to all Croatians in Australia who have been able to reach a polling booth and who voted, in droves, voted for the Independent list Zeljko Glasnovic on which list I myself stood as a candidate! The fight for truth and justice continues! Ina Vukic

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Croatian diaspora, Croatian Electoral Law, Croatian General Elections 2020, discrimination, lustration, lustration in Croatia, Zeljko Glasnovic

General Ante Gotovina’s wife Dunja still a victim of cruel European Union and Croatian politics

January 7, 2012 by inavukic 3 Comments

Dunja and Ante Gotovina (Photo:Pixsell/24 sata)

An article by Croatian journalist Davor Ivankovic, “SDP will reinstate Dunja Gotovina to her job” was published in Vecernji List and translated into English.

Suffice to say, I was deeply shaken by this article.

While aware that stigma as a social phenomenon can grow its own legs in society at large and often results in stigmatisation of entire families, status loss and discrimination, one expects authorities in a democratic world to reject stigma and act in protection of families against harm that is associated with stigma.

In October 2004 Dunja Gotovina, the wife of General Ante Gotovina who was still a fugitive from ICTY (the Hague) from charges of war crimes, was labelled as “the wife of public enemy No.1”. The HDZ government of Ivo Sanader (Sanader is currently in Croatian courts charged with various counts of corruption) at the time went on a rampage against General Ante Gotovina and his “accomplices”.

Dunja Gotovina, the first female colonel of the Croatian army (had worked in the office at the headquarters in Zagreb of Croatian Ministry of Defense/MOD), 41 years old at the time, was “retired” from her duties under the excuse that “they found her to have no further career prospects based on the number of years of holding her rank, or rather that she hadn’t been promoted to a higher rank, and that she was being sent to retirement given her age and after reviewing the overall personnel potential”.

The newspaper article further says that “The Croatian MOD added: ‘She has the right to sue us if she feels aggrieved in some way. However, if she had further career prospects, she wouldn’t have been served with a notice saying otherwise.’

Naturally, Dunja Gotovina immediately asked that her rights be protected, particularly because the Retirement Institute made it clear to her that she had no legal rights to a pension. She had no help from the political structures either, and to top it off, Andrija Hebrang said to her: ‘your employment in the Ministry of Defense is an obstacle to Croatia’s accession to the EU!?’” Andrija Hebrang was Minister for Health and Social Welfare at the time.

Dunja sued for wrongful termination, 7 years ago (!), and as far as any consideration to job reinstatement or compensation are concerned, the case is still “collecting dust” in the queues of court orders enforcements. I.e., reportedly the Croatian Administrative Court ruled in Dunja’s favour in 2006 but she still hasn’t been returned to her job. There’s also the outstanding matter of compensating Dunja’s losses.

Around that time the ICTY Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte still insisted that General Gotovina was in hiding somewhere in Croatia despite being told otherwise. But she believed no one and Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, having in mind the upcoming report to the Security Council, search for Gotovina becoming an obstacle in the progression of Croatia’s negotiations for EU membership, obeyed all her demands.

The EU authorities didn’t ask Carla Del Ponte to back-off from her cruel and unfounded allegations, either! Croatian negotiations for EU accession took a severe blow, Croatia was cruelly accused by EU of failing to arrest Gotovina as Carla Del Ponte argued Croatia was hiding him.

And now the new Defense Minister Ante Kotromanovic (Social Democrats, centre-left) says that “Dunja has been a victim of politics. I am going to enforce the court’s decisions upon the conclusion of the proceedings which have been needlessly going on for seven years now”.

It is suggested that because Ante Kotromanovic was a friend to General Ante Gotovina he has now found himself in an “unpleasant – pleasant situation”.

This strikes me as muddying the waters.

What has friendship got to do with jurisprudence!

I sincerely hope that the new Minister Kotromanovic will not bring his personal friendships into his duties as minister.

A court decision is a court decision (2006 re reinstating Dunja to her job) and it must be translated into action, regardless of personal friendships or the outstanding separate issue of compensation.

Why on earth is minister Kotromanovic talking about the two matters (wrongful termination and compensation) as if executing the court orders for one dependes on the outcome of the other?

Court order for reinstatement to job was made in 2006. It would only be a natural outcome of such order that compensation for losses follow and the court then delivers a separate order as to compensation – whether negotiated or arrived at through court hearing.

To my view, and to view of any law abiding citizen Dunja Gotovina should have been reinstated to her job the minute Kotromanovic discovered the horrible injustice. If nothing else, his discretionary powers as minister would surely allow him to act immediately upon outstanding executions of court orders pertaining to his new portfolio.

It is not enough from a new minister anywhere to gobble on about the mistakes and underhanded political actions of his/her political predecessor, he/she must act to right the wrongs.

He should execute the job reinstatement court order, reinstate Dunja Gotovina to her job and deal with the compensation as a separate matter.

I truly hope minister Kotromanovic can see the difference between the two matters. Otherwise, to my opinion, he is no better than his predecessor. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb), B.A.,M.A.Ps. (Syd)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Andrija Hebrang, Ante Gotovina, Ante Kotromanovic, Carla Del Ponte, Croatia, Davor Ivankovic, discrimination, Dunja Gotovina, European Union, HDZ, ICTY, Ivo Sanader, jurisprudence, political persecution, SDP, stigmatisation

Amnesty International – is discrimination against some victims apparent?

December 26, 2011 by inavukic 6 Comments

Amnesty International (AI) mission statement: “to undertake research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of the rights to physical and mental integrity, freedom of conscience and expression, and freedom from discrimination–in the context of our work to promote all human rights, as articulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights“.

The approach that Amnesty International seems to be taking in its Press Releases and website postings with regards to victims of the war in former Yugoslavia (1991-1995) looks quite biased, against Croatian and non-Serb victims.

When one visits its website and searches the archives one wonders why all victims of that war and why all convicted war criminals are not treated the same, or afforded same/equal attention?

The only common-sense answer is that Amnesty International may be playing political games of equating the victims with the aggressor when it comes to Croatia.

It most likely is aware of the fact that justice needs to be seen to have been done for all victims, regardless of ethnicity?

If one searches the AI website for persons convicted of war crimes in Croatia one would find an odd (to say the least) imbalance. E.g.

Zorana Badic (Serb convicted of Skabrnje massacres of Croatians) – no AI Press Release specifically for the victims/Zero postings on the case on AI website;

Milan Babic (Serb, convicted and sentenced to 13 years by ICTY for ethnic cleansing of Croatians and Non-Serbs in Croatia) – no AI Press Release specifically for the victims/ 1 post on AI website;

Miodrag Jokic (Serb, convicted and sentenced by ICTY for killings and destruction of Dubrovnik, Croatia) – no AI Press Release specifically for the victims/no postings on AI website;

Pavle Strugar (Serb, convicted and sentenced by ICTY for war crimes against Croatians in Croatia) – no AI Press Release specifically for the victims/2 postings on AI website;

Milan Martic (Serb, convicted and sentenced by ICTY for war crimes against Croatians and non-Serbs in Croatia) – no AI Press Release specifically for the victims/3 postings on AI website;

Mile Mrksic (Serb, convicted and sentenced by ICTY for war crimes against Croatians in Croatia/Vukovar) – no AI Press Release specifically for the victims/ 5 postings on AI website;

Veselin Sljivcanin (Serb, convicted and sentenced by ICTY for war crimes against Croatians in Croatia/Vukovar) – no AI Press Release specifically for the victims/no postings on AI website;

Damir Sireta – (convicted and sentenced by ICTY for war crimes against Croatians in Croatia/Vukovar) – no AI Press Release specifically for the victims/ one posting on AI website;

Mirko Norac (Croat – convicted and sentenced for war crimes against Serbs in Croatia) – no AI Press Release specifically for the victims/24 postings on AI website;

Ante Gotovina (Croat – convicted and sentenced [now on Appeal] for war crimes against Serbs in Croatia) – AI posts for the victims http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/croatia-key-international-court-ruling-delivers-justice-victims-war-crimes-2011-04- /29 postings on AI website

Mladen Markac (Croat – convicted and sentenced [now on Appeal] for war crimes against Serbs in Croatia) – same as for Ante Gotovina

Only a brief or simple analysis of the AI website postings would suggest that AI does not give equal and deserved attention to all victims. I.e., fails to offer the Croatian and other non-Serb victims the same/equal attention as it offers the Serb victims.

On 23 December 2011 AI issued another Press Release with regards to Croatia and its processing of its alleged war criminals; urging the new government to “deal with its past in order to move forward”, http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/new-croatian-government-must-deliver-war-crimes-justice-2011-12-23

Now, the Yugoslavia crisis (1991-1995) did not start on its own; there were aggressors i.e. Serbs that devastated both Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Croatian and Non-Serb people in both countries suffered murder, ethnic cleansing, genocide, rape, wanton destruction of property and other almost unimaginable crimes. In August 1995 Croatia set out to liberate its Serb-occupied sovereign territory.

This press release calls upon Croatia to do more in regards to investigating war crimes and that it must deal with its past in order to move forward. Particularly, it talks of Croatia’s responsibilities vis-a-vis joining the EU by 2013.

It is not a good or balanced approach Amnesty International is taking with this Press Release.

Since it refers to the war in former Yugoslavia and atrocities committed one would have expected that Nicola Duckworth (Amnesty International’s Europe and Central Asia Programme Director) would address the question of Serbia and Serb war crimes as well as those of Bosnia and Hercegovina. After all, both of these have expressed a wish to become members of the EU.

It seems that Amnesty International is sadly taking the path of isolating different parts of the former Yugoslavia conflict and talking of each separately as though they were not associated.

This, in my opinion, among other things makes Amnesty International an organisation that is failing its Mission and becoming a political force. If it were not a political force then I would expect that website postings and press releases about victims from each ethnic group would be balanced and realistic.

Amnesty international should have, in the same breath of its press release dated 23 December 2011, called upon Serbia and Bosnia and Hercegovina to deal with their pasts as well.

Also, since she is talking about “the past”, Nicola Duckworth surely knows that there are other past events which need to be dealt with and which linger in the nations as unjust for the victims? E.g., the Communist crimes of WWII in the region must also be dealt with. Serbia should do more to address its persecution and extermination of its own Jews (94%) by mid-1942 …

Much of the past is intertwined between the countries in this region and one simply cannot ask one country to deal with it and not the others. That’s irresponsible, as far as I can see.

I completely agree that pasts must be dealt with but I do not agree with Nicola Duckworth’s selective and fragmented approach in this matter.

It is wrong in my opinion and it fuels ongoing injustice for all victims. All victims should be afforded the same respect and attention by the very website that purports to hold a candle for the world’s victims. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb), B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)