[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 30 (Wednesday, March 18, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E415-E416]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            DOBROSLAV PARAGA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 18, 1998

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, we rise today to acknowledge the efforts of 
Dobroslav Paraga, a political opposition leader from Croatia, to bring 
about democratic and human rights reforms in his country. As our 
colleagues are probably aware, we recently introduced a resolution, H. 
Res. 375, expressing our concern about repression by the Government of 
Croatia of these rights. In 1989, Mr. Paraga met with Members of both 
Chambers of the Congress and as a result S. Res. 169, calling for 
respect of human rights throughout the former Yugoslavia, passed the 
Senate and a companion resolution, H. Res. 240 was introduced in the 
House.
  Mr. Paraga has been an eloquent spokesman for the rights of the 
citizens of Croatia and we, in the Congress, respect his commitment and 
courage. As a result of his efforts, he has been the target of 
harassment, political trials and several suspicious assassination 
attempts. Soon Mr. Paraga will be returning to his home in Zagreb and 
we will be monitoring his treatment by the Croatian government. We are 
inserting a statement by Attorney Joseph A. Morris, who successfully 
represented Mr. Paraga as co-counsel in the trial that followed his 
last visit to the Congress in 1993. Attorney Morris is a former 
Assistant Attorney General of the United States and is President of the 
Midwest Region of B'nai B'rith in the United States. We believe Members 
will be interested in his statement which follows:

 STATEMENT OF JOSEPH A. MORRIS \1\ ON POLITICAL LIBERTY IN CROATIA AND 
                      THE CASE OF DOBROLSAV PARAGA

       In 1993, \1\ in association with Zvonimir Hodak, barrister 
     and counselor at law of Zagreb, Croatia, I accepted the 
     defense of Dobroslav Paraga, then a Member of the Croatian 
     Parliament and President of the Croatian Party of Rights, 
     which was then the largest opposition party in the Republic 
     of Croatia, against charges tantamount to an indictment for 
     treason. The case was tried before a military court in 
     Zagreb.
       Although the case of Military Public Prosecutor v. Paraga 
     resulted in a happy outcome--Mr. Paraga was acquitted--I 
     nonetheless remain concerned, now more than four years later, 
     about the chilling effect that the mere bringing of the case 
     has had upon freedoms of speech and association in Croatia. 
     The development of strong democratic institutions and 
     traditions depends upon the establishment of a free and 
     robust political life, including competing political parties 
     and open political debate. Objective observers must register 
     dismay at the lack of progress in such development in 
     Croatia.
       Mr. Paraga, then 33, married and the father of three young 
     children, has been charged with speaking publicly, within and 
     without Croatia, to the ``embarrassment'' of the President of 
     the Croatian Republic, Franjo Tudjman. Mr. Paraga had 
     excoriated the Tudjman regime's participation in ``ethnic 
     cleansing'' directed at Serbs and Moslems within Croatia and 
     at Moslems in Bosnia. He called for Croatia to respect the 
     individual human rights of its residents and neighbors, 
     irrespective of their religious and ethnic backgrounds and 
     national and political allegiances. He condemned the regime, 
     dominated by former communists, for dragging its feet in 
     building Croatia's free-market economy. Some of these charges 
     derived from a speech that Mr. Paraga gave to the National 
     Press Club in Washington, D.C.
       Identical charges against Mr. Paraga were dismissed in 1992 
     by Croatia's civilian courts. The Supreme Court of Croatia 
     ultimately ordered Mr. Paraga's release from the 
     ``interrogation jail'' where he had been held by the regime 
     during the pendency of his case. Two days later President 
     Tudjman removed the Chief Justice of Croatia from office. The 
     regime thereafter constituted a special military tribunal in 
     Zagreb for the purpose of hearing the same charges against 
     Mr.

[[Page E416]]

     Paraga, a civilian, and three of his colleagues in the 
     leadership of what was then known as the Croatian Party of 
     Rights.
       The case put seriously in question the claim of the 
     Republic of Croatia to stand as a nation constituted under 
     the rule of law. The prosecution posed grave threats to 
     universal principles of human rights, particularly these 
     fundamental freedoms and basic elements of the due process of 
     law: Freedoms of speech, association, and assembly; 
     Independence of the judiciary; Supremacy of civilian 
     authority over the military; Prohibition against double 
     jeopardy (that is, freedom from being put to trial more than 
     once for the same offense).
       I was especially troubled by highly irregular procedural 
     characteristics of this prosecution of Mr. Paraga. The 
     dismissal of the chief judge of Croatia's highest court in 
     the immediate aftermath of that court's previous decision 
     favorable to Mr. Paraga was, and remains, profoundly suspect. 
     The chief prosecutor in the military prosecution was 
     simultaneously a national party leader, an active officer in 
     the Croatian military, a military prosecutor, and a special 
     public defender. The prosecution was surrounded by invidious 
     references to the ethnic and religious backgrounds of Mr. 
     Paraga and his family.
       Mr. Paraga, a Roman Catholic, is the grandson of a Jew. He 
     has been disparaged in the government-controlled media of 
     Croatia both as a Jew and as an antisemite. He has been 
     characterized as both a former communist and as a secret 
     fascist. I have met with and interviewed Mr. Paraga and have 
     studied his platform, speeches, and writings. I have 
     interviewed others, both Croatian and American, who know him 
     well. I am satisfied that Mr. Paraga is genuinely committed 
     to principles of human rights, individual liberty, the rule 
     of law, free-market economics, and limited, constitutional 
     government.
       Since the successful conclusion of the military trial, the 
     Croatian Government has continued to harass Mr. Paraga and 
     his party and has repeatedly attempted to silence them. 
     Twice, by administrative fiat, the regime has removed Mr. 
     Paraga from the leadership of his party, installed other 
     leaders with loyalty to the regime, deprived his party of its 
     assets, and denied effective judicial review of these 
     actions. Although Croatia has since acceded to European 
     conventions on human rights, these actions occurred at a time 
     when European human rights agencies and tribunals did not 
     have jurisdiction to inquire into, or redress, them. It 
     remains to be seen whether or not the Croatian Government 
     will continue its efforts to suppress legitimate political 
     activity by Mr. Paraga and others and, if so, whether or not 
     Europe's human rights institutions prove effective in 
     safeguarding political liberty in Croatia. Meanwhile, Mr. 
     Paraga has established a new political party, known as the 
     ``Croatian Party of Rights--1861'', taking the name, and 
     recalling the year of foundation, of Croatia's oldest 
     domestic political party. Furthermore, there is a disturbing 
     trend over the past few years by the Croatian government to 
     use administrative courts to replace heads of democratically 
     elected parties. The method is simple, the party is 
     registered as being headed by someone who is favored by the 
     ruling party. The government should return democratically 
     elected leaders of Parliamentary parties who were removed by 
     administrative measures.
       Americans look forward to welcoming Croatia with open arms 
     as a full-fledged member of the democratic family of nations. 
     To claim that birthright, however, Croatia must demonstrate 
     that it has established a government of laws and not of men. 
     Americans of all parties, ethnic backgrounds, and religious 
     traditions will continue to monitor political and human 
     rights developments in Croatia. We hope that, in due course, 
     the people of Croatia will be blessed with a meaningful legal 
     and constitutional system.

     \1\ Joseph A. Morris is a member of the Chicago law firm of 
     Morris, Rathnau & De La Rosa. From 1981 through 1988 he 
     served in senior legal positions in the administration of 
     President Ronald Reagan, including as Chief of Staff and 
     General Counsel of the United States Information Agency, as 
     Director (with the rank of Assistant Attorney General of the 
     United States) of the Office of Liaison Services of the 
     Department of Justice, and as a United States delegate to the 
     United Nations Commission on Human Rights at Geneva. He also 
     served from 1981 through 1996, during the administrations of 
     Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton, on the Administrative 
     Conference of the United States. He was the founder and first 
     Chairman of the Center for Public Policy of B'nai B'rith 
     International, the world's oldest and largest Jewish 
     organization, and is currently the President of the Midwest 
     Region of B'nai B'rith in the United States.

     

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