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 pe-
tition 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 Yugo-
slavia for injuries, both physical and psychological, in-
flicted on him by prison authorities during his imprison-
ment;
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 expe-
riences as a political prisoner and the Government of
Croatia has continued this prohibition against the fun-
damental 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 allega-
tions 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 es-
tablish a judiciary and lower court system that is inde-
pendent from the ruling party or any other party in Cro-
atia; (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 Par-
liament 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
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that the Government of Croatia—
(1) in recognition of the provisions of the Uni-
versal Declaration of Human Rights, should guaran-
tee its citizens fundamental human rights and free-
doms;
(2)(A) should establish independent television
and radio stations in Croatia;
(B) should allow full freedom of the media in
Croatia;
(C) should allow free and fair elections to take
place in Croatia;
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(D) should establish a judiciary and lower court
system that is independent from the ruling party or
any other party in Croatia;
(E) should 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 Cro-
atian Party of Rights; and
(F) should end the terror and abuse of justice
perpetrated by the Government of Croatia against
Dobroslav Paraga and the Croatian Party of Rights;
(3) should dismiss the charges currently pend-
ing against human rights activist Dobroslav Paraga
and end all forms of harassment against him and his
family; and
(4) should conduct an investigation into the
death of Ernest Brajder, who, according to the De-
partment of State, died under ‘‘mysterious cir-
cumstances’’, and should make its findings public.
Æ