What is your first impression of this recounting of the trial of Dinko Sakic by Michael Parenti (it's from his book To Kill a Nation)? I doubt it is positive. A misbehaving defendant publicly boasts of his exploits with apparent impunity as he taunts his victims once again. An authoritarian executive impinges on the judiciary for the benefit of one of his supporters. A trial in chaos as witnesses recant under pressure from anonymous death threats. The accompanying text box paints a Croatia's legal system as one without redeeming qualities. It is a pretty damning critique. Except....
There's no conclusion. How did Sakic's trial end? If this were all you were to read about Dinko Sakic's prosecution, no one could fault you for concluding that he was released after a formal rendering of a not-guilty verdict or through a dismissal of charges. However, you would be very mistaken. Sakic was convicted and sentenced to the maximum allowable sentence of twenty years in prison. Given that Sakic was in his late seventies, this was a veritable death sentence, a view vindicated by his death in prison in 2008 while still incarcerated. These facts present Croatia' justice system far more favorably. It shows that Croatia, a newly-independent state, was able to successfully prosecute a criminal with high-level connections and supporters willing to use violence to secure the desired verdict, something many established Western democracies struggle to accomplish. Sure, the judges at Sakic's trial needed to rein him in better and the Croatian security services have to improve witness protection and their handling of witness intimidation. Without doubt, twenty years as a maximum penalty for the charges Sakic was facing is appalling. In short, the trial of Dinko Sakic shows that Croatia had successfully begum the transition from component of an authoritarian state to a Western-style liberal democracy. This is something to be cheered, not sniped at with disinformation and distortions.
In answer to why Michael Parenti wrote such a hit piece, see Marko Attila Hoare's The Left Revisionists.
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