Ranko Bon’s latest selection from his Residua, entitled rather pathetically Dying to Go to Strasbourg, is a perplexing read. Having lost a court case for insult to the former mayor of Motovun, whom he called a cockroach on account of his undemocratic ways, he is going to Strasbourg in hope of justice. His new book, which can be found on the Ca’ Bon Gallery website (www.cabongallery.org), purports to demonstrate that corruption and organized crime rule not only golf development in Croatia, but its judicial system, as well. The European Court of Human Rights is thus raised by the author to the pedestal of justice at its purest and most sublime. One cannot but wonder where will the poor author go if and when he fails to find justice in Strasbourg, either. Mars? Or perhaps Alpha Centauri? But the author seems adamant about justice in spite of his understanding that corruption and organized crime can hardly be limited to Croatia, let alone Europe. Just like cockroaches, they can be found everywhere on this planet. In spite of this, he wants nothing but justice, and at any cost. For all its pathos, the new book shows that the author is only human. Many years in Croatian courts was all it took.

From Dario Dandolo’s “Fiat iustitia et pereat mundus,” De natura verbalis, Vol. XXXIII, No. 1, Spring 2015, p. 88 (in Italian).