According to a leading Croatian newspaper, a Croatian soccer magnate, who happens to be one of the richest people in the country, was just found guilty of insult because he had called a journalist at a crowded press conference something like “treacherous trash.” And I, a mere pensioner, was found guilty of the same verbal crime for calling the mayor of Motovun a cockroach, albeit only as a metaphor for someone who always works in the dark and behind closed doors. Undemocratically, that is. Besides, the insult was recorded by an unauthorized camera in a small gathering of green activists. Now, and this is the clincher, the soccer magnate got a fine that is about a half of the fine that I got. Is there a better index of political repression in Croatia than the difference between the two fines? Is there a clearer sign that something is seriously amiss with this country of rampant capitalism and dwindling democracy?