Police and Political Violence in Defence of the Regime

AIM Zagreb, 9 June, 1999

Croatian police arrested Miroslav Separovic, former minister of justice who was for a time the head of the central intelligence organization in Croatia (HIS). In the beginning of the year Separovic submitted his resignation, dissatisfied as he said by the organization, relations and certain phenomena in the intelligence services. Connoisseurs claim that he could not accept the fact of mass tapping of the journalists, and the presidential palace had not supported his demand that abuse of secret services stop. Now he is arrested indicted for having participated in revealing state top secrets.

The arrest of the former minister was preceded by police search of his apartment; the police were looking for evidence that he had been the one who had given to journalists documents on the involvement of secret police in fixing the finals of the football championship. Copies of these documents

• which show that the intelligence services, by order of the head of the state, fixed the events at the stadiums - were published about ten days ago by independent weekly Nacional. This revelation caused commotion in the circles of the ruling party and a frantic search for moles was launched among journalists and in secret services. Awareness that there are those among policemen who are ready to make even the greatest secrets public - caused great disturbance from Pantovcak downward.

Before they reached Separovic, strong police forces - headed by the head of the antiterrorist department - broke into the premises of Nacional where they overturned offices, searching through papers and computers for more than an hour. The police then searched the apartments of the editor-in-chief and tha author of the controversial article. Search for documents, which are marked as confidential as the regime claims, yielded no results, but indirectly confirmed that they were not just some old dossiers as the authorities at one moment tried to bluff.

Immediately after the search of the apartment and before being taken into custody Separovic talked to the journalists. He confirmed that the police had searched his place for the published documents but failed to find them, because he did not have them. But the police did take some other confidential documents which he as the former head of the intelligence service was entitled to keep. Separovic told journalists that this was in fact a political conflict. He directly accused Tudjman's advisor, powerful man of the Right Ivic Pasalic, but even the president of the state himself. Pasalic used the new scandal with fixing of the football championship to get even, but the reasons for his ill will are old. Separovic says: "Pasalic is afraid because I have it all. He knows perfectly well that we were at the end of resolving a few scandals in which he personally had participated". Immediately after that he explains that he meant the scandal concerning the Dubrovnik Bank and abuses of the secret police.

Former minister also reveals that he had informed the president of the state about all the facts. "Tudjman knows everything about everything", he says. He also confirmed that persons from the very top of state leaders were involved in the greatest financial and intelligenece scandals, not only Pasalic and his men, but also circles which do not share their rightist political convictions. "Should they decide to go against me, I will certainly defend my honour and dignity. I will fight back by all possible means. I have all kinds of information about everything that is going on in the intelligence community", said Separovic and added that he was thinking of convening a special session of the Assembly committee for internal affairs and national security. "There I shall state everything I know and indicate where exactly the documents are which can very simply clarify the greatest financial and intelligence scandals that have shaken this country. I had intended to withdraw. I did not wish to spit on the regime I myself had been a part of. But, after the way they treated me I will be forced to do something".

In political circles of Zagreb it is believed that Separovic was arrested because of these announcements that he would present the dirty laundry of Tudjman's regime to the public. His arrest has shocked the public. In protest, the opposition six cancelled talks with the Croat Democratic Community (HDZ) scheduled in order to negotiate the election law. The opposition has realised just a few days ago that the HDZ was on the one hand for the sake of the international community putting up an act in the negotiations and concensus on the election model while at the same time on the other it was stirring political violence.

In this connection on its front page the Feral Tribune asks the following question: who will be next? In the past period an eruption of political violence occurred. A leader of the well organized trade union of engine drivers was beaten up, and he was told by the police that revealing of his attacker who had almost killed him with a metal bar depended on a political decision. On the Day of Europe, neo-fascists attacked participants of the anti-fascist gathering in Zagreb, broke their teeth, cut their heads with stones, threw teargas at them, all that with the assistance of police. Stipe Suvar, leader of the minor Socialist Workers' Party, was brutally, to the blood, for the second time beaten up in the middle of the day downtown Zagreb.

Football coach and Tudjman's crony Ciro Blazevic called for liquidation of the journalists of Nacional and said that for publication of the article on fixing the championship, they should be wiped out one by one with baseball bats. Two rightist assembly deputies threatened the leadership of Rijeka because at the recent parade of Croatian defenders they would not salute black uniforms of HOS, the rightist para-military group which had become a part of the Croatian Army. They called to lynch, threatened them with banishment and application of literally fascist methods. Munib Suljic, one of the indictees in the case of Pakracka poljana, who had seven years ago admitted that he had participated in the murder of Zec family from Zagreb, but like the rest of the group, due to mistakes in the procedure, was not taken to court - having come out of the courtroom where he was released once again, for no reason whatsoever spit in the face of a journalist and threatened to handcuff the whole profession.

The outburst of violence was preceded by the assessment of the head of the state that every fifth Croat was

• an enemy of Croatia. At a military festivity Tudjman declared that 20 per cent of the citizens had "never accepted the Croatian state" and advocated that the Croatian Army become the force which, literally, "the state leadership can rely on at any time". To say the least, this is an interesting development. As time goes by, Croatian president is revealing an increasing number of anti-state elements. The state - about which until recently he claimed was a several-century-long dream - has suddenly an increasing number of enemies. Tudjman's allegations would have been funny if they had not been the pretext for action of various intimidators, militant groups, police, army... They are in fact specific instructions for action.

Fully devoted to the search for those who are ferreting out foul dealings of HDZ claiming that police findings on crime are a state secret, minister of police Penic significantly announces that "the investigation is tightening". The police certainly is tightening control, but everything is indicating that Tudjman's regime is falling apart.

JELENA LOVRIC