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Yugoslavia Dissidence
Official Yugoslav sources reported that political offenses
increased dramatically during the 1980s. Each year several
hundred individuals were arrested on political charges. Those
arrested generally were either intellectuals arguing for greater
freedom of expression or nationalists agitating for change in the
composition of the federal republic. Violent incidents were rare
when compared with peaceful expressions of dissident political
ideas.
The Yugoslav Constitution of 1974 guarantees the citizen many
basic rights and freedoms, including petition (article 157),
opinion (article 166), press, media, speech, expression,
association, and assembly (article 167), movement and abode
(article 183), inviolability of the home (article 184), and
confidentiality of communication (article 185). Nevertheless,
throughout the 1970s and 1980s, writers, poets, sociologists,
philosophers, and ordinary citizens received harsh punishments
for exercising the basic political freedoms guaranteed by the
Constitution as well as by international conventions to which
Yugoslavia was a signatory. Major loopholes in the civil rights
language of the Constitution legalized prosecution for undefined
activities inimical to the established constitutional order
(see Djilas, Praxis, and Intellectual Repression
, ch. 4). By 1990 many
proposals for a new Constitution called for elimination of the
vague language that had allowed selective prosecution. Given the
open political climate in other Eastern European states by 1990,
Yugoslav government and LCY officials became increasingly
sensitive to descriptions of Yugoslavia as a police state.
Internal and external political events pressured the government
and party toward competing with politically unacceptable opinions
and ideas rather than imposing prison sentences on those who
expressed them.
The federal criminal code of 1977 contained one chapter on
petty offenses against the social system and security of the
country. It included a number of political offenses and so-called
"verbal crimes," another catchall category under which many types
of opposition could be thwarted. Any article, pamphlet, or speech
advocating changes in the socialist self-management system,
disrupting the unity of nations and nationalities, or maliciously
or untruthfully portraying sociopolitical conditions in the
country was punishable by one to ten years in prison (article
133). Also known as the law on hostile propaganda, this was the
most infamous and frequently applied criminal law against
political activity. A conviction on charges of hostile propaganda
did not require the prosecution to prove that the article,
pamphlet, or speech in question was malicious or untruthful.
Article 133 carried a mandatory three-year sentence in cases
with foreign involvement. Preparing, possessing, or reproducing
such material for dissemination could bring a prison term of five
years. A sentence for violating article 133 usually was followed
by a ban on public appearance and expression for several years.
The law criminalized open criticism of the one-party political
system, the LCY, or Tito; possession of unsanctioned historical
treatises or emigre newspapers; granting interviews or writing
works published abroad; authoring political graffiti; and
circulating petitions to delete article 133 from the criminal
code. The hostile propaganda law was applied strictly against
Yugoslav workers abroad, who often returned with émigré
literature or newspapers in their possession. A less serious
category of "verbal crime" was described as damaging the
reputation of the state, its leaders, or symbols and spreading
false rumors. Such activity was punishable by short prison terms
of one or two months.
In the wake of the Kosovo unrest in 1981, more than 2,000
ethnic Albanians, many of them students and instructors at
Pristina University, were arrested on charges of damaging
official reputations. About 250 people received sentences under
article 133 for terms of one to fifteen years. Another 250 people
received fines or sentences of sixty days for lesser "verbal
crimes." Although some violent clashes had occurred, most
convictions were for shouting or painting slogans on walls or
distributing pamphlets or poems.
Several other laws criminalized peaceful political or
nationalist association and assembly. Such activities included
participation in hostile activity (article 131), incitement to
national hatred (article 134), association for the purpose of
hostile activity (article 136), and counterrevolutionary
endangering of the social order (article 114). The maximum
sentence among those provisions was eight years in prison.
Yugoslavs abroad who contacted émigré political parties or
nationalist groups or who participated in demonstrations inside
the country have been sentenced under these laws. After the
Croatian nationalist crisis of 1969-71, over 500 Croats were
sentenced using those provisions. Article 134 in particular was
applied to silence individuals who raised the political,
economic, or cultural grievances of a particular nation or
nationality, or who complained of discrimination against such a
group. The provision was used to prevent the public use of
national flags and songs representing the ethnic groups of the
Yugoslav federation.
In the absence of legal means of peaceful political
expression, many individuals and groups resorted to violence.
Several nationalist organizations maintained armed paramilitary
or terrorist units. Their actions had the negative effect of
justifying government repression of peaceful as well as violent
dissidents. Nationalist groups aimed bombing and sabotage attacks
at official targets in Yugoslavia and abroad.
The secret police relentlessly pursued underground
nationalist groups. In 1984 twenty-three Croats identified with
the separatist Croatian Militant Unity group were convicted for
allegedly smuggling arms into the country and perpetrating a
series of bombings. The next year, six Macedonians were
imprisoned for a campaign of bombings during the early 1970s.
After two decades of unrest, ethnic Albanians in Kosovo
increasingly turned to violence. They occasionally used firearms
and explosives against the security forces, occupying YPA troops,
and Serbs in Kosovo. This development indicated the adverse
consequences of universal military training in a tense ethnic
situation. Many ethnic Albanians involved in violent activity
apparently had learned to handle weapons in the army or TDF. One
group in Kosovo hijacked a government vehicle carrying small
arms.
Data as of December 1990
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