Jewish and antifascist organizations have announced boycotts of official state commemoration at Jasenovac.
On the eve of the official state commemoration to mark the anniversary of the breakout from the Ustasha concentration camp at Jasenovac on 22 April, SDP will submit an interpellation to Parliament, due to the fact that not far from the site of the Ustasha camp there is still a memorial plaque containing the Ustasha slogan “For Homeland Ready”, reports Večernji List on April 10, 2017.
SDP explains that the Constitutional Court in 2016 announced a decision which confirmed sanctions against using the slogan in political life, and then later that year upheld a decision from a lower court which said that the slogan was hate speech. “If the Constitutional Court accepts that the use of the slogan is hate speech, then state authorities have to treat it that was and punish its use,” said SDP’s vice president Peđa Grbin, adding that the removal of the controversial memorial plaque in Jasenovac was the subject of a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Constitution.
“On that occasion, a consensus was reached with the ruling parties. The Committee concluded that the plaque insulted the victims of Jasenovac and urged the authorities to have it removed. We can honour all the victims, but nothing must be done to offend others. We felt it necessary for consensus to be reached. But, nothing has happened to this day, which is why Croatia is subjected to harsh criticism in the country, but also from our allies,” said Grbin.
In addition to the interpellation, SDP will demand from the government to use its powers to initiate proceedings of supervision against legal persons which use the slogan in their name or insignia. “The objective of the supervision is to demand changes to their statues. If they were to ignore it, there are several options, from imposing misdemeanour sanctions to their removal from the registry,” explained Grbin.
The memorial plaque is one of the reasons why those national communities in Croatia which suffered the greatest number of victims during the Ustasha regime will boycott the official commemoration on 22 April at Jasenovac. Just like last year, three separate commemorations will take place: the official event under the auspices of Parliament, an event organized by the coordination of Jewish Communities in Croatia, and the commemoration organized by the Union of Antifascist Fighters of Croatia. SDP’s representatives will probably take part in the latter one.
