ARKZIN SUMMONED FOR INTERROGATION

AIM Zagreb, 5 December, 1996

The notorious Article 77 of the Criminal Law of the Republic of Croatia has in the past few days been the cause of yet another political farce involving media. The biweekly ARKZIN, personified by its editor-in-chief, was summoned for interrogation which implies indictment issued by the municipal state attorney for slander of the President of the state, the chairman of the Assembly, the Prime Minister, and presidents of the Constitutional and the Supreme Court. And pursuant Article 71 of the same Law which was also adopted in spring this year as part of the punitive mini reform which re-introduced the verbal delict in Croatia in order to finish off independent media - primarily Feral Tribune and Nacional - Arkzin was accused of slander of the President of the Republic. The text concerned is titled "What When Suharto Dies", which was signed by the alias of the editorial staff - Bozo Matic. The text was published in the issue dated 13 September, exactly two months and 13 days prior to the interrogation which took place a few days after Tudjman had arrived from Washington, when he attacked "the black, the green and the yellow devils".

After Feral - whose editor and a journalist, due to the punitive mini-reform, were in the dock twice already indicted by the state attorney - Arkzin joined the pleiad of "state enemies and Yugo-communists" (Feral Tribune).

What was in the text that hurt Tudjman's feelings? Nothing new and nothing unknown. Just an extract from foreign press carried by Arkzin: "Foreign analytical press on the Croatian economic miracle - Saving on greengroceries, Franjo, Ankica, their children and grandchildren, in harmony, in the course of five years made 700 000 000 US $ worth of property". And that is all. A small extract from foreign press. It should be said that this is not the first time that the wealth of Tudjman dynasty is written and spoken about. At least all independent journals in Croatia have had their say about it, some of them more than once. As concerning foreign press, for example the Austrian Fokus, the Berlin Der Spiegle, London The Independent, and Sie Deutsche Zeitung, all had articles about this topic in the course of last and this year: how much money the Croatian President has in cash and real estate and in what way he acquired this. In western democracies, it was observed that due to such megalomaniacal attempts, a state official, even if at the very top, would end up: a) in retirement, b) in jail, c) in certain other, mostly medical institutions. In Croatia, hue and cry are raised after journalists for it.

"In this case, a precedent occurred", says for AIM Vesna Jankovic, the Editor-in-Chief of Arkzin. "The whole family Tudjman, because the text speaks about all of them, and not just the President, was offered protection by the state attorney's office, so from now on we can speak of a multicapitate president of the state. Everything that is happening concerning our journal, instigation of proceedings two and a half months after publication of the text, we cannot but observe in the context of the struggle for power and Tudjman's not being in his right mind because of his sickness. And Article 77 is problematic by its very contents, because the state backs all these powerful presidents, although they are entitled to lodging private appeals. And not only is this a case of exceeding authority, but summoning of journalists for interrogation or a trial like in the case of Feral - is a notorious relict of Nazi-Bolshevism. All that is indeed very fragile. Our lawyer, Vesna Alaburic, said that, nota bene, all that provides foundation only for a private appeal. The rest is medical history."

According to Amnesty International, Article 77 of the Criminal Law is completely contrary to Article 19 of the International Agreement on Civil and Political Rights, signed by Croatia, as well as with the Article of the European Convention for Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which Croatia has recognized by its reception in the Council of Europe.

The court, three months ago, released the editor and the journalist of Feral Tribune, after which Tudjman was stricken by an attack of his prostate glend and the case of Radio 101. Arkzin is not a real threat, because that journal has the circulation of only eight thousand printed and just half of that figure of sold copies. Nevertheless, it coincided with the recent closed session of the main secretariat of the ruling Croat Democratic Community (HDZ) which this time attacked "foreign mercenaries" and their foreign "givers of orders", in other words, foreign foundations which were also classified among communists, Yugo-nostalgic freaks and God knows what not. And it is well known that one of these "order-givers" is the rich American George Soros, whose foundation in Croatia, partially finances Arkzin. Paranoid assumption of the authorities thus closed the circle and stepped on its own shadow in the form of suspicion of everything and verybody. The ultimate consequence is that everybody may be guilty and convicted.

And finally, why Suharto? Arkzin says that he too is the head of the family who has provided for his ancestors for a couple of centuries in advance. However, "(...) if one takes into account that Suharto is ruling since 1966 and that he needed thirty odd years to provide for his children, then 700 million dollars of property acquired in five years provides a lot of reason for the small Asian giants to be concerned because of the competition in the Balkans (...)". But, it seems that Tudjman was hurt the most by the proposal of the editoral commentary that with his property he could finance the administration in Podunavlje for thirty years at least, and in this way take these expenses (about 2 million dollars a year) off the back of the workers. And although he loves being the "father of the nation", his own children and offspring are nevertheless closest to his heart.

ALEN ANIC