I am writing to you in connection with a legal conundrum I am now facing in Croatia. I am both a Croatian and British citizen. Having retired to Croatia a decade ago after many years in the United States and the United Kingdom, where I taught at several universities, at some point I found myself opposed to the policies of the mayor of Motovun, a small Istrian town of medieval origin in which I now reside. In particular, he was promoting golf and polo development in the municipality, which I found unsustainable. Golf and polo as such were not at issue; rather it was excessive real estate development that I found questionable. I confronted him in several different ways, including political action. I formed a branch of an Istrian green party in Motovun so as to defend the municipality from pernicious development.

The mayor responded by taking me to court with two libel cases and one insult case ahead of the last municipal elections, which took place in 2009. The first lawsuit came along in 2008, and the other two in 2009, all of them just before the elections. This was political harassment par excellence. Trumped up without exception, the lawsuits were meant to stop me as a political opponent with some credibility on professional grounds, for my specialties include spatial or physical planning and real estate development.

I should add at this point that the law firm representing the mayor of Motovun in all three cases simultaneously represented the municipality of Motovun and the then investor in golf development in the municipality. At the same time, they represented the majority of golf investors in Istria, as well as several regional organizations promoting golf on the peninsula. Also, golf was considered one of the top development priorities by the regional government, which the law firm in question also represented. On top of everything, the law firm was directly involved in writing a law expropriating all those who did not wish to sell their land for golf development. I could not imagine a person accused ever facing such a formidable opposition in any democratic country. Throughout the court proceedings, I felt that I had no reasonable chance of winning any of the lawsuits.

The municipal and regional courts eventually struck down the two libel cases, however, but they upheld the insult case. The insult is of interest in its own right. At a gathering of green activists in the Croatian capital I likened the mayor to a cockroach because he usually worked in the dark and behind closed doors. That is, undemocratically. I was not aware that my comment was recorded. This was done without my permission, as well. Anyhow, the metaphor harmed the mayor in no way. Thus I appealed to the Constitutional Court of Croatia before taking the insult case to the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, as required by that international court. However, the Constitutional Court has remained quiet for more than a year now. I should mention that procrastination of this sort is often used at all court levels in Croatia as a deliberate strategy to defeat political opposition.

I would like to stress once again that the mayor of Motovun has suffered in no way from my metaphor. He has won the elections and he is now serving as mayor for the third time in a row. In short, my likening him to a cockroach has done him no harm whatsoever. On the other hand, I have suffered from his harassment for years. I have long abandoned all activities concerning sustainable development. In addition, I have started thinking about leaving Motovun, Istria, and Croatia. Having spent most of my life abroad, I have found the political repression in Croatia rather unbearable. Although both of my parents hail from Istria, the mayor of Motovun has promoted a campaign in which I have been treated as a foreigner, or furešt in the Istrian dialect. This I find unbearable, indeed.

Two months ago I sent a personal appeal about this matter to Jasna Omejec, the President of the Constitutional Court of Croatia, but without any success. As is typical of this country, few people in high places ever respond to letters of concerned citizens. It is not in the culture, as it were. Mind you, all I was asking for is a speedy decision, no matter which, so that I could go to Strasbourg for the final verdict. This is all I wish at this point. My goal is to bring the insult case to a close within a year or two at most. In addition, I wish to point out the political nature of the judiciary process in Croatia, where libel and insult cases are systematically used to thwart political opposition.

I sincerely hope that you can help me with this matter. Again, all I want is a timely decision by the Constitutional Court of Croatia so that I can proceed to Strasbourg, where I expect to win the insult case in due time. This I consider to be among my basic human rights. The decision of the highest court in Croatia itself is otherwise of no concern to me. I have nowhere else to turn but the European Union, which Croatia will join in less than a year. If you cannot help me, I will have to leave Croatia as soon as I can. The persecution I am facing at the moment is turning out to be too difficult for me to bear any longer.