IV

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. RES. 375

Supporting the efforts of Dobroslav Paraga to bring about increased respect

for democratic and human rights in Croatia.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 2, 1998

Mr. TOWNS submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the

Committee on International Relations

RESOLUTION

Supporting the efforts of Dobroslav Paraga to bring about

increased respect for democratic and human rights in

Croatia.

Whereas Dobroslav Paraga, who has twice been adopted as

a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, has

endured hardship for openly calling on the Government

of Croatia to honor its commitments under the Helsinki

Accords to respect the fundamental human rights of all

the citizens of Croatia;

Whereas Dobroslav Paraga had been tried on three occasions

by the courts of the former Government of Yugoslavia,

the initial charge being that, in 1980, he, along with a

Jewish Croatian student, Ernest Brajder, authored a petition opposing torture in Yugoslavia and calling for the

release of political prisoners;
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Whereas, as a result, both men were arrested and, three days

later, Ernest Brajder died under what the Department of

State calls ‘‘mysterious circumstances’’;

Whereas, in 1986, Mr. Paraga sued the Government of Yugoslavia for injuries, both physical and psychological, inflicted on him by prison authorities during his imprisonment;

Whereas the regime and court in Zagreb denied him a fair

and just trial, an account of which was set forth in the

Department of State’s annual Country Report on Human

Rights Practices for 1987;

Whereas the Government of Yugoslavia forbade Mr. Paraga

in 1987 to speak out publicly in any way about his experiences as a political prisoner and the Government of

Croatia has continued this prohibition against the fundamental political and human rights of Mr. Paraga;

Whereas the Government of Croatia persecuted Mr. Paraga

for criticizing his country in the United States in 1993

and he was subsequently stripped of his post as Deputy

Chairman of the Committee for Human Rights of the

Croatian Parliament;

Whereas in August 1997 the Government of Croatia brought

charges against Mr. Paraga within days of his meeting

with investigators from the Hague War Crimes Tribunal

to which he turned over documentation involving allegations against several high officials of the Government of

Croatia;

Whereas, in violation of this order of silence, Dobroslav

Paraga has come to the West to speak out about human

rights abuses in Croatia;
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Whereas, upon his return to Croatia, Dobroslav Paraga risks

imprisonment again because of his open criticism of the

Government of Croatia’s human rights abuses; and

Whereas in 1998 Dobroslav Paraga called on the Government

of Croatia to take the following actions: (1) to establish

independent television and radio stations in Croatia; (2)

to allow full freedom of the media in Croatia; (3) to allow

free and fair elections to take place in Croatia; (4) to establish a judiciary and lower court system that is independent from the ruling party or any other party in Croatia; (5) to re-establish the independence of the Croatian

Party of Rights (CPR) that was illegally disbanded in

1993, including the reinstatement to the Croatian Parliament of the 5 seats of the Croatian Party of Rights;

and (6) to end the terror and abuse of justice perpetrated

by the Government of Croatia against Dobroslav Paraga

and the Croatian Party of Rights: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that the Government of Croatia—

3 (1) in recognition of the provisions of the Uni4 versal Declaration of Human Rights, should guaran5 tee its citizens fundamental human rights and free6 doms;

7 (2)(A) should establish independent television

8 and radio stations in Croatia;

9 (B) should allow full freedom of the media in

10 Croatia;

11 (C) should allow free and fair elections to take

12 place in Croatia;
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1 (D) should establish a judiciary and lower court

2 system that is independent from the ruling party or

3 any other party in Croatia;

4 (E) should re-establish the independence of the

5 Croatian Party of Rights (CPR) that was illegally

6 disbanded in 1993, including the reinstatement to

7 the Croatian Parliament of the 5 seats of the Cro8 atian Party of Rights; and

9 (F) should end the terror and abuse of justice

10 perpetrated by the Government of Croatia against

11 Dobroslav Paraga and the Croatian Party of Rights;

12 (3) should dismiss the charges currently pend13 ing against human rights activist Dobroslav Paraga

14 and end all forms of harassment against him and his

15 family; and

16 (4) should conduct an investigation into the

17 death of Ernest Brajder, who, according to the De18 partment of State, died under ‘‘mysterious cir19 cumstances’’, and should make its findings public.

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