Let me admit at the outset that I feel trapped like an animal. And muzzled, too. The cage feels small, ever smaller. It is the law regulating defamation. Apparently, it is so nicely formulated that practically anything can land you in court. At the moment, I face two court cases regarding the same piece of writing (“Croatia Spells Conflict of Interests,” October 3, 2008). The first is by the mayor of Motovun, and the second by the Motovun Municipality. Imagine, they are represented by the same law firm!

The very same law firm represents the Istrian government, as well. Also, it represents a number of investors in golf development on the peninsula. This is the Istrian golf lobby, as I like to call it, but it stretches all the way to the prime minister, who has pushed through the parliament a law about golf written by the blessed law firm. The law allows for expropriation of land needed by golf investors in the case its owners do not want to sell it since golf is now considered of strategic interest in Croatia. It is on a par with national defense, no less.

Now, I cannot say a word about any of this because I fear that the divine law firm will also sue me. That would be the last nail in my coffin, too. As I do not know a single journalist in Croatia who would be willing and able to expose this tangle of conflicts of interests, I hope that you could help. The European Union must be made aware of the endemic nature of this problem. Croatia spells conflict of interests in every imaginable form.