From support2@igc.apc.org Mon Jul 17 15:14:50 1995
Received: from cdp.igc.apc.org (192.82.108.1) by MediaFilter.org
 with SMTP (MailShare 1.0b10); Mon, 17 Jul 1995 15:14:50 -0500
Received: from igc3.igc.apc.org (igc3.igc.apc.org [192.82.108.33]) by cdp.igc.apc.org (8.6.12/Revision: 1.203 ) with SMTP id MAA06639 for ; Mon, 17 Jul 1995 12:08:47 -0700
Received: from igc2.igc.apc.org (igc2.igc.apc.org [192.82.108.39]) by igc3.igc.apc.org (8.6.12/Revision: 1.6 ) with SMTP id MAA23574 for ; Mon, 17 Jul 1995 12:08:40 -0700
Received: (from support2) by igc2.igc.apc.org (8.6.11/Revision: 1.14 ) id MAA16251 for sj@MediaFilter.org; Mon, 17 Jul 1995 12:04:57 -0700
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 1995 12:04:57 -0700
From: IGC User Support 
Message-Id: <199507171904.MAA16251@igc2.igc.apc.org>
To: sj@MediaFilter.org
Subject: HUMAN RIGHTS

/* Written 12:10 AM  Jul 11, 1995 by iskoric in igc:zamir.chat */
/* ---------- "HUMAN RIGHTS" ---------- */
From: Ivo Skoric 

THE MESS...well it is Balkans
 
Vjeko Magas of HHO (Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights) actually
quit HHO few months ago. He also quit HHO president - Cicak after a flame
between the two.
Now Magas calls Cicak from the US every night and gives reports (and
receives instructions).
Magas says that although Cicak sometimes appears like a loose cannon, their
relations are kosher now and he (Magas) is full time on HHO ticket (ticket
is the right word).
 
In a swell of self-promotion Magas claims that the HHO is more present
(several 100 % more present) in the media than any other Croatian human
rights organization. This seems obvious by the Croatian media treatment of
the rest of the group:  
 
Articles in Vecernjak, Nedjeljna and Globus (that one with nice pictures of
perpetrators) attack the entire group except Vjeko Magas.
The attack is falsely attributed to the American Congress! 
But 6 congresspersons who signed the letter of protest to USIA, probably
written by Croatian lobby (CAA), are concerned ONLY with Radovan Jovic.
 
Richard Holtzapple with USIA, who put that unlikely group together, wanted
a minority (Serb) representative from Krajina, and that was supposed to be
Pero Ladjevic.
Pero Ladjevic (SDF) recommended Radovan Jovic.
Radovan Jovic has no favorable opinion on Pero Ladjevic.
 
Jovic, who said that he was from "the part of Yugoslavia known today as
Krajina", carefully avoided mouthing the odious word "Croatia" throughout
his presence in the U.S. I guess that pissed Croats off.
 
Also, Jovic was giving away his phone number - his spouse's phone number
in downtown Belgrade.
 
Although... Paul Behrends from Dana Rohrabacher's office (harsh Republican,
California) obviously knows more than it is said in the letter: he was
concerned with entire group (he was personally invoked by Magas, too).
 
Vjeko Magas appears as a hero in Croatian newspapers (is that Cicak
stabbing in the back other human rights activists whom he considers his
political opponents?) in the article signed by Sally Ann-Forbes - which is
not an American journalist, nor she is related in any way to congressmen
(that signed the letter) Michael Forbes, or billionaire Malcolm Forbes.
She is probably a pseudonym like Peter Parks was a pseudonym for Berislav
Brkic in Danas (which was also Cicak's brilliant idea)
 
As soon as he landed here, Magas alarmed CDP (Max Primorac) and CAA -
which then started the Congress lobbying and got six Republican
Congresspersons friendly to Croatian cause and hateful of federal
bureaucracy [i.e. current (Democrat) administration] to start the noise and
bring the USIA down.
On his own Magas also wrote to James Duffey of USIA and cc-ed his letter
to Rohrabacher. However he then sent his letter only to Rohrabacher.
Later, VOA which is a part of USIA - which is the main culprit in bringing
the group over - gives Magas air-time to spit all over USIA.
 
But Magas was already in Croatia well aware of the others who went to
America with him. Why did he wait to make panic HERE?
He said that he had heard that Jovic was safely in prison in Krajina, and
that therefore he would not come. Magas said that he was quite surprised
to see Jovic out of prison and on his way to the U.S. with rest of the group.
Magas is an "expert coordinator" with the Croatian Helsinki Committee on
Human Rights.
 
Magas was recommended by Veronika Reskovic.
Vjeko Magas now writes that Veronika was born in Belgrade (Serbia),
obviously with a derogatory intent.
Veronika was *not* born in Belgrade
 
Everybody (Congress, Croatian media) claims that Jovic is a judge in Serbian
held city of Glina - which he is not anymore: on the contrary it seems that
he is quite at odds with government there.
They briefly (30 days) put him in prison for defying draft. And he was
drafted immediately upon he was fired from the court.
It seems that we are plunging deep in the conflict between hard-liners and
moderates in Krajina - Jovic being the moderate, and therefore interesting
to USA and silently approved by Croatian government which would like to
end Krajina stalemate by means of diplomacy.
Probably because of that there was not really clarified why exactly Jovic
is here - except to be a target of an attack.
He travelled from Glina over Belgrade and Budapest to Frankfurt where he
joined the rest of the crew.
Plus he behaves as an elephant in the china store concerned about
secession of American states.
 
And HE is not completely clear WHY is he here. He is not member of any
human rights group. He volunteers that there is no such thing as a human
rights group in Krajina. International groups shy away because Krajina is
not recognized. Croatian groups are not allowed in since they are from the
enemy side. And Serbian groups from Belgrade (like Center for Anti-War
Action) are not allowed since they are from another country. Ah that lovely
catch 22.
 
He has no human rights background, either. And he has no idea why he is
here. But he obviously thinks he'd be a fool to refuse free trip around the
U.S. He suggested that we better ask USIA why they brought him over.
 
Meeting with Ilijas Dedic, the Bosnian guy in Phoenix, Arizona, was
scheduled by USIA in advance (meaning - before the group came to the
States). Mr. Dedic however just opened the meeting and then left Janko
Prezgar, a reputed Croat emigree, to interrogate the group.
He pulled out hefty unofficial dossiers about the group and gave them shit
on behalf of all Croatian Americans.
Preskar is both on NFCA & CAA boards - and CAA and NFCA are political
enemies.
Of course, he did not review his own dossier.
 
Ilijas Dedic did not talk at all anymore throughout the rest of the meeting.
Veronika, who returned to Croatia from Serbia (where she was at college) in
1993 to live with her parents (well, she run out of money), was confronted
by Prezgar with this fact as if it was a mortal sin. So, she got red in the
face and left the room.
 
Prezgar told Mirjana Radakovic (she is with Center for Direct Action at
Anti-War Campaign) that she worked for police. And she answered that in the
matter of fact she still did work for the police. At least that's where her
salary is coming from: Croatian Police.
 
However, she was suspended without explanation. And also she was not an
operative: she was a teacher in the police school. She taught Marxism. Hey,
but his excellence President Tudjman made his phd on writings about history
of communist worker's movement in Yugoslavia. And Prezgar does not really
call him up, does he?
 
Ivan Ozic of Dalmtinski Odbor got really nervous. He was a military judge
in former Yugoslavia. It can't be much worse. Except maybe having been a
general, like Mr. Tudjman.
 
Vjeko Magas complained after he found out that Prezgar does not have his
dossier. It was almost embarrassing not to be chastised by Prezgar. He also
got really nervous. What would the rest of group now think of him?
 
And Radovan Jovic kept his usual cool: he just carefully wrote everything
down. He kept diary through all meetings - writing down everything. Like:
"Veronika just left the room now.." I guess, authorities in Krajina will have
fun reading this for the rest of the summer.
 
Ivan Ozic of wrote a letter to Vecernji distancing himself from Jovic and
the rest of the group.
Magas wrote letter to senator Dole (presidential candidate) against Ozic.
Ozic wrote letter to senator Dole against Magas.
Magas and Ozic meanwhile slept in the same room.
 
Ozic, whose family receives death threats daily, and whose office was
already once blown up in a terrorist attack, told me, answering my question
whether he considered requesting a political asylum here, that he had given
a thought to that, but declined [to do that] - since he has important fights
to finish in his homeland: he plans to run for an office (well that's pretty
clear that both he and Magas understood this tour d' America as a part of
their campaign trail). He actually says that there will be few insignificant
presidents of Croatia - like Drazen Budisa and Mira Ljubic-Lorger - between
Tudjman and HIM.
 
At A.J. Muste Institute Mirjana talked about the activities of her group. She
mainly and very specifically talked about the activities related to
preventing illegal evictions. So, then I asked others to talk about specific
activities that their groups did. So Magas started talking again and he
talked about evictions. I asked Ozic if they also did evictions. Sure they
did. There is also a group of international volunteers (Otvorene Oci)
specifically formed to deal with evictions. So since evictions are so
excellently covered, and since Magas and Ozic hinting how they played above
the rim and bragged how excellently they covered media, I hoped they'd tell
me the statistics of how many evictions were actually prevented. But their
secretaries were unavailable. Also, at that point they started bickering and
quarrelling about who did more to prevent evictions: HHO or DO. ARK of
course in their opinion is just a marginal low-lives organizations.
 
It was clear that Magas and Ozic are here collecting credits for their
future political career - human rights for them are just the stepping stone.
 
Article in Vecernjak does not mention ARK - instead Veronika is put in
Gradjanski Odbor, and Mirijana is organizationless. Which is excellent since
I presume ARK would rather not be associated with this bunch of jerks.
 
After all, Cicak, besides being a president of HHO is also on board of OSI
in Croatia - responsible for giving money to Arkzin and Feral. Who on Earth
put HIM there?
 
Beka Vuco at Soros F. in NYC received latest Arkzin, and an angry letter
from Cicak who protests Ivana Nizich's HRW report (probably because she
forgot to extensively quote his achievements).
 
to be continued..