Entrance To Chaos

The many-months-long effort of regime employees to reconstruct and complete FRY's legal system should give very concrete results in the near future. In record time, by urgent procedures and definitely prior to the deadline (before a single convincing terrorist organization has been uncovered here and before the existing laws were applied which regulate this field), on Friday, June 30th the anti-terrorism law is to be approved in the federal parliament. Until Tuesday, three days prior to the announced approval, that law has been guarded like the greatest state secret. Thanks to the government representatives, primarily those from the Yugoslav Left, that strongly guarded secret (at least its essence) had managed to find its way to the inquisitive public, indicating that what we have before us is yet another law made primarily to fulfill daily-political needs, rather that what its title says. Yet another law which shows that this regime is making all that isn't under it's one-hundred-percent control - the government, elections, money, media, truth, opposition... insecure. That insecurity isn't only provoking territorial deficits, yet that isn't overly apparent when the truth is controlled with an almost one-hundred-percent efficiency.

The draft law which was made known to the public last Tuesday, anticipates stringent, year-long sentences for, as the law says, "endangering the constitutional order or territorial integrity of FRY", and for the most serious forms of such an act, a lifelong prison term is to be imposed. Therefore, for a person who organizes or is a member of a group whose goal is to endanger the constitutional order and territorial integrity of FRY, a prison sentence of one to eight years is prescribed. According to the same draft law, those who distribute, keep with the intention of distributing, or produce certain texts, audiovisual, electronic or other material and make it accessible, which call or incite terrorist activities, will be sentenced to prison terms of at least three years. Those who commit such an act with help from abroad shall be sentenced to a prison term of at least five years, while those who inform the public that they approve of such acts shall sentenced to terms ranging from six months to five years in prison. According to this law, instructions on steps which are to be taken in connection to this law shall be given by the federal minister for internal affairs (all indications point to the spectacular return of the already forgotten Zoran Sokolovic), while the federal state prosecutor should be informed of all undertaken means. Those who are sentenced shall be sent to "strictly closed prisons", preventive detention of up to 30 days has also been included, while charges can in certain cases be raised without a previous investigation. In the justification of the law, the federal government, as its reason for adopting it, cites "a wish to procure more adequate criminal-legal protection of certain social values, security and the constitutional order of FRY and its member republics". It also stresses that the law was modeled upon similar laws of countries which have had a certain amount of problems and experience in combating terrorism.

The period before the local anti-terrorism law is to be adopted was preceded by a certain kind of regime propaganda terrorism, complete with unruliness in inventing enemies and calling upon public lynching of all those who are not sitting in the regime's lap. On the basis of that, one could start doubting how the intention of the government to come to terms with all politically unlike minded citizens stands behind this law or their attempt to at least try to instrumentalize such a law in the most vulgar way, while allegedly fighting against terrorists. Most of the opposition reactions after the preliminary reading of this draft can be reduced to more or less similar comments: "this will introduce a real dictatorship", "this is a law against unsatisfied people", "this will once again introduce verbal offense and will protect the ruling family", "the law will incite new conflicts", "Serbia is entering a new, unfortunate, and dangerous period of repression and fear"... While on the subject of fear, this might be a good moment to remind people of Stalin's sentence that "love is temporary and fear eternal". An additional trouble with this anti-terrorism law is that it shall be passed at the moment when authorized state government bodies have at least a dozen or so unresolved murders and liquidations before them without any apparent leads which would point to the perpetrators. In many of those cases, a combination of dirty money and doubtful policies are vaguely apparent, however up to now there haven't been any signs of a terrorist organization which by rule undertakes such acts with a certain goal which they publicly announce. Our local "terrorists" therefore still lack an easily identifiable name, which doesn't mean that the regime's unruliness in slapping labels on everything won't bury all these illogical details. The difference being that up until a few days ago a statement which says that Otpor is a copy of the Red Brigades could be looked upon as someone's personal paranoia, sloppiness or politically incoherent and laughable attempt, equal to the one that the skin of a leopard can be placed over an elephant's back. As of Friday, when the anti-terrorism law will be passed, such nebulous statements, in case they are turned into political commands and warrants (a fairly frequently occurrence here) could, in the shortest possible time, fill up practically all of the prisons in Serbia mostly with kids who want to finally bring about some changes here. Unfortunately, instead of all those who truly murder people, put explosives under cars and assassinate their victims in cold blood. Least of all with those who issue such commands or provide payment for such services.

As for those against whom (on account of a shortage of real and easily recognizable terrorists organizations) this anti-terrorism law is truly aimed, there aren't that many dilemmas. For example, it is enough to read an article recently published in Politika daily under the caption "The So-Called Democratic Opposition - Biggest Hurdle On the Road to Reentering the International Community". The author of this text (otherwise a high Yugoslav United Left official) says that only "owing to local quislings during the last year, the lifting of the sanctions imposed on Yugoslavia has been postponed, the announced flow of aid from the West was stopped, the list of those who are forbidden from traveling was enlarged, and a series of assassinations of honest and decent people, politicians and businessmen has commenced, previously unheard of in our country". This text which indirectly introduces the anti-terrorism law also "scans the terrorists" and calls upon all authorized to stop the "various arsonists" such as the so-called Otpor organization, using all legal means and among other things says: "Regardless of all problems which we have to face on a daily basis, many indicators show us that better days await us... Europe is slowly waking up to the fact that there is no recovery without Yugoslavia, since Dunav is still blocked, and the European currency - the Euro, is getting weaker and weaker. Meaning, the only remaining problem is home treason, yet our constitution and laws can rectify that, just like it had in the case of certain, allegedly independent media. We have paid a far too great price for our freedom to allow others to squander it, those whose only task is to, by means of terrorism, in word and deed, lead this country into chaos and despair and to hand it over to the enemy."

At the moment when the parliament of Serbia was passing the new law on local self-management, Dr. Vladimir Goati, a sociologist from Belgrade, warned all that it most probably wasn't the end and how, following the information and university laws, others would follow. "The next law", as Dr. Goati then claimed, "could be the one which prohibits public rallies, after which the opposition will finally understand that it has been abolished. Naturally, if it will have anyplace where it will be able to read such news." The law on the battle against terrorism could take us closer to such a state. Dr. Vojin Dimitrijevic, professor of international law and one of those who is very well acquainted with international experiences in this field (including the abuse of such laws), claimed a couple of days ago in an interview in Danas daily, how the government seems to have the intention to plant the so-called East-German multi-party system here. "There", as Dr. Dimitrijevic reminds us, "the Communist Party and another two-three parties existed which, allegedly, weren't communist. Their representatives had their drivers and secretaries, and when needed, turned up to tow the 'line'. I believe that the wish of the government here is to have a single party with two faces, along with two-three docile opposition parties which will in reality loyally collaborate with them."

One of the more interesting aspects of this law is that the federal parliament is to adopt it, meaning that it applies to the entire territory of FRY. In the ranks of the three-party coalition, it appears as though there was a lot of dilemma whether it would be better to pass this law on the republican level only or on the other one which the government of Montenegro would automatically classify, as far as they're concerned, as worthless, senseless and invalid. Montenegro's Prime Minister, Filip Vujanovic, has already announced that this law will not be enforced in Montenegro, at the same time claiming in a rather self assured manner, that he doesn't expect that the anti-terrorism law will further complicate the otherwise low level of relations between the two republics. Unlike Vujanovic, there are many who believe that this very law has the task to kill or at least fluster a couple of birds with a single stone. The opposition which refuses to take the crumbs from the government table, Otpor, independent media, non-government organizations, and, if the stone's range proves to be far-reaching, certain things in Montenegro too. If not immediately then maybe later. Which is why, in interpreting this law, the question of jurisdiction shall be fairly interesting. Certain statements hint at a resurrection of the federal police, abolished many years ago, during Milan Panic's government, and the appearance of certain, apparently "special federal security forces". It will also be interesting to note how the army will read this law, especially since a lot of space has been left for the operation of military courts. Otherwise, official Montenegro claims that the existing laws suffice. If the attempted assassination of Vuk Draskovic is to be classified as a terrorist act, if the local police has found the perpetrators and is demanding that their colleagues from Serbia arrest and extradite the people who they doubt had executed this act, all can be handled in accordance with the existing laws and regulations.

A day following the collapse of the Yugoslav team at the European Championship in football and their 6:1 defeat from the Dutch team, and a day before the draft law on the fight against terrorism will be made public, the majority of the newspapers blew up the caption "Yugoslavia Eight in Europe" over the entire front page. Those who were on duty that day in regime-controlled press had most probably suggested that, despite everything, people should be injected with a new dosage of optimism. Had the law on the fight against terrorism already existed at the time of this match (according to all, a certain kind of long forgotten copy of the Law on the Protection of the State from the time of king Aleksandar), those on duty probably wouldn't have had to suggest a thing. Any person with "good intentions" would have personally spread the following caption "Great Success - Yugoslavia Eight in Europe" or "Yugoslavia Better Than the Germans or the British". The law would only be there to prevent the mention of the terrorists' names Kluirvert and Overmars and glorification of their kind of game.