From: predrag@isy.liu.se (Predrag Pucar)
Subject:  Helsinki Watch Report
Reply-To: predrag@isy.liu.se (Predrag Pucar)
Organization: Dept of EE, University of Linkoping
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 14:25:24 GMT


                                       February 13, 1992


   His Excellency Franjo Tudjman
   President of the Republic of Croatia
   Radicev Trg 2
   41000 Zagreb
   Croatia


      Dear President Tudjman:
   
   
         
      The U.S. Helsinki Watch Committee is deeply concerned by reports of
serious human rights abuses by forces responsible to the Croatian
government and by individual extremists in Croatia. Our own
investigations of these reports, conducted during a series of fact-
finding missions to Croatia in the past year, indicate that many of
these reports are well-founded. We call upon you to investigate the
abuses enumerated in this letter and to punish those responsible for
them. We call upon you to uke immediate measures to ensure that such
violations of human rights do not occur again. 
             
      The abuses described in this letter include violations of the laws of
war in the current conflict between Croatian and Serbian forces and the
Yugoslav army, including the summary execution of civilians and
disarmed combatants; the torture and mistreatment of detainees;
arbitrary arrests and disappearances; destruction of civilian property
and the killing of journalists covering the war. In addition to
violations connected with the war, Helsinki Watch has also documented
restrictions on freedom of expression and the press and interference
with the independence of the judiciary. Finally, we are gravely
concerned about the harassment, discrimination and rising violence
against Serbs not engaged in the armed conflict in Croatia. 

                           - 1 -
      
Rules of War Violations in Croatia by Croatian Forces
       
      Violations of the rules of war are often committed by local police
officers and members of the Croatian army -1 in areas which are under heavy
siege by Serbian forces and the Yugoslav army. Under international law,
it is absolutely impermissible to summarily execute, mutilate or torture
civilians or persons hors de combat. -2 Helsinki Watch holds the Croatian
government  - in particular the Croatian Ministries of Interior and Defense
responsible for the acts of its armed forces. 
      
      Helsinki Watch is concerned that paramilitary forces of the Croatian 
Party of Rights are not sufficiently under the control of the Croatian
government. Although steps have been taken by the ministry of Defense to
place such groups under Croatian government command, Helsinki Watch urges
the Croatian authorities to ensure that such paramilitary groups do not
operate independently without responsible military command. 

            Summary Executions of Civilians and Persons Hon de Combat

September 21- Karlovac
      
      According to well-publicized news reports -3 acknowledged by the Croatian
government, three soldiers who were serving their army terms, a Yugoslav
army captain (Mile Peruaca) and 17 Yugoslav army reservists -- most of
whom were Serbs from Krnjak (municipality of Karlovac) and Vojnic -- left
the town of Slunj in two army trucks and headed for a Yugoslav army
garrison in Karlovac. En route, they were stopped by Croatian forces on
a bridge over the Korana river and told to surrender. Several men were
taken to police headquarters in Karlovac and later to Zagreb, where they
were detained. The rest remained on the bridge waiting for a Karlovac
police vehicle to come and pick them up. While they waited, the Croatian
police officer beat their captives, particularly Captain Peruaca and
several reservists. One of the reservists, Svetozar Sarac, was hit in the
face with a rifle butt and later lost an eye. A Croatian police officer,
Mihajlo Hrasto, then ordered the captives to form a line, whereupon 13 of
the soldiers were shot. Two of the soldiers managed to escape and one was
later found wounded under the bridge. 

      Two of the Yugoslav army reservists, Svetozar ~Sarac and Dusan Mrkic, 
were treated in Karlovac hospital. Those killed were: 

--------------------------------------------------------------------
    1 Recently, the Croatian National Guard (Zbora Narodne Garde - ZNG)
    has officially been renamed the Croatian Army and will be referred to
    as such herein.
     
    2 See article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and article 4
    of the 1977 Second Protocol additional to the Geneva Conventions. At
    the invitation of the International Committee of the Red Cross,
    plenipotentiary representatives of the various parties to the conflict
    in Croatia including the Croatian government ~ met in Geneva twice (on
    November 26-27 and December 19-20 and agreed to comply with the
    provisions of international humanitarian law. Helsinki Watch holds the
    Croatian and Serbian governments and the Yugoslav armed forces
    responsible for violations of the rules of war.
     
    3 The case was reported in the Serbian, Croatian, and foreign press.
    See also Civilian and NonCombatants Killed in Yugoslavia,- United
    Nations Center for Human Rights, Geneva, p. 12.
  
                              - 2 -
  

          Jovan Sitic (25)
          Bozo Kozlina (37)
          Nebojsa Popovic (24)
          Mile Savic (27)
          Milenko Lukac (32)
          Slobodan Milovanovic (25)
          Svetoslav Gojkovic (32)
          Milos Srdic (43)
          Zoran Komadina (27)
          Mile Babic (42)
          Vaso Bizic (36)
          Captain Mile Peruaca (27)
          Ensign Nikola Babic (43)
       
     According to Zeljko Olujic, Croatia's Public Prosecutor, a member of the
Croatian Army has been charged with the crime and is being held pending
psychiatric examination -4. He has been charged with murder -5. 

Probably mid-October - Gospic
       
     According to Gospic residents interviewed by Helsinki Watch -6, tensions
between Serbs and Croats grew after the current Croatian government came
to power in May 1990. Violence erupted on the evening of August 28-29,
1991, after a shoot-out between Serbs from the Krajina region -7 and
Croats from Gospic'. Since then, fighting has not subsided in Gospic' and
many people have been forced to flee the area or take shelter in their
basements. 

     In late August, Milica Smiljanic - a 42-year-old half-Serb, half-Croat,
from Gospic - took refuge from the fighting in the basement of her mother-
in-law's home on Vlade Knezevica 4 in Gospic. Eleven other people (ten
Serbs and one Croat) also hid in the same basement. The twelve people hid
in two separate rooms in the basement; Ms. Smiljanic, her husband Stanko,
her mentally-ill brother-in-law Milan, her mother-in-law Bosiljka and an
elderly woman, Milka Lemajic, hid in the same room. Zeljko Mrkic, Danica
Barac, Radovan Barac, Radmilla Stanic, Luka Sulentic, Marica Barac and her
six-month old daughter, Jelena, hid in a second room. 

     On October 16, five members of the Croatian police entered the basement
and first came 

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    (4) Stephen Engelberg, Yugoslavia's 'Pure Hatred',- International
    Herald Tribune,December 20, 1991, and 'Villagers in Croatia Recount
    Massacre by Serbian Forces',- The New York Times, December 19, 1991.
     
    (5) The accused was charged under Article 35, clause 2(l), of the
    Croatian Criminal Code.
     
    (6) Serbian residents who had fled from the Gospic municipality were
    interviewed in Belgrade on January 28-29, 1992. The population of the
    municipality of Gospic is 28,732, 64.3 percent of whom are Croatian,
    31.1 percent Serbian, and 1.8 percent Yugoslav.
     
    (7) The neighboring municipalities of Titova Korenica and Gracac are
    under the control of Serbian forces, which declared the area part of
    Krajina.

                          - 3 -

into the room where the Smiljanic family was hiding. Four of the men wore
olive ski masks over their faces while the fifth man had blond hair and
wore glasses. All five men were dressed in uniforms worn by the Croatian
police under the prior regime. All five carried AK-47 rifles. Ms.
Smiljanic later told Helsinki Watch -8: 


          One of the men shot once at the ceiling, then pointed his gun at
          us and told us
          'Cetniks' -9 to get out of the basement. We walked out of the
          room and into the hallway of the basement. One of the men put a
          gun to my back and told me to find Radovan Barac. His wife was
          Croatian and he worked in the local post office. I went to the
          other room and said, 'Rajko, come out.' No one opened the door
          but his mother, Danica, eventually came out and told the police
          officers to leave her son alone. One of the policemen pushed me
          aside and dragged Radovan Barac, his mother Danica, Radmilla
          Stanic, Zeljko Mrkic and Luka Sulentic from the room and told
          them to go upstairs. They also took my husband and brother-in-
          law, even though I pleaded with them to leave them alone. 
                    
          My mother-in-law, Milka Lemajic, Marica Barac and her child and
          I were left alone in the basement and the policemen told us not
          to say anything to anyone. About two hours later, Luke Sulentic,
          the Croat came back. Luke is deaf and because we have known each
          other for a very long time, I have learned to communicate with
          him through sign language. He told me that the police officers
          wanted to see everyone's identification cards and that my
          husband was cold; he was not wearing a coat when they dragged
          him out of the basement. 
                    
      
      According to Dr. Zoran Stankovic, a Yugoslav army officer and pathologist
at the Military Hospital in Belgrade,-10 twenty-four bodies -- 15 men and
nine women -- were found burned near the villages of Siroka Kula and
Perusic (municipalities of Gospic) in late December. Five more bodies were
found nearby. The dead included the aforementioned Serbs who had been
taken from the Smiljanic basement in Gospic. 

     According to Dr. Stankovic, the victims were killed three kilometers from
the village of Perusic and subsequently moved to Siroka Kula by
approximately 50 Serbian irregulars and five 

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     (8) Interviewed in Belgrade on January 28, 1992.
          
     (9) During World War II, the Cetniks were Serbian forces engaged Id
     the civil war against both the Croatian Ustasa and the communist
     partisans. The Croats commonly refer to the current Serbian insurgents
     as Cetniks because they equate their current actions with the
     atrocities committed against Croats and Muslims during World War II.
     Some of the Serbian insurgents Helsinki Watch interviewed vehemently
     reject the label of 'Cetnik', claiming they are merely defenders of
     their land and not extremists. Others speak with praise of Vojislav
     Seselj, leader of the ultra-right-wing Serbian Radical Party (Srpska
     Radikalna Stranka) and the Serbian Cetnik Movement (Srpski Cetnicki
     Pokret).
       
     (10) Interviewed on January 29, 1992, at the Military Hospital
     (Vojna Medicinski Akademija - VMA) in Belgrade. Helsinki Watch also
     spoke with family members who had come to identify the bodies of their
     family members and neighbors on the same day. Medical documents,
     videotapes and pictures also were examined.

                               - 4 -

members of the Yugoslav army on December 27. All the victims were shot. 
Several who apparently did not die from the gunshot wounds were brutally
executed. One person (Branko Stulic) appeared to have been stabbed in the
back by a knife; a second individual   was hit above the eye with either
a bayonet or an axe; a third person (a woman) was shot in the head at
close range; a fourth individual appeared to have had his skull broken by
a heavy, blunt object. The bodies were then thrown into a pile, doused
with gasoline and set on fire. According to Dr. Stankovic, the bodies were
approximately two months old when they were discovered. 

      
    The Croatian authorities are investigating the case and President Tudjman
reportedly visited Gospic personally to inquire about the massacre.
Helsinki Watch calls upon the Croatian government to hold accountable
local commanders in Gospic - particularly Tihomir Oreskovic commander of
the Croatian Army in Gospic, and Zeljko Bolf, the Gospic police chief -
for the actions of their troops. 

November 15-25, Marino Selo (municipality of Pakrac)         
    
    At approximately 6:15 a.m. on November 15, members of the Croatian Army
arrested 15 Serbs from the village of Kip (population 271, municipality of
Daruvar), six from the village of Klisa (population 138, municipality of
Pakrac) and one from the village of Batinjani (population 547,
municipality of Pakrac). Most of those arrested were members of the
Serbian insurgency, although they reportedly were unarmed at the time of
their arrest. They were held in a hotel in the village of Marino Selo
(population 364, municipality of Pakrac) and were guarded by 12 to 15
members of the Croatian Army. J.K. -11, a 35-year old man who was among
those arrested in Kip, recounted his experience to Helsinki Watch: 

          Four of the Croatian Guardsmen would get drunk frequently and
          beat all of us. I recognized them as being from the Pakrac-
          Daruvar area; one of them was named Rujic. They would take some
          of the captives out of the cell and tell them that they were
          going to be exchanged. They were taken outside and we heard
          gunfire. Those taken from their cells never came back. The
          Guardsmen who killed them made us bury the corpses. I buried
          seven men. 
                    
            J.K. identified those he buried as:
 
            
      Pero Popovic, from Kip 
      Jovo Popovic, from Kip 
      Pero Novkovic, from Kip 
      Milan Popovic, from Kip 
      Savo Goljovic, from Klisa 
      Nikola Krajnovic, from Klisa
      an unknown man from Klisa
      
      
    Of the fifteen men from Kip who had been detained in the same cell, twelve
were subsequently killed; they were either shot or beaten to death. In
addition to those listed above, those
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

     (11) J.R., who asked that his name not be used, was interviewed on
     January 29, 1992, at the Military Hospital (Vojna Medicinska Akademija
      - VMA in Belgrade.

                          - 5 -


 killed included:

      Branko Buncic                   _
      Mijo Danojevic
      Nikola Gojkovic
      Filip Gojkovic
      Gojko Cojkovic
      Mijo Gojkovic
      Jovo Popovic  -12

      J.K., his 61-year-old father and another 35-year-old man
were spared. They were taken to and detained in Daruvar on
November 25-26, then to Bjelovar on December 10. On December 12,
they were released in an exchange of prisoners that took place in
Karlovac.  
Helsinki Watch is also aware of two murders that have been
investigated by the Croatian authorities. A restauranteur,
Srbislav Petrova, was killed by members of the Croatian police
force in the municipality of Pula. The police officers have been
arrested and criminal charges have been filed against them. The
murder of the Zec family in Zagreb in early January has also been
investigated by Croatian authorities. The perpetrators have been
arrested and an investigation by magistrates of the Zagreb
district court is currently in progress. 

                           Unexplained Deaths of Serbs
      
    Helsinki Watch has received reports of Serbs who were killed
shortly after being arrested by Croatian forces or whose bodies
were found in Croatian-controlled territory. In some cases, the
circumstances of the deaths remain unknown. In other instances,
the available evidence implicates members of the Croatian police
- particularly in Sisak - as having played a role in the deaths.
Helsinki Watch calls upon the Croatian government to conduct
thorough investigations of the deaths of the following
individuals and to prosecute those found guilty of their murders: 

    The corpse of Miljenko Djuricic, a 38-year-old Serb
from Borovo Naselje, was found in the Danube River, near the village
of Begeca, on July 17. According to the district prosecutor in
Novi Sad, Djuricic was thrown into the Danube while still alive and
his body which had been in the water for two to four days before
it was discovered - bore signs of torture. Djuricic had been arrested
on July 1-by the Croatian police and interrogated. He was released
on July 15 but was not seen alive thereafter -13
         
     Evica and Dusan Vila and their sons Marko and Zeljko were shot
and their bodies discovered in Sisak.

------------------------------------------------------------------

     12 Two men with the same name were killed (see list of those
     buned by J.K.). The men were   reportedly first cousins.
      
     13 Tanjug report tated July 20 reported by Agence France-Presse
     Decouverte du cadavre d'un   Serbe portant des traces de
     tortures," July 20,1991

                       - 6 -
  
     Vlado Bosic, a truck driver for "Slavijatrans" from
Petrinja, was reportedly beaten to death. Repotedly, at
at a press conference, Djuro Brodarac, The Sisak police chief, claimed
that the person who committed these crimes went beyond his orders but
that he was not aware what type of - if any - disciplinary measures
had been taken against the perpetrator.
                  
     Milenko Djapa, a worker at the Sisak oil refinery, was murdered.

     Branko Oljaca, a Serb who worked for the Croatian police force
in Sisak, was murdered.                   

     Zoran Vranesevic, a Serb who worked for the Croatian police
force in Sisak, was murdered.
                  
     Mico Calic was a worker at the Sisak steel plant; his body was
discovered in the Brezovici forest.
                  
     Ilija Martic was reportedly killed at the entrance of a
restaurant in Sisak.                    
     
     Nikola Arbutina, a worker at the "Graditelja" firm in Sisak,
was murdered.                    

     Milos Grubic, a retiree from the village of Blinjski Kut
(population 500, municipality of Sisak), was reportedly
held in the jail in Sisak; his body was subsequently found on the 
outskirts of the village of Komarevo.
                  
     Damjan Zilic was a manager at the Sisak oil refinery; his body
was discovered in the Jakusevac section of Zagreb.
                  
                      Torture and Mistreatment in Detention
      
Croatian forces maintain more than nine detention centers
throughout Croatia, including Bjelovar, Gospic, Zadar Split,
Rijeka, Slavonska Pozega, Osijek and several in the
municipalities of Karlovac and Zagreb -14.  Helsinki Watch has
documented cases of torture and mistreatment of captives after
they have been arrested and detainet by the Croatian army or
police. In many cases, abuse of captives also takes place in
local police stations. On the basis of numerous reports received
by Helsinki Watch, Croatian forces in Sisak, Gospic and in areas
of western Slavonia appear to be particularly brutal toward those
held in custody.  

J.K., who was among those arrested in Marino Selo, -15 was beaten
during his detention. J.K.'s lower jaw and two ribs (the 7th and
8th ribs) were broken and all his teeth were knocked out. When
Helsinki.  Watch spoke to J.K. and his doctor, surgery had been
performed on his jaw and 

--------------------------------------------------------------

     14 Helsinki Watch representatives visited detention centers
     in Osijek in August and in Zagreb in  September. In both cases,
     Helsinki Watch representatives were permitted to speak with
     those held in custody privately and to examine their cells.
      
     15 See above case of summary cxecutions in Marino Selo.

                         - 7 -

metal teeth had been implanted in his mouth.
  
    On November 26, Ivan K. -16 was arrested by three local police
officers in the Zapresic section of Zagreb. Ivan's ten
year-old son also was taken to the police station, apparently
because there was no one home at the time to look after him.
Ivan reported that although he and his son were well-treated
while at the Zagreb police station, he was never told of the
reason for his arrest. Both Ivan and his son remained at the
Zagreb police station from approximately 7:15 p.m. until    
10:00 p.m., when they were taken by three men in camouflage
uniforms to the Sisak police station.
        
          When we arrived at the police station in Sisak, I was
hand-cuffed and taken to a room where five or six
police officers started cursing at me, asking me how many Croats
I had massacred, calling me a cetnik and threatening
to put me in solitary confinement. My child was crying
the entire time. I was then taken to a room on the first floor
but they wouldn't let my son accompany me. -17
                    
A woman in civilian clothing questioned me in the room about my
brother Josip, who had been arrested in Sisak earlier in
the day. A man in camouflage was also in the room. The
lady asked me when was the last time I had gone to Banija. I told
her that I was last there in late July when I went to
visit my friends in Bosanski Novi and that my brother
had accompanied me then. I went on to say that on July 26,
shooting erupted and we fled to Croatian Kostajnica and
that both my brother and I left for Zagreb the
following day. She asked me if my brother had participated in a
massacre in Struga and Zamlaca on July 26. -18 I told her that that
was impossible because my brother had gone to Zagreb with me on
that day. The man in camouflagc kept provoking me by saying that
we Serbs are all cetniks and that my brother killed those
people [in Struga and Zamlaca]. The lady also asked me if I was a
member of any political party. 

          The questioning lasted for about 30 to 45 minutes and
then I was taken to the jail where I was put in cell
#4. It was about 1:00 a.m. There were several other men in the
cell with me and every so often one of the guards would
walk by and curse at us, 

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     16 Helsinki Watch intenriewed Ivan K. snd his sister in
     Zagreb on December 31, 1991.       Both requested that their
     names and tbe name of their brother remain confidential
     bccause they fear reprisals from individual Croats. The names
     used are pseudonyms. Helsinki Watch will make the names of
     tbe tortured individuals known to the appropriate
     Croatian authorides in private.
           
     17 according to Ivan, the child was taken to a local orphanage
     where he was teased by other children and hit by One boy,
     apparently because he was Serbian according to Ivan, he was
     fed and treated well by the nannies in the orphanage. The child
     reported that he had to sleep On a wooden bench
     without a blanket.       
     
     18 Serbian insurgents launched an offcnsive from the
     town of Dvor against Croatian       police in the willage of
     Rozibrod on July 26, 1991 . En route, the insurgents captured
     approximately 40 civilians and used them as human shields during
     their advance through the villages of Struga and Zamlaca.
     number of civilians were killed in the ensuing violence
     and three Croatian police officcrs who had Surrendered to Serbian
     forces were summarily exccuted See Helsinki Watch's
     "Yugoslavia: Human Rights in the Croatian Connict"-
     September 1, 1991, for an account of thec incident

                            - 8 -

telling us that we would end up in Belgrade.
          
          That night, I heard someone beiing beaten in the
          hallway. Because the door to our cell only had a peephole,
          I couldn'l see what was happening but I could hear everything.
          I recognized the voice of the man being beaten it was my
          brother, Josip. He kept saying I'm not to blame,- but they kept
          beating him and putting his head under water, I presume in a
          bucket His torturers said, "This is only the first stage of
          your torture" and they kept calling out for someone to bring
          them a knife. I don't think they used a knife on him but
          threatened him only to scare him further. He was beaten from
          11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. They beat him again between 9:00 a.m and
          12:00 p.m.
                    
          At 1:00 p.m., the guards told me to get out of the cell and they
          handcuffed me. I was taken to the police station again, where
          the woman who had questioned me the night before told me that
          I was going home. I asked her about my brother and she answered
          that he was a war criminal. She told me that my son was at the
          orphanage and that I should go and get him. My son and I took
          the train back to Zagreb and I have been getting threatening
          telephone calls since then [i.e., since November 28]. Only
          yesterday my neighbor threatened me with physical harm and
          called mc a cetnik.
                    
      
    The man's sister, Vesna, travelled to Sisak on November 29 to inquire as
to the condition and whcreabouts of her other brother, Josip, who remained
in police custody and, she heared, was being tortured. She told Helsinki
Watch: 

          A friend and I went to Sisak to find my brother, Josip. When we
          arrived at the Sisak police station, we were told that my
          brother was indeed at the police station being questioned. In
          fact, I caught a glimpse of him sitting next to the computer.
          We asked his interrogator if we could speak to him but were
          refused. Rather, we were told that he was being kept at the
          police station and that he was alive and well. We asked where
          he would be going and were told that he was being taken to
          investigatory court. We went to the court and waited for him to
          arrive. At 2:40 p.m. a police truck pulled up and my brother
          emerged. He was black and blue and his head was swollen. I
          staned yelling and screaming. A secretary from the court, who was
          waiting for them at the stairs of the courthouse, was also
          crying. She said that many innoccent people had been beaten this
          way. My brother said nothing to me; he was limping and walking
          slowly toward the courthouse. 
                    
          On December 1, Josip spoke to his lawyer and on December 5, his
family was allowed to visit him. As of February 11, Josip K. has not been
charged. He is currently being held in investigatory detention at the
Sisak district court.

Helsinki Watch also documcnted the abuse of Djordje Rkman who was
physically abused by 


                                 - 9 -


the Croatian Army. Rkman -19 was in charge of weapons
inventory at the local territorial defense unit -20 for 15 years. He lived in
the village of Sodolovci with his parents, wife and two children. While on
vacation on July 7, at approximately 10:00 a.m., he was tending to chores in
the fields when he heard fighting at the entrance to the village. He ran to
the closest house - 300 meters away - for shelter. There were eight people
inside the house, two grandmothers, one young woman, a boy, and four men.
When they saw that the Croatian National Guard was shooting at the house,
they ran upstairs for shelter. There had been some men hiding in the attic
of this house with a machine gun who fled through the roof when the
National Guard opened fire, he said, but he did not see them. The machine
gun was abandoned in the room next to the civilians' hiding place. 

Fifty to twenty members of the Croatian Army came into the attic, followed
by a second group which beat the men. Rkman described his abuse to
Helsinki Watch: 

          All were in uniforms, all were [Croatian Army] soldiers. I was
          on the floor while they were beating me. I heard verbal
          harassment and threats. "Kill them now," one was saying. They
          put a gun to my forehead and were yelling "Cetnik" at me. We
          were beaten for half an hour. We were then brought downstairs
          and they made us go out in the yard, where they made us lie down
          on our stomachs, hands on our heads. About 20 to 30 members of
          the Croatian Army randomly hit and kicked whoever they wanted.
          The women were not hit. I have not been to the doctor. It is
          hard for me to breathe. My lip and my head were cut and I cannot
          open my mouth very much.

          His upper right lip had a white scar on it
      
          We were then made to walk one to two kilometers with our hands
          behind our heads to their cars, where they beat us again. 

          They were handcuffed and taken to Djakovo, where the women were
          released.  In Djakovo, they were individually interrogated.

          When they saw I was beaten up, they took me to the hospital.
          While they were taking me down the hall in the police station,
          some of the police were yelling "Cetnik" at me, kicking me in
          the sides as I went down the steps. I was also kicked in the
          courtyard of the hospital. But it was in the house where they
          broke my lip and my head. My left temple still hurts, as well
          as my ribs and back
                    
    At the first aid station [in the hospital] they gave me two injections and
stitched my face. I got two stitches on my mouth, two on my head, and two
on my left cheek.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

     19 Rkman was interviewed in private in the Osijek jail on July 30, 1991.
     We requested to speak with him by name and tbe prison authorities complied.
       
     20 During Yugoslavia's communst era, territorial defense units consisted
     of a loeal reserve militia and armaments stored at the local level.

                               - 10 -


                       Arbitrary Arrests and Disappearances

    In recent months, Serbian civilians have been arrested by Croatian
authorities or abducted by individual Croatian extremists and their
whereabouts remain unknown. Some have been missing for more than four
months. Many arrests or abductions have been arbitrary: the criteria for
arrest appear to be Serbian ethnicity; suspected or actual membership in
the Serbian Democratic Party (Srpska Demokratska Stranka-SDS); current or
prior membership in the Yugoslav People's Army -21 (Jugoslavenska Narodna
Armija-JNA); or familial ties to a member of the JNA. Arbitrary arrests
and the subsequent disappearances of Serbs usually take place in areas
which are under heavy and prolonged attack by Serbian forces or the
Yugoslav military. The abduction of Serbs appears to be particularly
serious in the municipalities of Gospic and Sisak. Helsinki Watch has also
received reports that Serbs are being abduned from Zagreb, Zadar and
Daruvar. Helsinki Watch is deeply concerned both by the cases of
disappeared persons and the growing frequency with which persons are
vanishing in Croatia.

      
     Helsinki Watch has documented the following reports of missing persons
from Gospic and Sisak: 

      On August 26, 1991, three uniformed men entered the apartment of
      the Rajsic family in Sisak; and arrested Dragan Rajsic, a retiree.
      A warrant for his arrest was not presented. The three men the family
      believes they were members of the Croatian Army -22 - returned to the
      family home later in the evening and asked Ms. Rajcic for her
      husband's weapons. Ms. Rajcic handed over a hunting rifle and two
      handguns, for which Mr. Rajsic reportedly had a license. They also
      asked for the gun's ammunition but Ms. Rajsic did not know where it
      was kept. The three men left and came back in ten minutes and found
      the ammunition and license, presumably after they were told by Mr.
      Rajsic where they were kept. Ms. Rajsic did not receive a receipt
      indicating that the weapons had been confiscated.
            
      The same evening, Mr. Rajsic's son, Dragoljub, inquired at the local
      police sution, the Croatian Army headquarters, the Sisak district
      jail and the Sisak district court about his father's whereabouts and
      the reasons for his arrest - this information was not disclosed to
      Rajsic. As of February 7, Dragan Rajsic remains missing.
            
      At approximately 8:00 a.m. on November 23, 1991, Vasilje Kovac,
      a 65-year old colonel in the Yugoslav army, was taken by four men
      dressed in camouflage uniforms in Siroka Kula (municipality of
      Gospic). His whereabouts remains unknown to his family or lawyer. -23
            
      In recent months, exchanges of prisoners held by Croatian or Serbian
      forces and the 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

     21 Officers of the JNA who have switched sides in the conflict to
     assist or fight with Croatian forces have not been harassed. However,
     those members of tbe JNA who refuse to condemn thc JNA's actions or
     support Croatian forces in the current war are frequently harassed.
       
     22 Helsinki Watch spoke to the family's lawyer, Vladimir Ivkovic,
     in Zagreb on January 2, 1992.
       
     23 Ibid.

                                 - 11 -

    Yugoslav Army have taken place. According to international humanitarian
and refugee organizations, it is estimated that Serbian forces currently
hold eight times more prisoners including civilians - than Croatian
authorities. Helsinki Watch is concerned that Croatian authorities may
abduct Serbian civilians and use them as prisoners for the purpose of
exchange. Such action amounts to hostage-taking and is strictly forbidden
under international humanitarian law. -24 Helsinki Watch urges the Croatian
authorities to refrain from abducting Serbian civilians for the purpose
of exchange. 


                Destruction of Civilian Property and Robbery
      
      In Croatia, the destruction of civilian property has been used to
frighten and intimidate people and to drive them from their places of
residence. In the town of Vrpolje (municipality of Sibenik), Helsinki Watch
representatives -25 examined the remains of three apartment buildings that were
completely demolished by explosives. Grafiti and derogatory remarks demanding
that all Serbs, Muslims, Albanians and Gypsies leave the area were scrawled
on the walls.

    Moreover, explosions have become commonplace in Croatia and, in most
cases, property is destroyed for revenge. For example, if a Serb destroys
a Croatian house one evening, a Croat will destroy a Serbian house the
next evening and vice-versa. In May 1991, after Franko Lisica, a Croatian
police officer from the village of Bibinje (municipality of Zadar), was
killed, the Croatian villagers came to the nearby city of Zadar and, in
a riot, destroyed places of business owned by Serbs and Serbian and
Yugoslav firms, such as the Yugoslav Airline (JAT) offices. -26

    In cases where individual extremists appear to be responsible for
destruction of Serbian property, the Croauan authorities have sent
inspectors to the scene of the damage, but few perpetrators have been
apprehended. The Croatian insurance company has agreed to cover the
losses suffered by the Serbian places of business destroyed in Zadar.
Despite these steps, Helsinki Watch is concerned that not enough is being
done to prevent individual destruction of civilian property. 

    Moreover, property - usually but not exclusively belonging to Serbs - has
been destroyed after the proprietors have fled from regions of armed
conflict and after Croatian troops assumed control. In December, Serbian
paramilitary groups brutally massacred 43 civilians - mostly elderly
Croats - in the villages of Vocin and Hum. -27 After Vocin was reclaimed by
Croatian forces,

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

     24 Hostages are defined as persons who find themselves, willingly
     or unwillingly, in the power of the enemy and who answer with their
     freedom or their life for compliance with the orders of the latter
     and for upholding the security of its armed forces.- See
     International Committee of the Red Cross, Commentary on the Additional
     Protocols of 1977, (Geneva 1987) at 874.
       
     25 Helsinki Watch visited the Dalmatian and Knin regions in April,
     May, August and September 1991. Helsinki Watch Visited Vrpolje in mid-
     August 1991.
     
     26 A Helsinlci Watch representadve Visited Zadar on June 8, 1991.
       
     27 Helsinki Watch investigated and reported the killings in a letter to
     Slobodan Milosevic, President of the Republic of Serbia, and General
     Blagoje Adzic, Acting Minister of Defense and Chief of Staff of the
     Yugoslav People's Army. The letter was delivered to representatives
     of the Yugoslav army and Serbian government on January 23 and 25, 
     respectively, by Helsinki Watch representatives.
     
                                   - 12 -


    individual Croats and members of thc Croatian army destroyed and
confiscated the property of Serbs who had fled from the area. -28 During a
visit to Vocin on January 5, 1992, a Helsinki Watch representative saw
two Croatian civilians loading a truck with belongings from a Serbian
house. The village priest who accompanied the representative reprimanded
the robber and told him to return the stolen articles but was rudely
rebuffed. The priest reported the robbery to members of the Croatian
army, who promised to look into the situation but did not send a patrol
to investigate. Moreover, the priest and a number of people who had
returned to the village told Helsinki Watch that individuals and members
of the Croatian army had set several Serbian homes on fire in revenge for
the December massacre in Vocin. Admittedly, most of the homes that were
burned or otherwise demolished belonged to Croats and had been destroyed
by Serbian paramilitaries during their occupation of the region. However,
Helsinki Watch identified three Serbian houses that had been burned after
the Croats re-claimed the village. 

    Helsinki Watch has received many reports in which individual Croats or
members of the Croatian security forces have destroyed abandoned Serbian
property after a village was re-taken by Croatian forces, particularly in
western Slavonia. In some cases, discipline is not enforced by the
troops' commanders, thereby encouraging pillaging, robbery and
drunkenness among troops and individuals. -29 According to Serbs who have
fled from western Slavonia, -30 Serbian homes and other property have been
damaged in the following .villages of western Slavonia: Ceralije, Macute,
Bokane, Vocin, Komitnik, Hum, Sekulinci, Lisicine (municipalities of
Podravska Slatina); Drenovac (municipality of Slavonska Pozega); Pusina
and Kraskovic (municipalities of Orahovica); Popovci (municipality of
Pakrac); and Suhopolje (municipality of Virovitica). Although the extent
of thc damage is often exaggerated, Helsinki Watch found that Serbian
property has intentionally been destroyed by individual Croats or members
of the Croatian police or army.  -31


                  Killing, Assault and Harassment of Journalists

    Helsinki Watch is concerned about the large number of journalists who have
been killed, wounded, physically assaulted or otherwise attacked while
reporting on the war in Croatia. According to the international Federation
of Jollrnalists (IFJ), Yugoslavia was "the most perilous site

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

     28 Approxirnately 20,000 Serbs fled from parts of western Slavonia
     in late November, when Serbian forces were ordered to withdraw from
     the region by the Yugoslav army. Alost immediately thereafter,
     Croatian forces re-claimed the territory.
       
     29 In addition to western Slavonia, Helsinki Watch representatives
     also saw undisciplined and drunken Croatian soldiers in Dalmatia,
     particularly in Zadar and Split.
       
     30 Displaced Serbs from western Slavonia were interviewed in Belgrade
     on January 28-29, 1992.
       
     31 Helsinki Watch recognizes that darnage to civilian property has
     been innicted during battles between Serbian and Croatian forces in
     western Slavonia, particularly in the municipalities of Okucani, Nov-
     ska, Pakrac and Nova Gradiska. In the cases enumerated in this
     section, Helsinki Watcn refers to damage intentionally inflicted to
     civilian property after a lull in the fighting, not during a battle.
     
                                      - 13 -


for journalists" in 1991. -32 The IFJ reported that some of the Journalists
killed in Yugoslavia were deliberately targeted because of their
professional affiliation. -33
      
     Since July 26, 1991, at least 17 foreign and domestic journalists have
been killed while covering the war in Croatia. Four journalists are
missing and at least 28 have been wounded while covering the war in
Croatia. At least 63 have been attacked and over 38 have been otherwise
harassed (i.e., threatened, property confiscated). -34
      
Deaths

         
       Zoran Amidzic, Bora Petrovic, Dejan Milicevic and Sreten Ilic of
Belgrade Television were killed while covering the war in Croatia under
circumstances in which Croatian forces may have been responsible. The
journalists were killed on October 9, 1991, on the road between
Petrinja and Glina in circumstances that are still unclear. Various
reports maintain that their car hit a land mine while other reports say
that their car was ambushed by Croats using a shoulder-held grenade
launcher.
      
Disappearances

       The whereabouts of four journalists remain unknown. While Sinisa
Clavasevic and Branimir Polovina, a reporter and cameraman for Radio
Vukovar, are presumed to have been captured by Serbian forces, the
whereabouts of Viktor Nogin and Genadi Kurinoj, a reporter and a
cameraman for Soviet Television, remain unknown. The Soviet
journalists left Belgrade for Zagreb, via Osijek, on September 1,
1991, and have not been heard from since. They were driving a dark
blue Opel Omega with diplomatic license plates. They are presumed to
have been killed.

     Helsinki Watch calls upon the Croaiian authorities to invesiigate the
deaths of the four aforementioned Serbian journalists and the
disappcarance of the two Soviet correspondcnts. Insofar as Croatian
forces may have been responsible for their deaths, Helsinki Watch calls
upon the Croatian government to prosecute vigorously those guilty of
such crimes.
      
   
                             Harassment and Discrimination

      A stridenly nationalist election campaign in 1990 gratuitously
inflamed Serbs in Croatia. The Croatian government did little to
alleviate the Serbs' fear of persecution after it assumed power in late
1990. Through bombastic - and in some cases racist - rhetoric, the
government-financed   

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

     32-Rccord Number of Journalists Reported Killed in 1991,-
     Associated Press, January 6, 1992. According to tbc IFJ; of the
     83 journalists killed worldwide in 1991, 21 were killed in
     Yugoslavia alone. More journalists have been killed since the IFJ
     released its report in the December.
         
     33 Ibid.
         
     34 The figures in this section were gathered in Helsinki Watch
     interviews with witnesses and from information provided by the
     International and American PEN Centers, thc Committee to Protect
     Journalists, tbe Foreign Press Bureau in Zagreb and non-Yugoslav
     press and wire reports.
     
                                    - 14 -


media and individual members of the Croatian government perpetuated
nationalist hysteria in Croatia. Coupled with similar action by the
Serbian government and media, violence between individual Serbs and Croats
in Croatia is escalating not only on the battlefield, but also in areas
which are not in imminent danger of attack. Indeed, the increase in
individual harassment of, and discrimination against, Serbian civilians
in Croatia is alarming. 

Harassment

    Critics of the Croatian government - both Croats and Serbs - have been
harassed both by individual extremists and government officials. Members
of the Serbian Democratic Forum (SDF) -35, the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS)
and members of the Yugoslav army are especially targeted for such
harassment. Helsinki Watch recognizes that many, though not all, SDS
members are actively engaged in fighting against Croatian forces in
Croatia. Insofar as such persons are active participants in the armed
conflict, their arrests are permissible under international law.-36

    The Yugoslav army, navy and air force have suffered from mass desertions
since the war began in Croatia. Many former JNA officials who are of
Croatian origin have switched sides in the conflict and are actively
engaged in the war effort against Serbian forces. Members of the Yugoslav
armed forces who have deserted or switched sides are not harassed. Rather,
those Yugoslav military officials who have not publicly sided  with the
Croats but continue to reside in Croatia (usually retired JNA officers),
are frequently harassed and, in some cases, have disappeared. -37

    In some cases, a newspaper or magazine (most frequently Slobodni Tjednik)
accuses various Serbs of being spies for the insurgents or members of the
Yugoslav Army's counter-intelligence service (Kontra-obavjestajna sluzba-
KOS). -38 Individual Croat read the column and harass the named Serbs.
Frequently, the named Serbs receive threatening telephone calls; some have
been physically accosted by individual extremists. 

    In cases where victimized Serbs have reported physical harassment to the
police, the authorities have responded in a variety of ways. In Zagreb and
at the republican level, Croatian authorities have investigated such
cases. However, few people are arrested or prosecuted for such offense.
On the local level, particularly in areas where Croatian forces are
engaged in battle with Serbian forces and the Yugoslav arrny, harassment
of local Serbs is rarely investigated by the local authorities. In some
cases, local Croatian police and military agents are reportedly guilty of
such harassment themselves.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

     35 The Serbian Democratic Forum SDF) was registered as an official
     organization--it is not a political party -- with the Croatian
     authorities in the December. SDF officials told Helsinki watch that
     they experienced no difficulties in registering the organization.
      
     36 Under the rules of war, those actively participating in
     hostilities lose their civilian status and become combatants during
     the period of their combat participation, which includes defensive as
     well as offcnsive action.
      
      
     37 See the case of Vasilie Kovac above.
      
     38 See Slobodni Tjednik, Number 66, Zagreb.
     
                                - 15 -

     Moreover. the Croatian police have summoned Serbs to local police
stations for questioning, commonly referred to as "informative
discussions" (informativni razgovori). Svetozar Livada, a retired
sociology professor and member of the Serbian Democratic Forum (SDF),
was interrogated bgy the police twice at Zagreb's police
headquarters. Although Livada reported no mistreatment -39, the grounds
for his interrogation appear to be unfounded. According to Livada,
he received a written request to come to police headquarters at
Djordjiceva 19 at 9:00 a.m. on December 6, 1991. He was questioned
about his research work regarding Archbishop Alojzije Stepinac and
asked about his opinion of Croatia's newly promulgated law regarding
ethnic minorities in Croatia. -40 The police also asked Livada about
the origin of the Serbian Democratic Forum's financial support. On
December 13 at 8:00 a.m., Livada received a telephone call asking
him to come to the police station at 10:00 a.m. for another
informative conversation, where he was questioned further about the
same subject.

     Helsinki Watch believes that the questioning of Livada is without
basis. Further, Helsinki Watch believes that such questioning is
being used by Croatian authorities to intimidate members of the
Serbian Democratic Forum, a legally registered organization which is
not engaged in the armed conflict and seeks to represent the rights
of law-abiding Serbian citizens in Croatia. Insofar as Croatian
authorities are to question individuals, sufficient grounds must
exist for such questioning. An individual's ethnic or political
affilliations are not reasonable grounds for interrogation or arrest.

     Helsinki Watch does not dispute the Croatian government's right
to provide for its territorial defense and to take appropriate
measures for such defense where necessary. However, Helsinki
Watch is gravely concerned that the civil and political rights of
various Serbs and Croats who hold minority views are being violated both
by individual extremists and by government representatives in the name
of national defense. Despite the fact that forces attacking Croatia are
overwhelmingly Scrbian, this in no way gives Croatian government offlcials
or individuals the right to harass, attack or discriminate against Serbian
civilians who are law-abiding citizens of Croatia. Helsinki Watch is
concerned that such intimidation is forcing Serbs to flee from Croatia
either to Serbian-occupied territory in Croatia and Bosnia or to Serbia
proper. According to a Serbian lawyer in Zagreb -41, half of Zagreb's Serbs
have fled because of harassment, or fear of harassment, by individual
extremists. Helsinki Watch believes that the Croatian government has not
done enough to ameliorate the tension between Serbs and Croats in Croatia
in areas which are not occupied by Serbian forces. In some instances, local
government officials have reportedly condoned, encouraged or perpetrated
acts of violence or harassment against Serbian civilians. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

     39 Interviewed by Helsinki Watch in Zagreb on December 31, l991.
              
     40 On December 4, 1991, the Croatian Parliament adopted a law
     which guarantees the human and cultural rights of ethnic and
     national group or minorities in Croatia. (See Ustavni Zakon o
     ljudskim pravima i slobodama i o pravima etnickih i nacionalnih
     zajednica ili manjina u Republici Hrvatskoj Narodne Novine Republike
     Hrvatske, Broj. 65, 4. prosinca. 1991.)
           
     41 Interviewed by Helsinki Watch in Zagreb on January 2,
     1992.

                              - 16 -


Arbitrary Searches and Seizures

    Croatian forces are responsible for the arbitrary search of homes and
seizures of property, usually firearms for which the owner retains a
license. Such searches often are conducted without warrants. In areas
under siege, Croatian forces frequently search Serbian homes, purportedly
for large caches of weapons. In some cases, the fact that a house is owned
by a Serb appears to be sufficient cause to search the premises or an
entire Serbian village. According to a 19-year-old woman from the
predominantly Serbian village of Gornji (Upper) Gucani (population 92,
municipality of Slavonska Pozega) -42

          In early October, at about 4:00 p.m., armed villagers from the
          neighboring Croatian towns of Busnovi and Donji [Lower] Gucani
          blocked all the exits from Gornji Gucani, a predominantly
          Serbian village in which I lived. I was in my house at the time
          with my mother, grandmother and brother, my father was at work
          in Slavonska Pozega at the time. About ten members of the
          Croatian Army walked from house to house searching every home
          in the village. Five soldiers came to my house and asked to
          search the premises. We asked them if they had a warrant and one
          of them replied, "We have too much work to do, we don't have
          time for those details." The five soldiers searched our house
          from top to bottom. They told us to hand over two guns which
          they thought we had in the house. My mother told them that we
          didn't have any weapons and after they searched the house again,
          they left peacefully. I knew the five soldiers, they were from
          the Slavonska Pozega area.
                    
      
    Helsinki Watch does not dispute the Croatian government's right to take
precautions against attack. While the authorities have the right to search
a person's home, the reasons for such a search, and evidence to support
the claim, must be presented to appropriate authorities, who must then
issue a warrant, especially if the area to be searched is not under
attack. The fact that a home belongs to a Serb does not constitute
sufficient rcason for a search of the premises. Moreover, searching an
entire Serbian village is both arbitrary and discriminatory. 

Discrimination in the Workplace

      Because of the economic crisis, many workers of different nationalities
have lost their jobs in recent months, while others have not been paid or
have received their pay months late. Because of war damage or insolvency,
closures and layoffs are becoming commonplace throughout Croatia. However,
many claim that they have lost their jobs for ethnic, as opposed to
economic, reasons. 

      Helsinki Watch has received reports of discrimination in the work place
in Croatia. Much of the discrimination does not appear to be government-
sponsored, but privately organized. For example, individual Croats,
particularly in the coastal cities of Split and Sibenik, have authored and
organized the signing of "loyalty oaths" to the Croatian government. The
loyalty oaths are usually written by Croatian workers and presented either
to all employees or only to Serbian workers for signatures. Those who
refuse to sign - mostly Serbs - are threatened with dismissal or are, in
fact, fired from their jobs. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

     42 Interviewed by Helsinki Watch in Belgrade on January 21, 1992.

                                - 17 -

    The "loyalty oath" campaign originated with Croats who claimed that
Serbian colleagues who worked with them were the same individuals who
fought on the side of the Serbian insurgents, particularly in Knin. They
accused their Serbian colleagues of manning barricades and shooting at
Croats in the evening and then coming to work the next day with the same
Croats at whom they shot the night before.
    
    The Croatian Ministry of Labor and Social  Welfare has documented cases
of loyalty oath signature campaigns in ten enterprises throughout
Croatia, including the TEF (Tvornica elektroda i ferolegura) and TLM
(Tvornica lakih metala) plants in Sibenik, the ship-building factory in
Split and the Slavija enterprise in Zagreb. Helsinki Watch has also
received reports of such campaigns in the Zadranka firm in Zadar and at
the Jadrantours enterprise in Split.

    The Croatian government and the Croatian Parliamentary Committee for the
Protection of Human Rights have condemned the signing of loyalty oaths
and have required the reinstatement of those who have lost their jobs
because they refused to sign such oaths. The practice of loyalty oaths
appears to have been particularly abused in the spring and summer of
1991, but has greatly diminished since then. Helsinki Watch has not
received any recent reports of loyalty oath campaigns organized by
Croats.
    
    Helsinki Watch welcomes the condemnation of loyalty oaths by the
Croatian government. We also urge the authorities to take disciplinary
actions against those who have required the signing
of loyalty oaths and to take steps at the republican and local levels
to prevent similar campaigns the future. Dismissing a worker because of
his or her failure to sign a loyalty oath to a government violates the
right to freedom of expression. Moreover, using loyalty oaths to weed out
Serbs is discriminatory. lf individuals are engaged in illegal activity,
the authorities should conduct an investigation into the illegal offense,
rather than dismiss an individual because he or she is of Serbian
ethnicity or is suspected of supporting the Serbian insurgents. 

Discrimination in the Police Force

      Helsinki Watch is concerned that ethnic criteria are applied by
the Croatian Ministry of the Interior to hire and dismiss Serbian police
officers. During the communist era, the vast majority of the police
officers in Croatia were Serbian. According to the Croatian Ministry of
the interior, Serbs accounted for approximately 75 percent of the
Croatian police force despite the fact that they comprised only 11.5
percent of the republic's population.  Since the new Croatian government
has taken power, the police forces have been greatly enlarged
and the ratio between police officers of Serbian and Croatian origin
has been reversed; Serbs constitute approximately 28 percent.

    The Croatian Ministry of the Interior contends that the numbers have
not been reversed because Serbs were fired from their jobs but because
more Croats were recruited. Slavko Degoricija and Milan Brezak, former
and current Deputy Interior Ministers, told Helsinki Watch that no one
has been fired from police jobs simply because of nationality. They
contend that three factors have influenced the reversal in the
composition of the police. First, after the new Croatian government
decided to change the insignia on the police uniform from a communist
red star to the traditional Croatian coat of arms, many Serbs quit
claiming that they would not wear the new insignia because they equated
the coat of arms with the fascist Croatian regime during World War II.
Second, some Serbs quit the Croatian police force to fight on the side
of the Serbian insurgents in Croatia. Third, when the Croatian police
force was being augmented, according to Brezalc and Degoricija, an effort


                                   - 18 -

was made to rectify the disproportionate representation in the police
forces by establishing "national parity and equal representation" in the
police force. 

Indeed, in the past nineteen months, both the active and reserve units
of the Croatian police force have been greatly enlarged. The Croatian
government justifies the increase in their security forces by pointing to
the Serbian insurgency, the Serbian bias of the JNA and the JNA's
dismantling of Croatia's territorial defense units.-43

Although Helsinki Watch doees not dispute the Croatian government's right
to increase and strengthen its police force, it is concerned that Serbs
are being excluded and dismissed because of their nationality. Helsinki
Watch interviewed several insurgents who admitted that they had quit their
jobs with the Croatian police to join the Serbian insurgency. However, it
is difficult to believe the Ministry of the Interior's assertion that of
the 11,000 Serbs who worked for the Croatian police during the communist
regime, 6,000 left of their own accord. 

Helsinki Watch has documented one such case in which disciplinary action
was taken against twelve Serbian police officers in Zadar because they
walked out of a meeting led by deputy police chief, Perica Juric. According
to official documents from the Zadar police station and disciplinary
committee, Juric gave a speech at a meeting of police offlcers in Zadar
on October 30, in which he stated that a number of police officers would
have to be dismissed because of a surplus of labor. During the meeting,
Juric reportedly insulted a number of police officers and made comments
that were considered arrogant, prejudiced and unprofessional by
approximately fifty workers, all of whom walked out of the meeting. Of
those who walked out -- reportedly both Croats and Serbs --disciplinary
action appears to have been taken only against the twelve Serbian police
officers because they "created dissatisfaction and disquiet among other
workers" after they walked out of an "official meeting which they were 
obliged to attend as employees of the police force."-45 Charges 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

    -43 Helsinki Watch is aware that early in 1990, the Yugoslav
 People's Army (JNA) confiscated most of the weapons that were part of
 Croatia's temtonal defense (teritonialna obrana - TO), a local defense
 force separate from the federal army. When the new Croatian government
 came to power, and after the TO's weapons had been confiscated, both
 active and reserve police units in Croatia were strengthened.
 
   -44 See Republika Hrvatska, Minisurstvo Unutarnjih Poslova, Sekretarijat
 za Unutarnje Poslove Zadar, Broj 511-17-01-9649/1-1990, Zadar,
 08.studenog.1990 and Broj DS-01-30/20-1990, Zadar, 20.11.1990. See
 also Republika Hrvatska, Ministarstvo Unutarnjih Poslova, Policijsh
 Uprava Zadar, Broj. DS-01-30/19-1990, Zadar, 26.12.1990; Broj DS-01-
 30/20-1990, Zadar, 4.1.1991; and Broj DS-01-300/22-1990, Zadar,
 17.1.1991. See also "Zapisnik," Broj DS-01-30/19-1990, 18.12.1990,
 zavrsen u 17,10, i 24.12,1990, zavrsen u 15,20 ati.
 
    -45 The Secreuriat for Interior affairs of Zadar brought charges
 against the twelve police officers who were accused of violating
 Article 84(1), points 3, 10 and 13, of the Law of Interior affairs
 (i.e., "Zakon o unutrasnjim poslovima," Narodne Novine Socijalisticke
 Republike Jugoslavije, Broj 55, 26. prosinca 1989, as adopted, amended 
 and revised in
 "Zakon o izmjenama Zakona o unutrasnjim poslovima, narodne Novine
 Republike Hrvatske, Broj 47, 14. studenoga 1990). The charges were
 considered and decisions were set forth by a disciplinary committee
 (ie., disciplinski sud za radnike Radne zajednice Policijske uprave
 Zadar i Policijskih stanica Biograd na moru, Benkovac, Obrovac i
 Pag). The committee's decisions are set forth in three
 separate judgements (i.e., presude): Republika Hrvatska,
 Ministarstvo Unutarnjih Poslova, Policijsh Uprava Zadar, Broj. DS-01-
 30/19.1990, Zadar, 26.12.1990; Broj DS-01-30/20-1990, Zadar, 4.1.1991;
 and Broj DS-01-30/22-1990, Zadar, 17.1.1991. Charges against Mirko
 Kalanj were dismissed for lack of sufficient evidence. The following
 police officers were fined: Jovo Vujasinovic, Borivoj Mucalj, Nilcica
 Subotic, Sasa Bubalo, Zeljko Babic, Slaven Raskovic, Milan Gajica,
 Slobodan Grbic and Nevenko Tintor. (All the aforementioned men,
 except Gajica and vujasinovic, had 15 percent of their pay withheld
 for a period of three months. Gajica and Vujasinovic each had 15
 percent of their pay withheld for four and six months, respectively.)
 Damur Basta and Miroslav Macura were dismissed from their jobs.      

                                    - 19 -

were subsequently dropped against one police officer and nine were fined.
Two police officers were fired because they had spoken to the press -46
"about the official business of the police station without permission,"
i.e., the meeting in question. One of the two who was fired was accused
of having used restricted firearms without the knowledge or permission of
his superiors. -47 

       
While Helsinki Watch does not dispute the right of the police to maintain
order within its ranks, we are concerned that actions against the twelve
Serbian police officers was used to harass and intimidate the men.
Helsinki Watch believes that the proceedings and subsequent penalties were
not justified as a means of disciplining officers; instead, they
interfered with their freedom of expression. Moreover, disciplinary action
appears to have been taken only against the Serbs and not against the
Croats who walked out of the meeting, thus discriminating against workers
on the basis of nationality. 


                        Failure to Prosecute a Killing

       
On July 1, the Chief of Police of Osijek, Josip Reihl Kir (a Croat), and
two elected officials (one Serb and one Croat) were killed. One other
Serbian official was reportedly wounded by a Croatian reserve police
officer. -48 This officer, Antun Gudelj, was known to be a Croatian
extremist. He reportedly shot at the officials car from behind a police
barricade in Tenja. Although many reserve and regular police officers were
at the scene, no one detained the killer, who is still at large. The
victims, seen as moderates, were trying to negotiate a peaceful settlement
to the violent Tenja disputes.-49 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
    -46 The comment was made at a press conference in Knin on November
    1, 1990, (as reported in "neka se sazna prava istina," Slobodna Dalmacija, 
    November 2,1990)  and on the daily news program of Croatian Television 
    on November 18,1990.
 
    -47 As a member of the special forces of the Croatian police,
    Miroslav Macura was licensed to carry and operate a Hekler automatic
    weapon while on duty and only with the permission of his commander.
    When Macura went off duty, he took the weapon home with him and
    fired three bullets in the village of Crno without the knowledge or
    permission of his superiors. (See Republika Hrvatska, Ministarstvo
    Unutarnjih Poslova, Policijska Uprava Zadar, Broj DS-01-30/22-1990,
    Zadar, 17.1.1991.)
 
     -48 Those killed with the Chief of Police were Goran Zopundzija (a
    Croat), vice-president of the executive branch of Osijek's
    government, and Milan Knezevic (a Serb), president of Tenja's town
    council and member of Osijek's district council. Wounded at the same
    time was Mirko Tubic (a Serb), a member of Tenja's town council.
 
    -49 The town of Tenja (population 7,664, a municiplity of Osijek), is
    dividedd into the old and new sectioons. Old Tenja is predominantly
    Serbian while new Tenja is comprued of both Serbs and Croats. On July 7,
    1991, seven people were killed in a gun battle between Serbs and Crots.
    (See Marcus Kable, "Five Die in Serb, Croat Battle; EC sceks to Avert 
    Yugoslav War," Reuters Information Service, July 7,1991, and Stephen 
    Engelberg,
    "Five Die as Croats and Serbs Trade Fire," The New York Times, July
    8,1991.) Sporadic violence had erupted in late June between Tenja's
    Serb and Croats.


                                        - 20 -

            Osijek mayor Zlatko Kramaric told Helsinki Watch -50:
      
          The Serbs asked for a meeting with Kir, but Kir did not use
          his political acumen when he agreed to talk to the Serbs in
          Tenja [on July 11]. The Croats there, who are pretly radical,
          would view that as aiding the Serbs.
          
          The man who shot Kir, Antun Gudelj, had just had his house
          burned and his father captured on that day -51 and he was not
          psychologically stable. One can understand but not exonerate
          his anger.
          
          
      
During Kir's visit, three barricades had been erected in Tenja: one was
manned by the active Croatian police, another by the Croatian reserve
police - most of whom were members of the Croatian Democratic Union
(Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica - HDZ), and a third was controlled by the
Serbian insurgents. Kir and his colleagues passed through these
barricades without difficulty on their way to Tenja. While Kir was at the
insurgents' headquarters, the Serbs told Kir that they had been warned of
an impending attack by the Croatian police. Kir, claiming he had no
knowledge of this, returned to talk to his men. They reportedly told him
that no attack was planned. 

On his way back to deliver the message to the Serbs, as he passed again
through the HDZ-controlled barricade, Kir and two others were shot dead. 

A Croatian reserve police officer -52 told Helsinki Watch: 

          I was there on July 1 when Kir was shot and I saw the bodies. I
          was about 100 meters away on patrol. I did not have a good view
          of the scene but I heard the shooting and ran over. 
                    
          Kir was killed at the entrance to new Tenja. A reserve police
          officer killed them because the driver refused to stop the car.
          Many others were there and saw what happened, including the
          Croatian police. 
                    
      
The investigating magistrates of the district court in Osijek told
Helsinki Watch that a warrant is out for Gudelj's arrest but that he has
not yet been apprehended. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     -50 Kramaric was interviewed in his office on July 29, 1991.
    
     -51 See Helsinki Watch's "Yugoslavia: Human Rights Abuses in the
      Croatian Coflict," September 1991, for an account of the Antun
      Gudelj's father's treatment and torture while held by Serbian
      insurgents.
 
     -52 Interviewed on July 30, 1991, in Osijek.
 
                           - 21 -

       
The Croatian authorities are obligated to investigate, apprehend and
charge those responsible for crimes such as the killing of Kir and the
other two officials. Because they called up and armed reserve police
officers, the Croatian government has a heightened duty to prosecute acts
allegedly committed by these officers -53.
 

               Interference with the Independence of the Judiciary
                   and Politically-Motivated Court Proceedings


The Case of Dobroslav Paraga and Milan Vukovic

       
Dobroslav Paraga, leader of the ultra right-wing Croatian Party of Rights
(Hrvatska Stranka Prava-HSP), has frequently criticized the Croatian
government for its alleged ill-preparedness for, and laxity toward, the
Serbian insurgency in Croatia. Under Paraga's leadership, the Croatian
Party of Rights formed an armed wing called the Croatian Armed Forces
(Hrvatske Oruzane Snage HOS), which engages in military operations against
Serbian forces. Although the Croatian government has forbidden the
formation of such paramilitary units and claims that HOS forces are now
under the command of the Croatian Ministry of Defense, the degree to which
the Croatian government exercises control over HOS forces remains
ambiguous. Likewise, the estimated number of HOS troops varies widely from
between 300 to 2,000. 

In early October, HOS troops took over a building in central Zagreb by
force and placed a cannon in front of the building. Despite public outcry,
no charges were filed against Paraga or his troops at the time and the
Croatian Party of Rights was allowed to establish its headquarters in the
seized building. 

Later that month, Paraga began calling vociferously for the ouster of
President Tudjman. On November 25, criminal charges were filed against
Paraga and his deputy, Milan Vukovic. Both men were charged with inciting
an armed rebellion -55 and illegally obtaining weapons -56 Due to lack of
evidence, charges of organizing an armed rebellion were dropped against
Paraga and 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

    -53 Despite public suspicion, Helsinki Watch found no evidence to
  suggest that the murder of Ante Paradzik, Vice-President of the
  Croatian Party of Rights, had been politically motivated. Paradzik was
  shot at a police checkpoint by a Croatian police officer who had
  seriously wounded an unarmed Yugoslav army officer at a checkpont
  ten days before. It appears the the officer irresponsibly used his
  weapon in both cases and that no political motive existed in either
  instance. Croatian officials failed to take disciplinary measures
  against the police officer after his shooting of the Yugoslavia army
  officer; however, murder charges bave been brought against the police
  officer for the killing of Paradzik. Helsinki Watch urges the Croatian
  authorities to take appropriate measures to ensure the the shooting of
  the Yugoslav army officer not go unpunished.
  
    -54 Although this group operates under the name of the "Croatian
  Armed Forces," it does not represent the legitimate military forces of
  the Croatian government. Hereinafter, Paraga's troops will be
  referred to by their Croatian acronym, HOS.
  
    -55 See Article 236f(1) and (2) of Croatia's Criminal Code.
  
    -56 See Article 209(2), of Croatia's Criminal Code.
  
                               - 22 -
  

Vukovic by a district court on december 4, a decision which was
subsequently confirmed by the Croatian Supreme Court on December 13. The
lesser charges of illegally purchasing weapons remained in force -57
Vukovic was charged and released on November 25, 1991. Paraga was
detained and released on December 4. after the district court rejected the
public prosecutor's [i.e., the government's] contention that Paraga remain
in investigatory detention . The case remains in the investigatory phase. 
      
Helsinki Watch does not dispute the charges brought against Paraga and
Vukovic nor the right of the Croatian government to try both men.
However, Helsinki Watch questions the delay in bringing charges, which
implies that the motivation to bring charges against Paraga was political
rather than legal. Action was taken against Paraga only after he called
for the ouster of President Tudjman's government. Criminal proceedings
appear to have been brought against Paraga because he exercised his right
to free speech and not because he was responsible for the organization,
training and arming of illegal paramilitary groups and forcible breaking
and entering. No action was taken against Paraga in October, when HOS
troops used force to assume control of a building in downtown Zagreb.
Helsinki Watch believes that action should have been taken against Paraga
and HOS forces in October, immediately after HOS forces too forcible
control of the building and placed a cannon in central Zagreb. Likewise,
the Croatian government's attempt to bring HOS paramilitaries under the
control of the Croatian Defense Ministry should have come much carlier. 

The Case of Mile Dedakovic

      
On November 18, 1991, the city of Vukovar fell tO Serbian forces. For much
of the three month siege of Vukovar, Mile Dedakovic (a.k.a. Jastreb) was
commander-in-Chief Of Croatian defense forces in Vukovar. Approximately one
week before Vukovar's fall, Dedakovic was reassigned to the nearby city
of Vinkovci, where he served as commander-in-Chief Of Croatian forces for the
Vukovar and Vinkovci-Zupanja region. After Vukovar fell, two commissions -
- one in Parliament and another in the government -- were formed to
investigate the reasons for the defeat of Croatian forces. 

In late November, Dedakovic was arrested by the Croatian military
police -58 who beat him in custody. Dedakovic was charged with attacking
the constitutional order of the Republic of Croatia -59 by the military
authorities and was subsequently taken to civil court for trial. When 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

      -57 Court documents state that Paraga and Vukovic illegally sought to
  purchase 185,000 DEM (approximately $US 114,000) worth of weapons, including 
  five sniper guns, 100 AK-47's, 10 pistols 27,000 bullets and 36 mines on 
  September 10, 1991, from Stjepan Palijan, president of the district council 
  of Krizevci. The weapons were to be used to arm and equip Paraga's HOS
  forces. (See "Rjesenje,- Poslovni broj, I.KIO-I-3 11/91, Okruzni Sud Zagreb,
  Istrazni Odjel, 2. prosinca 1991; "Rjesenje," Poslovni broj, XXI-II-Kv.-
  691/91/KIO.I-311/91, Okruni Sud Zagreb, Istrazni Odjel, 4. prosinca
  1991; and "Rjesenje" Broj IV-Kz-124/1991, Vrhovni Sud Republike Hrvatske,
  13. prosinca 1991.) 
    
    -58 The Office of Intelligence and Security (Sigurnosno Informativna
  Sluzba-SIS) of c Croatian Ministry of Defense is responsible for the
  military police and gathering of military intelligence. As a member of
  the Croatian armed forces, Dedakovic was subject to military, rather
  then civil, rules of conduct and procedure and therefore was detained
  and questioned by the military police for a longer period of time than
  stipulated under Croatian criminal and civil law. 
  
    -59 Dedakovic u initially charged under Article 236a of the Croatian
  Criminal Code.
  
                                    - 23 -

Dedakovic was taken to Zagreb district court on December 3, the presiding
judge saw that Dedakovic had been severely beaten in detention -60. The
civil authorities demanded to know who was responsible for Dedakovic's
maltreatment and the Croatian authorities have begun an investigation into
the matter. 

The district court dropped charges against Dedakovic for attacking
Croatia's constitutional order due to lack of sufficient evidence.
However, the court charged Dedakovic and two accomplices -61 for abusing
their official positions -62 to embezzle money (approximately $US 1 million)
which was to have been used to buy weapons for Vukovar's defense. 

Dedakovic was taken into custody by civil authorities and placed in civil
detention at the Zagreb district court. On December 24, Zagreb district
court Judge Emir Midzic (47) ruled that sufficient evidence did not exist
for Dedakovic to remain in investigatory detention and he was released
on his own recognizance pending completion of the magistrate's
investigation. On the evening of December 24, Judge Midzic was served with
a draft notice to report immediately for combat duty. He was sent to the
battlefield near Letovanovic. He was released from military service
approximately three weeks later and is currently attending to his judicial
duties. 

Helsinki Watch calls upon he Croatian government to ensure that those
responsible for Dedakovic's mistreatment are punished. Moreover, Helsinki
Watch is gravely concerned that Croatian government authorities ordered
the mobilization of Judge Letovanovic because said authorities disapproved
of Dedakovic's release. Colleagues of Judge Midzic claim that he had
received threatening telephone calls from Croatian government officials who
were upset that charges against Dedakovic had been reduced -63. Helsinki
Watch believes that the mobilization of Judge Midzic may have been
politically motivated. Such an action grossly interferes with the
independence of the judicial system and shows an utter disrespect for the
rule of law. 

                       Restrictions on Freedom of the Press

       
The war has had a devastating effect on freedom of the press and, to a
lesser extent, freedom of expression in Croatia. Harassment of, and
economic pressure against independent-minded journalists and publications
is also a problem. 

On October 0, 1991, President Tudjman signed a presidential decree on
the distribution of information in the event of state of war, or an
immediate danger to the independence and 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    -60 The court's medical examiner confirmed that Dedakovic
  was maltreated.
     
    -61 Dedakovic, Ljiljana Toth and Nikola Toth, the latter the commander of
  the Fourth Battalion of the Croatian National Guard and member of the
  Vukovar Defense Command from August 29 to November 1, were charged and 
  arrested for the same offense.
     
    -62 Dedakovic was charged under Article 222 of the Croatian Criminal Code.
         
    -63 Helsinki Watch spoke to colleagues of Judge Midzic in early January
  1992, who asked that their names be kept confidential because they
  feared dismissal from their job for disclosing such information. 
    
                                - 24 -

unity of the Republic of Croatia. The Croatian Parliament adopted the
decree on November 2, 1991. The decree establishes rules of conduct for
the foreign and domestic press covering the war in Croatia. The decree
does not call for the censorship of all news, only information related to
defense matters during times of war. Nevertheless, Helsinki Watch believes
that such a decree seriously violates freedom of the press. 
      
The decree calls for the formation of a committee (the Information
Headquarters of the Republic of Croatia) which would coordinate and
supervise press activities. The committee consists of the Minister of
Information, media experts appointed by the Minister of Information and
other government-appointed officials -65. The decree places Croatian
Television and Radio under the direct control of the Croatian Government -66
and designates certain newspapers to be "war dailies" which would also be
subordinated to government control -67. The decree demands that all media
comply with instructions issued by the republic's Information
Headquarters, local administrative bodies and respective regional defense
centers -68. Thus, in effect, the decree establishes censorship panels at
both the republican and local level. 

The decree places severe restrictions on journalists reporting on the war.
Permits must be issued by respective regional defense centers before a
journalist can report news from the battlefield -69 and any information
regarding Croatian security forces or defense-related news must be
approved by a body of the Croatian Armed Forces -70. Reporting military
secrets, calls for the forcible overthrow of the government, and
information considered harmful to the defense of Croatia is prohibited.
If a publication violates the above regulations, government authorities are
empowered to seize all copies of the publication; such action cannot be
appealed -71. Moreover, foreign 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     -64 "Uredba o Inormativnoj Djelatnosti za Vrijeme Ratnoga Stanja ili u
   Slucaju Neposredne Ugrozenosti Neovisnosti Jedinstvenosti Republike Hrvatske,"
   Register No.57, Number 1134/91, Zagreb, October 0, 1991. 
    
     -65 Ibid., Article 3.
    
     -66 Ibid., Articles 4 to 6.
     
     -67 Ibid., Article 7.
     
     -68 Ibid., Article 8.
     
     -69 Ibid., Article 10.
     
     -70 Ibid., article 11. The Fund for Free Expression, a sister
  organization of Helsinki Watch, has criticized press and speech
  restrictions imposed by the United States military during the U.S.
  campaign in the Persian Gulf in early 1991. The restrictions imposed
  by the U.S. government during Operation Desert Storm were also
  criticized by the U.S. press community and a host of other civil
  rights organizations. (See The Fund for Free Expression, "Freedom of
  Expression and the War: Press ant Speech Restrictions in the Gulf and
  F.B.I. Activity in the U.S. Raise First Amendment Issues,- January 28, 
  1991.)
  
     -71 Ibid., Article 13.

                                    - 25 -

journalists may be held liable for violating the censorship rules and
foreign radio and television programs can only be broadcast with the
permission of the Croatian Ministry of Information. -72 

       
Journalists may be sentenced to a maximum of five years of imprisonment
for reporting military information without the permission of the Croatian
Armed Forces. Continued publication after banning by the Ministry of
Information is punishable by a prison term of up to five years;
distribution of a banned publication is punishable by a prison term of
up to three years in prison. 
  
The refusal by an editor-in-chief to broadcast or publish a government
communique punishable by a prison term of up to one year, as is the
unapproved broadcast of foreign media -73
       
An issue of Slobodni Tjednik -74 was recently banned by the Croatian
government, because it transcribed a telephone Conversation between
President Tudjman and Mile Dedakovic, former commander of Croatian forces
in the besieged city of Vukovar According to Slobodni Tjednik's
transcription of the conversation, delivery of weapons for the defense of
the besieged city was promised. The article implies that, although military
aid was promised, such aid never arrived. 

Despite the adoption of the presidential decree by the parliament, the
Croatian government has made no case for the imposition of press
restrictions. The Croatian government has failed to prove that the press
has in anyway obstructed military operations or endangered national
security. The promulgation of the decree is a step backward, rather than
a step toward the development of democracy in Croatia. Helsinki Watch is
concerned that such restrictions may have been imposed to minimize
coverage of civilian and combatant injuries and deaths and material damage
inflicted not only by Croatian security forces, but also by the Serbian
insurgents and the Yugoslav army, whose victories might reflect poorly
on the Croatian government's ability to provide for its peoples' defense,
thus weakening the current government. Helsinki Watch does not dispute the
right of the Croatian government to provide for its territorial defense.
However, Helsinki Watch believes that the rights to freedom of speech,
expression and the press should not be subordinated for military purposes.

Helsinki Watch is also concerned about actions taken by the Croatian
authorities against Glas Slavonije (Voice of Slavonia), an Osijek-based
newspaper. In the past, Glas Slavonije was independent and not directly
controlled the government On July , 1991, the paper was placed under
the control of the government, precipitating the resignation of the
editor-in-chief, Drago Hedl, and the managing director, Vladimir Kokeza.
The next day, the commander of Croatian forces in Slavonia, Branimir
Glavas, entered the paper's offices with ten heavily armed members of the
Croatian Army. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

     -72 Ibid., Articles 15 and 16. 
          
     -73 Ibid., Articles 17-21. 
          
     -74 Slobodni Tjednik, Number 94, Zagreb January 8, 1992.
         Helsinki Watch retains a copy of this issue.
     
     -75 For a description of Dedakovic's case, see above section on
  ineference with the independence of the judiciary and politically
  motivated court proceedings. 
    
                                 - 26 -

Glavas ordered all those present to leave -76. Shortly thereafter, Glavas
- a military official - and other government-appointed members of the paper's
executive board installed new management at Glas Slavonije -77. Helsinki
Watch deplores the methods used by government forces to assert control
over Glas Slavonije, particularly the armed intervention at the
newspaper's offices. The current war in Croatia in no way gives local
military or political authorities the right to use force to interfere with
freedom of the press. 
      
Helsinki Watch is concerned that the Croatian government both at the
republican and local levels - is trying to silence critical or independent
publications through intimidation and economic pressure. A journalist for
the Split-based daily newspaper, Slobodna Dalmacija -78 expressed his
concern to Helsinki Watch that the newspaper was being pressured to enter
the government's fold or go out of business.

          In the summer of 1990, Slobodna Dalmacija restructured itself as
          a share-holding company and all government assistance and
          involvement ceased after it became a private enterprise. Our
          circulation is high and we're a profitable firm. Whereas many
          other Croatian dailies provide access to government or right-
          leaning opposition groups, Slobodna Dalmacija prints columns and
          articles by, and interviews with, left-of center opposition
          figures. The government and right-wing opposition groups do not
          appreciate our editorial policy. We consider ourselves objective
          and they view us as Bolshevik. The government still considers
          Slobodna Dalmacija a public enterprise, despite the fact that we
          became a private company months ago. They are trying to co-opt
          the private and independent press and put it under the
          government's wing. 
                    
Local and republican government officials, some of whom belong to the
conservative wing of the Croatian Democratic Union (Hrvatska Demokratska
Zajednica--HDZ) have tried to discredit the paper with the public -79. In
May 1991, Marko Bitanga, a local HDZ leader, expressed his desire to
become director of Slobodna Dalmacija. However, his bid was roundly
defeated by a unanimous vote of the paper's journalists -80. Thereafter,
Bitanga attacked the daily in HDZ's party publication -81. Slobodna
Dalmacija responded with a series of articles in late May -82. On 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

   -76 See Committee to Aid Democratic Dissidents in Yugoslavia,
 CADDY Bulletin, No. 66, August 1991, p. 9, and "Krici i saputanja iz Glasa
 Slavonije." Slobodna Dalmacija, August 1,1991, p. 11. 
  
   -77 Ibid.

   -78 Interviewed on June 8, 1991, in Split.

   -79 For example, see the following articles in Slobodna Dalmacija for the
 position of Marin Mihanovic, vice president of the district council of
 Split "Kako prilagoditi glavne urednike," October 1, 1990 (which reprints
 an interview with Mihanovic in Nedjeljna Dalmacija); and "Neprijateljske
 Novine," October 12, 1990. For a rebuttal of Mihanovic's statements, see
 the following articles by Viktor Ivancic in Slobodna Dalmacija: "Gospodo
 Novinasi Novinari Okanite se  Iluzija!" October 1990; "Ventilatori nisu
 vjecni," September 25,1991, and "Politicki barbarizam," October, 1990.

   -80 Committee to Aid Democratic Dissidents in Yugoslavia,
 CADDY Bulletin, No. 65, June 1991, p. 13.
     
   -81 "Jeli slobodna Slobodna Dalmacija," Glasnik, May 17,1991, pp. 6-7. 
  
                                   - 27 -
 

June 8, the director of the Committee for Information of Croatia's Parliament 
attacked Slobodna Dalmacija during an interview with Radio Split, criticizing the 
paper for opposing the "interests of Croatia's people and the state" -83.
      
Helsinki Watch does not dispute the right of individuals and groups to
voice their opinions of Slobodna Dalmacija or other publications. However,
Helsinki Watch is concerned that statements made by public officials
against the paper are part of a campaign to intimidate its journalists,
discredit the paper, and place it under government control. Helsinki Watch
believes that such methods by government officials are a serious detriment
to freedom of the press in Croatia. 

In recent months, Croatia has undertaken a number of steps to privatize
former state enterprises, including the media. Although there is wide
support for privatization throughout Croatia, media privatization may
actually result in increased, rather than decreased, government
involvement in the press. Indeed, Helsinki Watch is concerned that the
Croatian government is using economic means to close publications that are
critical of the government. 

In its effort to privatize the economy, the Croatian government's Agency
for Restructuring and Development is overseeing the re-organization of
twelve Vjesnik publications -84. The government agency created a committee
which will take over the financial and property-related management for
each of Vjesnik's publications. The committee is comprised of four
government appointees. Each publication has the right to appoint one
person to the committee but that individual will only be consulted about
issues directly affecting the representative's respective publication. The
committee will have the right to replace managing directors but, according
to Zdravko Mrsic, the former director of the Agency for Restructuring and
Development, the content and editorial decisions of the papers will
remain in the hands of the current editors -85. Milovan Sibl, Director of
the Croatian News Agency Hina, and a member of the aforementioned
committee, has said that the committee will not interfere with be
editorial decisions of the respective publications -86 .

Despite such assurances, many journalists are afraid that the government
will force the closure of certain publications, not simply for economic
reasons, but also because they publish articles critical of the Croatian
government. In particular Helsinki Watch is concerned that the 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

     -82 Committee to Aid Democratic Dissidents in Yugoslavia,
  CADDY Bulletin, No. 65,June 1991, p. I3.
   
     -83 Ibid.
      
     -84 The publishing house Vjesnik publish a combined total of 18
  newspapers and magazines, of which only two are profitable (i.e., the
  evening daily Vecernji and the magazine Arena.) See "Crne vijesti iz
  Vjesnika," Nedjeljna Dalmacija, June 2,1991, p. 14.

     -85 "Upad u Vjesnik," Danas, June 4, 1991, p. 28-29 and "Crne vijesti 
  iz Vjesnika," Nedjeljna Dalmacija, June 2,1991, p. 14.

     -86 "Upad u Vjesnik,"- Danas, June 4,1991, p. 28-29. Sibl was interviewed 
  by Helsinki Watch in Zagreb on May 28,1991.


                                - 28 -


Croatian government is trying to drive Danas out of business for political
reasons. During both the communist and current regimes, Danas published
articles from dissident and opposition groups which were criticized by the
government. In recent months, Danas has had economic problems and is no
longer a profitable publication of the Vjesnik publishing house. For this
reason, the committee of the Agency for Restructuring and Development
sought to close Danas, claiming that it was bankrupt. On August 21, a
court rejected the committee's proposal -87. Although Danas was not closed,
it was denied access to Vjesnik's printing presses in mid-September,
allegedly because Danas had not paid its bills -88. Currently, Danas use
the printing facilities of the Delo publishing house in Ljubljana,
Slovenia. 
      
Helsinki Watch is concerned that economic insolvency is being used as an
excuse to close publications for political reasons. Although Danas has
indeed had financial difficulties for some time, so too have fifteen of
Vjesnik's other publications, almost all of which are feature magazine -89.
Helsinki Watch is concerned hat Danas has been among the first of Vjesnik's 
publications to be targeted for closure by the government because of its
independent and critical editorial policy. 

Journalists who have criticized the Croatian government or nationalist
policies have been harassed and physically abused by Croatian extremists
who regard criticism of Croatian nationalism tantamount to treason.
Journalists for the Zagreb-based weekly Danas and the Split-based daily
Slobodna Dalmacija are the most frequently targeted for such harassment.
On May 26, 1991, Josko Celar, a reporter for Slobodna Dalmacija, was
physically assaulted on the island of Murter and vilified as being anti-
Croatian -90. Also, in late June, Jadran Marinkovic, a reporter for Radio
Split was demoted. During the Croatian elections in 1990, Marinkovic was
a candidate of the Party of Democratic Change (Stranka Demokratskih
Promjena-SDP), the former communist party. Marinkovic's superiors
apparently disapproved of comments he made about Radio Split. He was told
that "all radio employees are strictly forbidden to discuss the internal
affairs of the station at any time, anywhere." Only the responsible
editor, with the consent of those who are in charge in Zagreb, could
comment on the internal activities of the station -91. Helsinki Watch
is convinced that these claims have been used by the Croatian authorities
as a pretext to demote Marinkovic because of his political beliefs and
affiliation with the SDP. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    -87 Committee to Aid Democratic Dissidents in Yugoslavia, CADDY Bulletin,
  No. 66, August 1991. 
        
    -88 "0bavijest Citateljima," Danas, October 1, 1991, p. 6. 
            
    -89 In addition to Danas and the only two profitable publications (Vecernji
 ist and Arena), Vijesnik's other publications include Vjesnik, TOP, Draga,
 Erotika, Studio, Start, Svijet, Mila, Astro, Vikend, Auto-Klub, Sportske 
 novosti, Sport magazin, Izborov magazin, and Video-Studio. 
 All fifteen publications are experiencing economic difficulties. See 
 "Crne vijesti iz Vjesnika," Nedeljna Dalmacija, June 2, 1991, p 14. 
     
    -90 See Committee to Aid Democratic Dissidents in Yugoslavia, CADDY Bulletin,
 No. 65, June 1991, p. 14. 
  
    -91 Ibid. 
  
                                 - 29 -

          
Croatian government officials -- both at the republican and local
levels have also harassed journalists who are critical of the Croatian
government's policies. A journalist -92 for the now defunct Zadar-based
youth magazine Fokus wrote an article in which the journalist asserted
that forces were working behind Tudjman's back, namely that people
in Tudjman's government were clandestinely working against him. After
the article appeared in Fokus in October 1990, the author was harassed
for four months. According to the journalist: 
   
          Shortly after my article was published in early October, the
          Mayor of Zadar called my editor and me to his office. He
          asked how I knew that forces were working behind Tudjman's
          back and he asked me to reveal my source of information but
          I refused. In late October 1990, I started to get anonymous
          telephone calls. The voice was always the same and he called
          every day. The caller would recite where, when and with whom
          I had been the day before, so I had reason to believe that
          I was being followed. The calls were persistent and they
          unnerved my family, particularly my father. The day my
          grandmother died, the entire family was in mourning and this
          man called. My mother asked him to please leave us alone
          today; my grandmother had just died and we didn't need to be
          upset further. Surprisingly, the caller apologized,
          explaining that he was being told to call by government
          officials. 
                          
          On November 29, 1990, I received a telephone call from
          Vladimir Seks [Vice-President of the Croatian Parliament]
          personally. He demanded that I come to Zagreb the next 
          day but I told him I had plans for tomorrow. He replied that I
          would suffer the consequences for my actions. Seks called once 
          again but I refused to be intimidated and told him that I as not
          going to Zagreb to be questioned. A few days later, the anonymous 
          telephone calls started again. After my lawyer asked the 
          authorities to trace the telephone calls, the caller stopped 
          calling for about twenty days but he started harassing me again.

The Croatian government has also taken steps to curb freedom of expression. 
In May 1991, a criminal investigation was initiated in Zagreb against Mirjana
Jakelic, President of the Croatian chapter of the League of Communists  Movement 
for Yugoslavia (Savez Komunista-Pokret za Jugoslaviju). Zagreb's district public 
prosecutor charged Jakelic under Article 197(1) and Article 225(1)(2) of the 
Croatian Criminal Code with willfully spreading false rumors because she publicly
blamed President Tudjman for the murder of a soldier in Split and distributed
leaflets opposing
          
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     -92 For fear of further harassment, the journalist asked that his/her
     name be withheld. The journalist, a Croat, was interviewed by
     Helsinki Watch in April 2,1991, in Zadar. 
          
      -93 On May 6,1991, Sasko Gesovski, a 19-year-old Macetonian soldier
     of the Yugoslav army, was killed by gunfire during an anti-army
     demonstration by 30 000 people in Split. See "Soldier Shot Dead in
     New Yugoslavia Violence," Reuters Information Services, May 6,1991.) 
          
     
                                 - 30 -


the May 19 referendum on Croatia's independence -94. Although court
proceedings have no been initiated, charges Against Jakelic have not been
dropped. 
       
Helsinki Watch believes that freedom of speech should never be hindered,
unless said speech is a direct and immediate incitement to acts of
violence -95. Although Jakelic's actions and speech may be offensive to
some, she was peacefully exercising her right to free speech. 

The Croatian Ministry of Information has tried to close the Zagreb offices
of Borba, a Belgrade-based daily. Serbian newspapers are no longer
available in Croatia due to transportation problems posed by the war and
political rivalties between the two republics. The Croatian 
authorities have not allowed Yutel, a pan-Yugoslav television program to
broadcast because government officials declared that it was anti-Croatian.

Other Concern
       
Helsinki Watch also is concerned about the establishment of a secret police
force, attacks on the Jewish community and restrictions on freedom of
movement in Croatia. Moreover, Helsinki Watch is concerned that the
Croatian authorities are gerrymandering areas of Croatia so as to decrease
the level of Serbian representation in a given municipality. Helsinki
Watch condemns any such action by the Croatian government and urges that
all those displaced by the war -- including Serbian families be allowed
to return to their homes in Croatia without fear of persecution and
reprisals. 

Helsinki Watch is concerned about the formation of the Office for the
Protection of Constitutional Order (Ured za Zastitu Ustavnog Poredak),
which is headed by Josip Manolic. The newly formed office is responsible
for gathering intelligence and counter-intelligence activities in Croatia.
Helsinki Watch urges that such a government body not be used to violate
the civil, political and other basic human rights of Croatia's citizens. 

       In August, the Jewish community center in Zagreb was badly
damaged by a bomb. The Jewish cemeteries in Zagreb and Split also were
vandalized during-the summer of 191. The Croatian government responded
immediately and investigated the matter, offering an award for any

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

     -94 Charges brought against Jalcelic are enumerated in "Rjesenje,"
  Broj XXV KI0-1207/91.8, Repubulika Hrvatska, Okruzni Sud Zagreb,
  Istrazni Odjel, June , 1991. See alo "Autogol Hrvatske Pravde," Danas,
  June , 1991, and Committee to Aid Democratic Dissidents in
  Yugoslavia, CADDY Bulletin, No. 65,June 1. 1991, p. 12.
  
     -95 Any restriction on the content of expression must be based on direct
  and immediate incitement to acts of violence, discrimination or
  hostility against an individual or clearly defined group of persons in
  circumstances in which such violence, discrimination or hostility is
  imminent and alternative measures to prevent such conduct are not
  reasonably available. For this purpose, "violence" refers to physical
  attack; "discrimination" refers to the actual deprivation of a benefit to
  which similarly situated people are entitled or the imposition of a
  penalty or sanction not imposed on other similarly situated people; and
  "hostility" refers to criminal harassment and criminal intimidation.
  Helsinki Watch considers any law or prosecution that is not based on a
  strict interpretation of incitement to be presumptively a violation of
  the right to free expression. [Human Right Watch, Hate Speech Policy.]
  
                                 - 31 -

information leading to the arrest of the perpetrator(s). Unfortunately, 
no one has yet been arrested.

Freedom of movement has been restricted by the Croatian government due to
the war. All draft-age males must obtain permission before leaving their
place of residence. Such restrictions of freedom of movement were meant
to ensure that males do not avoid the draft, should the area be mobilized.
However, persons living in besieged areas also must obtain approval before
leaving such areas. Milica Smiljanic -96--a half-Serb, half-Croat - had to
obtain permission from the local command in Gospic before leaving the
area. According to Ms. Smiljanic

          Because of the fighting, I could not go to work for several
          weeks. We stayed in the basement the entire time. When I
          finally went to work on November 6, my director, a Croat, saw
          that I looked ill and had lost about 20 pounds. He asked me what
          he could do to help. I asked him to get me a permission slip so
          I could go to Zagreb. My director called Dr. Drazen Jurkovic, the
          commander of Croatian forces in Gospic. Dr. Jurkovic was in
          Zagreb, but when he returned three days later, my director took
          me to see him. I told Jurkovic that I was going to Zagreb for
          medical attention and he then gave me a permission slip to
          leave -97.
                    
          

                        *  *  *
                               
                               
Dear President Tudjman:

Helsinki Watch welcomes the Croatian government's efforts to investigate
reports of human rights abuses committed by its troops on territory which
it controls. It also welcomes the condemnation of loyalty oath campaigns
by the Croatian government and the Parliamentary Committee for the
Protection of Human Rights and the investigation of such activities by the
Croatian Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare. Helsinki Watch commends the
speed with which Croatian authorities apprehended the perpetrators of the
crime, who appear to be agents of the Croatian government. Helsinki Watch
calls upon the Croatian government to vigorously prosecute those guilty of
both crimes. Zeljko Olujic, Croatia's Public Prosecutor, has suted that
magistrates were invesdgadng "wide-spread reports that gangs of Croats
were abducting Serbs in towns under siege by the Yugoslav Army."-98
Helsinki Watch welcomes calls by you and other Croatian government
officials for non-government and international monitoring of Croatia's
human rights record. 

Despite such welcome steps by the Croatian government, we remain convinced
that stronger and immediate action must be taken to stop human rights
abuses from escalating in Croatia. In 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

     -96 See above case regarding the summary execution of 24 persons
          from Gospic.
     
     -97 Helsinki Watch retains a copy of the permusion slip, which was
  signed by Drazen Jurkovic and issued on November 9,1991, at Gospic's
  command headquarter (i.e., Krizni Stab).
  
     -98 Stephen Engelberg, "Villagers in Croatia Recount Massacre by Serbian 
  Forces," The New York Times, December 19, 1991.
  

                              - 32 -


particular, we urge the Croatian government to purge its armed forces of
extremists who act without orders and commit egregious violations of human
rights, including the summary execution of civilians and the brutal
beating of prisoners. The Croatian government i5 responsible for actions
committed by its agents, including the Croatian army and police, and is
therefore responsible for such human rights abuses. It is bound to bring
paramilitary groups under government supervision or disband them so as to
prevent such groups from committing human rights abuses. individual
extremists who are guilty of similar offenses must also be punished, in
accordance with the law. Helsinki Watch urges the Croatian government to
take concrete steps to lend effect to the recently promulgated
Constitutional Law on Human Rights and Freedoms and the Rights of National
and Ethnic Communities or Minorities in the Republic of Croatia -99 We also
urge the Croatian government to take steps to ameliorate the tensions
between Serbs and Croats in Croatia. 

          In summary, we call upon the Croatian government to:
     
          o Investigate reports of summary executions and torture of
          civilians and disarmed combatants by Croatian force; and
          individual extremists, prosecute and punish all those guilty of
          such crimes, and take disciplinary measures against the
          perpetrators immediate superiors, insofar as it can be
          established that human rights abuses are being condoned - or
          possibly encouraged -- by local military or police commanders. 
                    
          o Make known the whereabouts of all missing persons abducted
          by Croatian forces. 
                    
          o Investigate the deaths and disappearances of journalists in
          Croatia, especially in cases where Croatian forces may have been
          responsible for such acts. 
                    
          o Take measures to bring to an end the robbing of homes and
          property. 
                    
          o Allow all civilians displaced by the war, including Serbs, to
          return to their homes without fear of reprisals. 
                    
          o Cease all arbitrary searches and seizures of property, by
          members of the Croatian armed forces and police. Insofar as such
          searches are necessary, a warrant must be issued beforehand. 
                    
          o Instruct the newly-formed military police to endorce discipline
          among the military cadres and to ensure that all members of the
          Croatian military and police behave in a responsible manner. 
                    
          o Release immediately persons being held without charges or on
          charges that are considered unfounded by an independent court
          of law. 
                    
          o Cease all questioning, intimidation and other harassment
          of Serbs who re engaged in peaceful political and civil
          activities in Croatia. 
                    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
   99 "Ustavni Zakon o Ljudskim pravima i slobodama i o pravima
  etnickih i nacionalnih zajednica ili manjina u Republici Hrvatskoj,"
  Narodne Novine Republike Hrvatske, Broj 65, 4. prosinca 1991.


                               - 33 -

-- 
/Predrag      email: predrag@isy.liu.se