CCPR/C/112/D/2068/2011
station, without any charge being presented to him. At the police station, he was dragged by
his hands, face down on the ground, while police officers hit and kicked him. On 20 May
1991, the same events took place and the author was again dragged from a police car to the
police station, where he was questioned without any charge. On 27 May 1991, he was again
arrested and taken to the police station, without explanation. Upon arrival, he was dragged
by his hair and was forced to run along a corridor, with police officers positioned on either
side of the corridor to trip him up. Thereafter, he was kicked, beaten and questioned. One
police officer showed him his knife, saying “I am Ustaše1 and I will slaughter you. What do
you wait for? You must leave your apartment and the Republic of Croatia!”
2.2
On 5 June 1991, the author was apprehended by two police officers and a member of
Zbor Narodne Grade. Upon showing his identity card, he was dragged by his hands to the
police station where he was questioned without any charge. On 13 June 1991, he was
stopped at the market by three members of the paramilitary forces, Ustaše, in black
uniforms. He was asked to show his identity card and one of them asked him “Are you
Serbian? You have a Serbian name! We will slaughter all Serbs!” The author replied that he
was born in Zagreb but the paramilitary officer hit and kicked him. Similar events took
place on 7 July 1991, on 20 July 1991 and on 1 August 1991. On 5 August 1991, he was
stopped by three police officers. After he had shown his identity card, one of the policemen
hit him on the head with a truncheon and then dragged him to the police station where he
was beaten and questioned.
2.3
On several occasions, police and military officers entered the family apartment
without the author’s consent or knowledge.2 On 22 August 1991, the author was assaulted
in his apartment by a police officer who broke his wrist by hitting him with his rifle stock.
At the time, the author was told that this was part of regular police activity, because he had
been identified as a person inclined to illegal political activity. When the author pointed out
that there must be a mistake with regard to his identity, the aforementioned acts intensified
and he was threatened with death by a member of the Croatian secret police.
2.4
The author claims that he and his family were forced to leave the family apartment
after receiving death threats during the author’s temporary absence from Zagreb. The
author and his parents feared for their lives as Croatian Serbs. Before fleeing Croatia, on 12
August 1991, the author was dismissed from his job as a liquidator-cashier at Zagreb Bank,
because of his allegedly unjustified absence from work for a week. The author contests the
alleged absence and asserts that he was at work during the period in question.
2.5
From 1991 to 1997, the Croatian authorities refused to issue new identification
documents to the author and his old documents were not valid for return to the State party. 3
Once he was able to re-enter Croatia, he discovered that the apartment previously occupied
by his family had been sold.4 On 16 March 1995, the office of the Government of the
Republic of Croatia in Belgrade turned down the author’s request for assistance and aid
regarding the violations of his human rights. As a refugee in the Republic of Serbia, he was
unable to take a permanent job and was not eligible for social and health care there.
1
2
3
4
Croatian nationalist movement.
It appears from the file that the tenancy rights belonged to the author’s parents who submitted claims
in court, see communication No. 1510/2006, Dušan Vojnović v. Croatia, Views adopted on 30 March
2009, paragraphs 2.3 and 2.5.
According to information provided by the author, he received a certificate of citizenship in 1998 and a
passport on 23 November 2001. He also claims that after the Croatian military operation “Storm” in
1995, it was not possible to enter Croatia without a valid passport.
The author mentions in the submission that he “got the ability to return to the place where he had a
home” on 23 November 2001, but does not specify when exactly he re-entered Croatia.
3