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Yugoslavia Courts, Detention, and Punishment
Arrest without warrant was standard procedure. Detainees had
the right to know the reasons for their arrest within twenty-four
hours, by which time their families were to be informed of their
whereabouts. Under article 178 of the Constitution, a prisoner
could be held three days before a judge was required to decide
whether further detention was permissible. The court could detain
individuals for three months without charging them with a
criminal offense. The Federal Supreme Court had the power to
extend imprisonment without charge by an additional three months.
The judiciary lacked sufficient independence to ensure impartial
justice for all citizens. Judges were subject to party discipline
by the LCY, through which they had reached office. Most judges
were appointed only after receiving party approval of their
"moral-political suitability." The State Presidency directly
appointed and dismissed judges and prosecutors
(see Court System
, ch. 4).
The Federal Secretariat for Justice operated twelve major
prisons throughout the country. Even party veterans admitted that
prison conditions were worse under LCY-dominated government than
they were under the old regime. Amnesty International received
occasional reports of psychological and physical abuse applied to
obtain confessions from detainees. That organization estimated
that at least several hundred political prisoners were held in
Yugoslavia in any given year of the 1980s. Thousands of other
citizens were punished by more insidious means. The government
often revoked or denied passports, or dismissed suspicious
individuals from employment in their chosen profession.
The military had a separate court system, which included an
Office of the Military Prosecutor and a Supreme Military Court.
Military courts tried cases involving criminal offenses by armed
forces personnel and cases otherwise connected with military
service. The most serious offenses in this category were
desertion, dereliction of duty, and activities contrary to
military morale. Article 221 of the Constitution also granted
military courts jurisdiction over certain criminal offenses
committed by civilians but related to national defense. They
could impose sentences including the death penalty for criminal
offenses that undermined the economic or military strength of the
country in times of war or imminent danger of war. In the 1980s,
military courts were increasingly used for proceedings against
civilians because they could be conducted in closed sessions. The
State Presidency appointed and dismissed military judges and
prosecutors, as it did for civil courts.
In a highly publicized case in 1988, two young Slovenian
journalists and a noncommissioned officer were arrested by
military authorities and accused of illegally possessing secret
military information. The journalists had recently published an
article critical of the Yugoslav role as intermediary in Swedish
arms sales to Libya. When a military court in Ljubljana found
them guilty of revealing military secrets, thousands of Slovenes
protested the trial, and a rash of physical attacks on army
personnel followed the verdict.
Data as of December 1990
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