[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 39 (Thursday, March 11, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E408]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            STATEMENT ON THE SUPPRESSION OF RIGHTS IN SERBIA

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 11, 1999

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, as we have debated today the 
issue of American participation in any NATO peacekeeping effort in 
Kosovo, I urge my colleagues, regardless of their views on that matter, 
to focus on what is happening in Serbia itself. Slobodan Milosevic, 
President of an unrecognized Yugoslav state of which Serbia and 
Montenegro are part, is using Kosovo to perpetuate his regime, to rally 
Serbia's public opinion around him, and to label as ``traitors'' not 
only his opponents but anyone who thinks independently.
  Last year, Milosevic imposed draconian laws which curtailed the 
independence of journalists to report news freely, and threatened the 
academic community's ability to maintain its intellectual integrity. In 
response, the Helsinki Commission which I chair, held a hearing 
appropriately entitled: ``The Milosevic Regime Versus Serbian Democracy 
and Balkan Stability.''
  As an example of what is happening right now in Serbia, I would note 
for the Record what has happened to three of the witnesses at the 
hearing.
  On December 28, 1998--less than three weeks after the hearing--Boris 
Karajcic, a leader in the university student movement ``Otpor'' 
(Resistance), was attacked and beaten on the street in front of his 
Belgrade home by masked thugs with bats. As they fled, their comments 
indicated the political nature of the attack.
  During the first week of February, Milan Panic, the Serb-American 
pharmaceutical executive who is a leader of the Alliance for Change, 
the main coalition of political opposition to Milosevic's ruling 
Socialist Party, has had his Serbian subsidiary company taken over by 
the authorities. The purpose was likely two-fold: to intimidate Panic 
and to gain hard-currency assets.
  On March 8, Slavko Curuvija, the chief editor of newspaper Dnevni 
Telegraf and the new magazine Evropljanin, was sentence along with two 
of his journalists to five months in prison by a Belgrade court for 
``spreading false reports with an intention to endanger pubic order.'' 
They remain free on appeal.
  Mr. Speaker, these assaults on freedom demonstrate that Milosevic 
feels vulnerable to democratic forces which do, in fact, exist in 
Serbia, forces which may indeed be growing. Indeed, the Serbian 
Government undertook to make a paper prepared by the hearing witness 
from the United States Institute for Peace and openly circulated at 
that same hearing into an alleged confidential CIA document which 
showed, they alleged, that the U.S. Government was plotting to 
overthrow the Belgrade government.
  Despite his insecurity at home, Milosevic does feel sufficiently 
secure in a U.S. policy which seemingly needs his presence for 
implementation for the Dayton Agreement in Bosnia, and to get an 
agreement in France on Kosovo. Our dependence on him, he reckons, means 
we will not seek to undercut his dictatorial power. The clear lack of 
attention many senior Administration officials have paid to Serbia' 
democrats has only reinforced this feeling in Belgrade.
  Mr. Speaker, this must change. The actions against Karajcic, Panic, 
Curuvija and countless other advocates of a democratic Serbia must be 
condemned not with words alone. The United States must stop dealing 
with Milosevic directly. The United States must protest his assault on 
innocent civilians when they occur. The United States must encourage 
democratic change in Serbia, and assist those who promote this change 
from within, the true Serbian patriots.
  One way in which the Congress can help in this regard is to move 
quickly on the legislation I have just introduced, H.R. 1064, the 
Serbia and Montenegro Democracy Act of 1999. This Act would ensure 
adequate attention is paid to democratic forces in Serbia and 
Montenegro by those allocating U.S. democratic assistance. The 
legislation has bipartisan support.
  Mr. Speaker, I am deeply concerned about developments in Serbia 
generally, and the incidents involving Helsinki Commission hearing 
witnesses in particular. As Chairman of the Commission, I am committed 
to making sure that the people in Serbia have the same rights and 
freedoms which so many other Europeans enjoy and take for granted, the 
rights and freedoms enshrined in the Helsinki Final Act and defined in 
subsequent OSCE documents. The suppression of these rights in Serbia is 
unacceptable, it ultimately will prove untenable, and it must change 
sooner rather than later, not only for the sake of the people in Serbia 
but all people in south-central Europe.




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