Nataša Srdoč about a political prisoner Saša Radović

Nataša Srdoč in an interview with Tihomir Ladišić for TV 24 Sata, talks about political prisoner Saša Radović, threats on associates, members, and candidates of her new principal political party, Croatia 21st Century.

(Friday, Nov. 18, at TV 24 Sata)

see video at the bottom

Transcript:

Tihomir Ladišić:

Croatian political scene has received yet another affair in this election season. With us in studio is Nataša Srdoč, one of the founders of renowned Adriatic Institute, and who is now the president of the party Croatia 21 Century in these parliamentary elections. Good evening and welcome to the program.

Nataša Srdoč:

Good evening Tihomir, thank you for having me.

Tihomir Ladišić:

It was just yesterday that a story was published according to which one of the people on your list, precisely the fourth on the list, was arrested and charged with blackmailing none other but General Ivan Čermak. What is your reaction to this? Today you held a press conference, what is the position of the party?

Nataša Srdoč:

Party's view is that Saša Radović remains on the candidate list for 8th election district. He is innocent until proven guilty. It is well known that Saša Radović had written in his books about political corruption in police, justice department, and he also talked about General Čermak, who, interestingly on a Vukovar remembrance day, according to Saša's allegations, participated in smuggling of oil during the war. Saša's allegations were powerful, and that really had an impact on the court decisions until now. Čermak accused him of blackmailing, but I believe that Saša is innocent, and Saša has until now shown that he is a patriot. He was a volunteer veteran of the war. I think that Saša is innocent in this situation. We have to see how the situation will develop, however, Saša remains on the list, and I believe that he is a political prisoner. Political prisoner in a situation where it is openly being discussed by the media that the police has been privatized by the Police Minister, Mr. Karamarko. And in this case we can also see that it is in Čermak's interest to get rid of Saša Radović, because of documents which Saša has in regards to oil smuggling that was happening during the war period.

Tihomir Ladišić:

Thank you. Let's take a look at our short report from this evening, in which it says that Zagreb police had confirmed yesterday that General Ivan Čermak had reported being blackmailed by a man whom he knew earlier. The man persisted in his blackmail attempt, but in cooperation with the police Čermak had negotiated the money sum which was to be given. On Wednesday around 17 o'clock, near tunnel Lučka, Čermak delivered the money, after which the police arrested the perpetrator who was in the company of his wife. Police did not reveal his identity at that time, however, supposedly it is the activist and author Saša Radović, who tried to extort money from General Čermak, in exchange for stopping the accusations for war profiteering.

Marko Mikulić – head of the Zagreb crime police:

The reported individual had persisted in his request to be given the money, and he was arrested last night at around 17 o'clock, right after the money takeover, in the area of tunnel Lučka.

Tihomir Ladišić:

Nataša, the fact is that a man from your list had taken money from General Čermak, which leads to the conclusion that this could really be a crime, what will be your reaction if the charges of blackmail and criminal wrongdoing are confirmed?

Nataša Srdoč:

I believe that the fact that this happened on the day on which it was first publicly announced that Saša was on the list of Croatia 21st Century is not a coincidence. This case could have happened much earlier or later, however it happened exactly on the day when it was revealed that he is on the candidate list of Croatia 21st Century. And because of that I say that Saša is a political prisoner. And actually, this situation clearly shows that we need foreign judges and prosecutors, and now even the investigators, so that we can establish an independent court of justice, rule of law, and resolve the political corruption. Let's not forget that Saša has all this time over the years promoted same things that Adriatic Institute promotes, and now we have actually joined our forces through the political party Croatia 21st Century, and that is to confiscate the property of all of those who cannot prove that they had acquired it through legal means.

Tihomir Ladišić:

However I have to ask you, do you think that it is theoretically really possible that the man from your candidate list could have been the extortionist and that he received money from the man he blackmailed, from General Čermak? Do you have any information from Saša Radović, has he received money by blackmailing General Čermak?

Nataša Srdoč:

I haven't been in contact with Saša Radović, I tried to get in touch with him, however it is simply impossible, I know that we can't get in touch now at this time. I would ask for Saša to be released, and in the case of him not being released we would request an international investigators to make an independent assessment of this case and verify the evidence to make sure it is verifiable according to the international standards, in accordance with how investigations are conducted. Because of the timing coincidence, with appearance of Saša on the candidate list of Croatia 21st Century, in the time when we are talking about our intent to confiscate property of all of those who acquired it illegally, and that includes political corruption for which Saša accuses Karamarko, and profiteering for which Saša accuses Čermak, I think that such parallels are too-great to ignore.

Tihomir Ladišić:

Then I have to ask you, if we are talking about political motives, and you obviously are talking about political motives, which motive could Minister Karamarko have for attacking one such party as the Croatia 21st Century, but not to attack the main big rivals such as the “Kukuriku Coalition” in the elections?

Nataša Srdoč:

I think that in this situation only the Croatia 21st Century party is talking about independent courts and the need to establish rule of law, and take away property. Nobody else talks about that. There exists property which was taken away from taxpayers. All that property represents a huge sum which can be used to for paying off public debt, which again can be of use to our taxpayers. That property must be returned into the government budget. No other party talks in this way, and no other party represents the threat to the current political structure. I must say that those from the so called right and from the so called left, the HDZ party and the SDP party, it is well known that on top of both of them there are people who participated in political corruption, for whom it is known that they possess unexplained wealth, which they couldn't have acquired through government salaries. And such unexplained wealth must be confiscated. In fact, the burden of proof for achieving wealth must fall on those people themselves and on the people close to them.

Tihomir Ladišić:

Don't you think that pulling him off the list would actually serve the purpose of finding out what the real truth is, and in this way it would be shown that if there is a suspicion, that the people are willing to pull out of politics, because it is a phenomenon in Croatia that nobody ever pulls out when they commit a criminal offense. Shouldn't your party have shown that it respects the justice system and that your action of pulling this candidate off the list would show that credibility?

Nataša Srdoč:

I wouldn't think so. I do believe that in one normal country it would be a move which should be made. However, we have up to now received informations from many people who wanted to join Croatia 21st Century but who have received threats: direct treats, loss of employment, loss of contract, arrival of financial police in one case, all of which means that there is no economic freedom in this country, and that really needs to be emphasized. So twenty years ago we have achieved our independence, as our patriots bravely defended our borders, but our people today are still not economically free. Without economic freedom there cannot be political freedom. They are not free to move to a political party of their choosing, and support a program which they prefer, if their job as a worker or as an entrepreneur depends on the state.

Tihomir Ladišić:

This was Nataša Srdoč, president of the party Croatia 21st Century, thank you for being our guest live in TV show 24 Sata.

Nataša Srdoč:

Thank you very much Tihomir.