Croatia: Still Bypassing Diaspora In Correcting Mistakes Of Communism

Tihomir-Dujmović-22-prosinca-2015

 

In late 1980’s and early 1990’s it was the conservative, centre-right political ideology that gathered 94% of Croatia’s voters behind Croatian Democratic Union/HDZ to vote for and fight for Croatia’s secession from communist Yugoslavia and Croatia’s independence as sovereign and democratic state. Under the leadership of its first president, Franjo Tudjman, Croatia was set on a path that would see the shedding from all aspects of public life and administration of remnants of communist habits and detrimental processes. Tudjman’s speeches contained recipes for Croatia to develop and grow into a democracy including using foreign consultants from developed democracies, training Croatian leaders political and business in leading the changes that had to occur if Croatia was truly to move away from communist regime of Yugoslavia, etc. But Tudjman died just a year after the final piece of Croatia’s sovereign territory occupied by Serb aggressor was re-integrated into Croatia. Tudjman’s HDZ lost government as well a couple of months after his death, much so due to the communist lobby that had become strong with Stjepan Mesic’s leadership and public lobby. In early 2000 the League of Communists/known as Social Democrats by then won government and Stjepan Mesic became the president. Of course, any plans to shed communist Yugoslavia from Croatia’s public administration and government initiatives disappeared into the dark of night.

Every time general elections came around after that there have been high voter expectations and conservative election candidates’ promises that an incoming conservative government if elected would deal decisively in stemming out the remnants of communism that stifle progress both economic, social as fit in a well-functioning democracy. Dealing with communist crimes and putting lustration in place were among the formally and informally bandied ways of cleansing Croatia’s democratic future from past communist habits and processes and so too were legislative changes needed to accommodate progress and a vibrant, entrepreneurial, economically viable and prosperous Croatia. Ivo Sanaders’ HDZ government (December 2003 to January 2008), whose leader ended up in courts for corruption, and that of Jadranka Kosor’s (July 2009 to December 2011) made no strong moves in this direction and, indeed, they continued with the alienation of the Croatian diaspora (that amazing resource of positive support Croatia had harnessed in the 1990’s and without which Croatian independence would simply not have been achieved) started in 2000 by Stjepan Mesic and Ivica Racan’s Social Democrat/Communist League prior government. Then came the Zoran Milanovic Social democrat/Communist League led government in late 2011 to January 2016 and it, of course, was not in the business of shedding from Croatia the ideals of communist Yugoslavia it still held close to its heart. To be fair though, there were certain legislative changes that needed to be brought in during this mandate as essential part of the path to EU membership, however, even these changes of legislative nature did not change the hearts of former communists – Croatia was and is still riddled with red tape and behaviours at public administration levels that, in essence, stifle progress and democracy. Zoran Milanovic’s government coincided with communist Ivo Josipovic’s presidency, who won office after Stjepan Mesic held two mandates – so conveniently positioned to evade the necessary changes away from communist past. Centre-right aligned president of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic was inaugurated in February 2015 and she brought with her an apparent wealth of experience and democratic wisdom from having studied and worked abroad for many years. Then came the new government in Croatia in January 2016, mainly consisting of conservative centre-right HDZ but in coalition with MOST independent list with prime minister Tihomir Oreskovic as the leader alighned with no political party but, like Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, bringing in a wealth of corporate, business and entrepreneurial knowhow picked-up through working abroad in the “real and competitive business world” of the world.

The 2016 new government was ushered in with high expectations from the public for tackling the remnants of communism that stifle democratic progress, healthy public dialogues and economic development. Lustration, condemnation of communist crimes, legislative and procedural changes to aid and ease the process of investments and economic growth, tapping into the potential and significantly positive knowledge, economic and demographic resources that lie with the diaspora are just some examples of the plethora of measures popularly thought of as necessary to carry Croatia into the originally drawn plans for democracy, freedom and prosperity. But the evidently desired progress in moving away from communist habits is not yet visible to the originally desired degree and constant suspicions as to the democratic intentions of some politicians of note keep reverberating in Croatia’s public life. As to harnessing the resources from the diaspora for the betterment of Croatia, for movement far away from communist tracks, nothing solid or reassuring is seen on the horizon: just lots of talk from politicians and leaders but little if any right action.

Slobodna Dalmacija’s journalist, Tihomir Dujmovic, has recently in his article “America” addressed so eloquently and so clearly the detrimental, stifling effects of communism in Croatia.

 

“…I have roamed across America…listened to the destinies of hundreds of displaced Croats. Hundreds of sad destinies caused by communist sadism, which forced thousands of Croats to establish their homes far away from their beloved country,” writes Dujmovic and continues: “As far as possible away from Tito’s terror! …When I watch our people in America, when I compare them in their past years to us and when I watch our former poor that have regularly achieved a decent life living abroad, a person cannot but curse communism … It is here (in America) that we can truly see what Tito had done to us, it’s here that you can see in what misery and poverty our parents lived at home (in Croatia) and we with them, it’s from here that you can truly see the level to which the (communist) system had destroyed us…In that sense, today as a state we are really not doing anything else except correcting the mistakes that communism brought us.

In the first instance, the communist mentality that is not being extinguished…for example look the Cadastre registries…they (communists) took your land, invented the Cadastre and entered their names into the land register! We have not to this day solved this question. And there is a whole sea of similar topics.

When you listen to our people living abroad and when you listen to their counterparts in Croatia the first thing you see is a mound of zombies in the homeland whose every business enterprise has been nailed down with a hammer. In Cleveland I met Ivan Katic who has been living there for 40 years, he started without a single dollar in his pocket and without high diplomas, but his business spirit is such that he now employs a hundred people and his annual business turnover is $30 million. Look at him and his business sense that was developed by America, the standard America permitted, and then look at his counterpart in Slavonia, from where he went to America, and you will see what communism has done to this nation. If you were not a part of the communist elite, in order to live like a man, in order to be permitted to earn money, in order to develop your own business sense, in order for your children to be educated outside the communist ideology, you had to go thousands of miles away from that hellish fire.

So, what have our people found in America? Nothing except the opportunity Tito had not given to them. The opportunity to work and earn well, an opportunity to develop without needing to sell their soul to the Party! I watch them and I watch my parent’s generation and I can grab with my hands that crime that was perpetrated here (in Croatia). Because communism took away our soul, killed all creativity, nailed to the ground all business entrepreneurship, crushed the national conscience and destroyed the work culture, which our grandparents fundamentally had.

So, while Tito’s satraps masochistically taunted us, America and the West offered their hand to the Croats who knocked on their door, offered their hand to their creativity, rewarded and encouraged their entrepreneurship and let them attend church and hold the Croatian flag with pride, without being followed by secret police…That’s why I hold communism and Yugoslavia in contempt because they have stolen half a century from us. Because they murdered generations and stole their opportunity to live like people. Thousands of Croats would not have moved from their villages were they permitted to live like people, thousands upon thousands of Croats would not have left the land had there not been talk of impending liquidations of biblical proportions during the first days of revenge in 1945…They decided how much land you will cultivate, they decided how many square meters you will live in, they decided what you may sing and when you could revel. With what right? With the right of a pointed gun to the head! With head jerking towards Huda pit (mass grave of mass murders/communist crimes), in which you will end up if you don’t stop saying what you think. There’s still a sea of emotions towards the homeland within the Croatian diaspora, a sea of good will to return and, once again, it is the homeland’s move. This is the time of crossroads and truly the last chance for the homeland to offer it hand towards the emigrated Croatia that has been waiting for too long for that hand.”

While Dujmovic may have omitted to address the contribution Croatian diaspora could make to a better and more prosperous Croatia without necessarily returning to Croatia to live, the clear message remains: the governments of Croatia have done nothing much since the death of Franjo Tudjman (1999) to truly make the diaspora a continuing active, equal and vibrant part of the imagined prosperous Croatia. Not counting those individuals living in the diaspora continuing to contribute to the betterment of Croatia the lack of large-scale involvement from within Croatia towards diaspora is alarming and detrimental to Croatia in every way. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)

Croatia: Supreme Court As Constitutional One Before It Orders New Trial In Major Corruption Case Against Former Prime Minister

Tomislav Karamarko President of Croatian Democratic Union/HDZ Photo: Marina Cvek

Tomislav Karamarko
President of Croatian Democratic Union/HDZ
Photo: Marina Cvek

Croatia’s Supreme Court has Thursday 1 October overturned the 2014 Zagreb district court nine-year prison sentence and ordered a retrial for former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, who was jailed for corruption, embezzling millions of euros in public funds via a company named Fimi Media. All other defendants joined in this case of corruption charges by the former State Attorney Mladen Bajic, including the Croatian Democratic Union Party/HDZ, were also included in this verdict and freed from guilty verdict delivered against them in 2014. These charges were originally mounted at the time when Croatia was working towards meeting all criteria for EU membership. Fight against corruption was a big part of proving “worthy” of EU membership as state. The Supreme Court in Croatia has ordered a new trial for charges and claims against Sanader and other defendants, however, it stands to speculation as to whether, under the new Crimes act HDZ will need to be dropped from the list of defendants.
The Supreme Court had made the decision to overturn the district court verdict in its totality and return the case to that court for a new trial and new judgment. While a detailed decision by the Supreme Court regarding this case has not yet been publish the Supreme court delivered its decision citing unspecified violations in the lower court trial of significant breaches in the lower court of criminal procedure, among other things serious breaches of right to just and fair trial – guaranteed under the Constitution and the Convention on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedom.

Given that this criminal case was widely publicised and a great deal of Croatia’s reputation in being able to deal with corruption hung on the success of trials brought against individuals for corruption, one does find it perplexing in discovering that apparently there were serious breaches of criminal procedures in this case. One would have thought that nothing untoward when it comes to set procedures could go wrong during the court process! But it seems something went very wrong and, therefore, nothing less than the decision it made could be expected from the Supreme Court.

Indeed, everyone does have a right to a fair trial.

The Croatian Supreme Court decision has, naturally, put a smile to HDZ’s face and while the new trial is yet to occur, the new judgment yet to be delivered some time down the road, one thing does remain possible: HDZ as Political party should never have been joined as a defendant in the case in which Ivo Sanader was brought to court on criminal charges of corruption and fraud whilst HDZ’s President and Croatia’s Prime Minister and it should be dropped! Accusing some 200,000 members of the Party of collective guilt for crimes committed by its leader is just as bad as not having a fair trial.

 

Indeed, in the new Criminal Act there is no longer the provision under which HDZ (a political party) can be accused of or charged with criminal deeds relating to the Fimi Media case associated with Sanader and this Supreme Court judgment. HDZ was ordered to pay 3.8 million euro fine in 2014 when guilty verdict against Sanader and it was delivered and with this Supreme Court ruling that fine seems to be null and void even though the position the Supreme Court took on HDZ’s appeal is not yet fully known and it will be months before the detailed reasons for the decision are known.

If that is the case and this new criminal deed is not in continuity with the old legislation then it’s almost certain that the case against HDZ will be stopped and that no guilty verdict will be delivered against it,” said for HRT TV news on 2 October dr Mato Palic, Faculty of Law, Osijek.

During HDZ’s promotion of its election program in Vukovar on Friday 2 October, the President of that largest opposition party in Croatia, Tomislav Karamarko, stated, “because of some individuals HDZ was a target of satanic scenario designed to destroy the party… Our party has gone through its catharsis, there is not a single office-bearer in it with a valid verdict against him/her nor will there ever be one. All who breach the law should leave this party straight away on their own initiative…”

 

Time is hopefully coming when the Croatian public may have the opportunity of finding out whether “satanic verses”, from the mouth of the former, communist coloured, State Attorney Mladen Bajic,  were indeed afoot when original charges that saw a Political Party vilified were laid.

Ivo Sanader Former Prime Minister of Croatia

Ivo Sanader
Former Prime Minister of Croatia

Sanader, who was in office as Prime Minister of Croatia from 2004 to 2009, was sentenced separately to 10 years in prison for bribery in 2012 (INA-MOL case), but Croatia’s Constitutional Court had overturned that verdict and ordered a retrial on similar grounds of procedural unfairness.

After nearly three years in jail, Sanader can now leave on bail of 12.4 million kuna (1.6 million euro) after the court ruled that procedural errors had affected his right to a fair trial. It’s expected that his friends and family will be able to raise the bail by 7 October.

I am quite concerned that the process of justice, the court process of such magnitude as the ones against Croatia’s former Prime Minister Sanader could have gone so terribly wrong. One cannot avoid asking the question as to whether such procedural transgressions could have been perpetrated on purpose? For political reasons; for political gains? I find it hard to believe that in all cases against Sanader, in all separate trials, same or similar procedural breaches could have been committed! It almost feels like a conspiracy to make the public think corruption is being seriously dealt with when in fact it was all an act? To err, to breach procedural fairness in one case against an accused is easy to believe but to err in all arouses justifiable doubts in the sincerity of efforts put in place for combating corruption.
The right to procedural fairness (a term that is often used interchangeably with “natural justice”) is not a concept that is foreign to the Croatian judicial process and professionals that make it even if many do stem from the biased and politically coloured justice system of communist Yugoslavia. Sanader’s legal team says that charges against him were based upon affidavits or statements made to the State agency against corruption by some people who wouldn’t reply to questions put to them by Sanader’s defence team, and that, apart from that, there was no evidence of his wrongdoing.

While I have always maintained that collective guilt such as the one pinned against the Political Party HDZ in this case had no place in natural or any other justice. It’s pure political witch-hunting and it should have never been allowed in the courtroom in the first place. While HDZ says that “the Supreme Court ruling has removed the stigma from the Party and its 200,000 members and that it said from the beginning that the political party was not and could not be held accountable for the acts of corruption charged against it,” I would, though, like to see HDZ, and every political party, fight harder against such injustice as holding a Political Party (or an organisation) guilty for the (secret, personal) acts of some or few members. If they fought harder for such real justice all along, since independence and since the installation of democracy, then judges in Croatia wouldn’t have the nerve to allow procedural unfairness pass through their fingers like some insignificant breeze or pronounce sentences such as “the communist system murdered the people, not the accused former communist Josip Boljkovac”.

Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)

Croatia: Justice Against Corruption Still In Claws Of Baptism Of Fire

Ivo Sanader, former prime minister of Croatia Photo: Marko Lukunic

Ivo Sanader, former prime minister of Croatia
Photo: Marko Lukunic

Justice in ridding Croatia of paralysing corrupt practices inherited from the communist power-bases of former Yugoslavia, or at least reducing them so that corruption ceases to stifle democratic progress including the economy, has indeed been a long-suffering entity in Croatia. Croatia that is free from corruption is the new bright position people want Croatia to be in. Frank Serpico, New Yorks’s retired police department office who became famous for blowing the whistle on corruption within the police department in late 1960’s and early 1970’s said: “The fight for justice against corruption is never easy. It never has been and never will be. It exacts a toll on our self, our families, our friends, and especially our children. In the end, I believe, as in my case, the price we pay is well worth holding on to our dignity.”

For years Croatia had been unable or unwilling, or both, to deal decisively with thieves and troublemakers that define the deep-rooted corruption. When in 2014 Zagreb’s District Court delivered a guilty verdict in the first and biggest to date corruption case involving the former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and Hypo and INA-MOL (Croatian gas and petrol energy company with Hungarian MOL clout) there was a breath of relief in Croatia and abroad. Finally – the breath of fresh air and hope for justice showed optimistic promise that Croatia was well on its way in getting rid of paralysing and almost omnipresent corruption it inherited from communist Yugoslavia days. Sanader was sentenced to eight and a half years and I thought: justice against corruption has been baptised and it will grow from now on.

Zsolt Hernádi, CEO MOL Photo: Budapest Business Journal

Zsolt Hernádi, CEO MOL
Photo: Budapest Business Journal

Sanader was arrested in Austria as he fled Croatia in an attempt to avoid facing criminal charges, and was extradited to Croatia in July 2011. Series of trials for a string of serious charges of corruption, bribery and war profiteering offences commenced late 2011. In December 2011 criminal charges were laid against Sanader, which stipulated that for a 10 Million euro bribe he negotiated with president of Hungary’s petrol/energy company MOL, Zsolt Hernádi, that MOL receive majority ownership in Croatia’s INA company. These charges were attached to previous one for war profiteering in which Sanader is alleged to have taken a provision of 3.6 Million kuna (475,000 euro) from Hypo Bank while holding the office of deputy foreign minister of Croatia. As far as bribery from MOL, Hungarian Zsolt Hernádi has continuously denied any wrongdoing although he has refused to attend the Croatian court.
After the 2014 verdicts against Sanader, Croatian Supreme court confirmed those Zagreb District Court guilty verdicts.

But, in July 2015 Croatia’s Constitutional court overturned those guilty verdicts, citing procedural errors (not facts of evidence for the criminal acts) and ordered a retrial. The Constitutional court said that in its decision it did not go into whether Ivo Sanader was guilty of war profiteering and criminal acts of receiving bribes for which he was found guilty because it, the Constitutional court, did not have jurisdiction. The Constitutional court had overturned the guilty verdict because it found that all guarantees for a fair trial and all mechanisms of judicial protection provided through the legislation were not secured for him. http://www.tportal.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/390689/Ukinuta-presuda-Ivi-Sanaderu-za-Hypo-i-INA-MOL.html (Click this link for PDF in Croatian/ Summary of Constitutional Court decision 24 July 2015)

The Constitutional court findings say that there had been a breach of rules of a milder law in relation to the constitutional guarantee for a milder sentence. Article 31, clause 1 of the Constitution of Croatia provides that ” No one may be punished for an act which, prior to its commission, was not defined as a punishable offence by domestic or international law, nor may such individual be sentenced to a penalty which was not then defined by law. If a less severe penalty is determined by law after the commission of said act, such penalty shall be imposed.”

The decision also refers to a breach of Constitutional right to explanations of the part of judgement dealing with the rule of the milder law.

And so, on Monday 7 September 2015, Croatia began a retrial of former prime minister Ivo Sanader on corruption charges, including a case of a bribe allegedly taken from Hungarian oil firm MOL to allow it acquire a dominant stake in Croatia’s biggest utility (INA).

Judge Ivan Turudic Photo: Slavko Midzor

Judge Ivan Turudic
Photo: Slavko Midzor

As the retrial got under way, Sanader’s lawyers requested the judge (Ivan Turudic) be changed as he had overseen the previous trial and they submit that he may be biased against Sanader in the second-trial. According to media reports Sanader’s lawyers will seek not only that Turudic be disqualified from hearing the case or presiding over the hearing but that he also be removed from his position as president of the Zagreb District Court. Judge Ivan Turudic, on the other hand, says that he can see no reason why he could not preside over the retrial. Any disqualification of a judge from presiding over the trial or hearing the case will need to be decided by a higher court (in this case Supreme Court of Croatia).

Well, well, it seems Sanader and his lawyers don’t worry about the independent facts revealed during the first trial against him, which facts point to guilt of actual corruption, bribery and war profiteering. Procedural matters are the hot coals in the baptism of fire of justice in this case. While Sanader and everyone should have the benefit of due process – which includes access to all rights under the law and procedural fairness – one cannot but think of Frank Serpico at this time: the fight for justice is never easy! Baptism of fire for many good things is an inevitable albeit regretful path to the good; we all want justice and want it now! Especially given that Croatia has been suffocated by corruption for a whole lifetime. Time to speed up the fight against corruption in Croatia and I hope that agenda will be included in someone’s election campaign platform! It’s election year with general elections likely to occur in a couple of month’s times. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A.;M.A.Ps. (Syd)

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