The Karlovac Military Tribunal has recently begun a trial against forty one years old Veljko Drakulic, who is accused of deserting from the unit into which he had been drafted. He committed a ``crime of voluntary departure against the armed forces of the republic of Croatia". Drakulic stated in his defense that he obeyed the draft notice, but that he requested on several occasions to be assigned to civilian duties in the unit. Calling on the objection of conscience he refused to bear arms. We found out from Drakulic's counsel, lawyer Slobodan Budak, that his client has been through hell; the trial is only the finishing touch. Drakulic had been, on 6/1/93, sentenced by Karlovac Military tribunal on six months in jail because of the previous desertion. He served the sentence between 1/10/94 and 6/11/94. While in jail, he submitted two petitions for civilian military service, but they were both denied. Drakulic and his petitions for the civilian military service fell in the ``black hole" made by the discrepancy between the Constitutional Order which establishes the possibility of the civilian military service for conscientious objectors and the Defense Law, which limits this right to the recruits and reservists provided they submit a petition within the period prescribed by the Law. The Constitutional Court of Croatia begun, in 1994, the examination of the constitutionality of the Defense Law, finding objectionable limitations on the period for submition of petitions by the recruits and reservists as well as the denial of the conscientious objector status to the third category - soldiers. The decision in the case has not yet been made.
Drakulic has spent forty days in one of the units derogatory named ``White Tigers," after the white boots which most of its members wore. Several hundreds of citizens of Karlovac have passed through the so called ``work brigades." Most of them were Serbs, though there were also a few ``unsuitable" Croats. They were unarmed and their uniforms had no insignia. They performed physical labor. In the spring of 1993 they were stationed further away from the front, only to be moved to the front line in the fall of the same year. They were all exposed to different kinds of humiliating and degrading behavior. However, the especially ``rigorous" treatment was reserved for conscientious objectors. Drakulic, with another 24 co-sufferers, went through the hell of one of these units. One member of the unit, a retired officer from the ex-JNA, was killed, several ran away and eventually escaped from Croatia. Two members committed suicide after release from the unit. Veljko Drakulic, talking quietly and reluctantly, with long pauses, told us only a part of his story:
Q: How long did it last?
- Well, about 14 days. And it would not have finished then if it was not for the killing of a man who had been with us. A sixty year old retired officer, [named] Radovanovic.
Q: How did he die?
- Hmm, how? While he was carrying sacks across the road, thirty meters from the front line, he was hit by a sniper bullet. And why did he die? Maybe also because he had complained about the torture.
Q: What happened afterwards?
- When all that passed, after we were demobilized I went to work. I stopped working as a butcher after 25 years because when I was released from the prison, the gentlemen from the Civil Defense and my unit came to the company I worked in and threatened the manager in order to have me fired. I was not fired, but they moved me to a position of a transport worker and my job was to move the furniture around. I accepted that in order not to offend and was given a minimum wage. It was that way until I was fired. I worked for the company until I left to serve my sentence. I went to the prison in Karlovac.
Q: How were you treated there?
- Excellently. I cannot complain. The people in jail were fantastic. They were professionals and it was good, whereas the military prison was totally different. After I was released from the prison, I again officially submitted a request for civil military service to the Ministry of Justice. I found out then that kind of request can only be made to the Ministry of Justice. It has now been confirmed at the trial and by the Ministry of Justice that they have my petition and that it had been submitted twice.
Q: What happened after your release from the jail?
- I received another draft notice. Thinking naturally that I was called up for the civilian military service and my objection of conscience had been acknowledged, I went to the headquarters, because I was supposed to report to the main commander. I came to him and asked if he knew about my case. He answered:``I do." ``So, what now?," I asked. ``Nothing," he said, ``arms and off to your unit." ``You know my views," I said. ``Good," he said, ``we will send you back to your work unit." He sent me to Orlovac. That is how I again ended up with the people who had mistreated me in the first place. They started laughing, ridiculing me, asking if I were still alive and so on. ``So, Drakulic, you still do not want guns?," they asked. I said,``I came to work, not to shoot." The four of them were getting ready to drive me. I felt that I would be at least beaten up, if not worse. I refused to go with them, but took the bicycle on which I had come and went to work. The other day, the military police started coming to my home. I was hiding for a month and a half. While in hiding, after a conversation with the Croatian Helsinki Committee, the Ministry of Justice was consulted; they called the command and Civil Defense and confirmed that they had my petition and probably to leave me alone. That is when this persecution stopped. Finally, the unit commander gave me a certificate to confirm I had spent two months in that unit, from the date on which I received the draft notice until 9/30. But regardless of that, a military prosecutor started the process against me again, and so I attended a hearing in Karlovac on 2/17. The trial has been postponed until the documents from the ministry can be obtained and the witnesses from the military are summoned. I do not know what will happen or how things will develop.
Q: You refused to take arms when drafted into the ex-JNA?
- Yes. I received the draft notice in the September of 1991 from JNA. I was supposed to report to the barracks. I refused, went there and told them. I decided not to shoot at anyone. I told them so and left. I was afraid the agents would look for me and went into hiding. That is when I blocked my floor. A military person, working for Croatia, lived on the floor. He was probably killed by the agents. I was also afraid for myself, so I blocked the elevator door and changed the locks on the staircase doors and distributed the keys only to the tenants. It went like that for a year. I unblocked the elevator door when the danger from JNA passed. On the other hand, then this thing started. So I am jobless now because I had been hiding. I do not work, my wife had a nervous breakdown and my kid's hair has turned white.
Q: You were in those ``White Tigers"?
- Yes, those were the white rubber boots. Every morning a truck came to pick us up here in Sarac and take us up to Turanj. We worked there till seven, eight, till the dusk when they would start shooting. The shooting would already start at six o'clock. Bombs...
Q: How far were the Serbs?
- Twenty, thirty meters. They watched us non-stop.
Q: Were you mistreated?
- Everything was inhuman.
Q: They made you sing Ustashe songs?
- All kinds of things happened. For example, I had to write twenty, thirty times ``I am a Cetnik" and so on. If you refuse, you know that a beating comes next. Sometimes I had to run out barefoot on the ramp in front of them, sing those songs, return, then put on the white boots, return to the middle of the road and again sing the songs. Anyway, that passed too...
Q: Taking into account your situation, with no income, what will you do if they sentence you again?
- I believe they will not, they will understand, someone will understand... And if they do sentence me.., well, I shall try to appeal. We will see what happens. This is my country, same as for any other citizen here and I do not intend to leave. No way. Only, God forbid, if I really had nothing to live on, if I spend all of my savings, nothing changes or if I cannot find work. I would leave only in those circumstances, if I really had nothing to live on. I would have to look for a job.
Q: Even over to the Serb side?
- No, I mean abroad, Slovenia or Germany... I am a butcher, so hopefully there will be work for me somewhere.
Q: Do you know the men who mistreated you?
- I wrote down everything and stashed it away. Names and surnames, what happened and everything. I told the judge if something happens to me or to my family, I shall release the information abroad in world newspapers.