Political prisoners in Yugoslavia were mostly held after 1945 for opposition to the

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

, Soviet sentiments during and after the

Informbiro period The Informbiro period was an era of Yugoslavia's history following the Tito–Stalin split in mid-1948 that lasted until the country's partial rapprochement with the Soviet Union in 1955 with the signing of the Belgrade declaration. After Wor ...

, or drives for regional autonomy or independence.

Socialist Yugoslavia (1945–92)

* Črtomir Nagode,

Ljubo Sirc Ljubo Sirc CBE (19 April 1920 – 1 December 2016) was a British- Slovene economist and prominent dissident from Yugoslavia. Life and work Sirc was born in Kranj, then part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, in a wealthy and renow ...

, Leon Kavčnik,

Boris Furlan Boris Furlan (10 November 1894 – 10 June 1957)Brecelj, Marijan. 1978. "Borut Furlan." ''Primorski slovenski biografski leksikon'', vol. 5. Gorizia: Goriška Mohorjeva družba, p. 394.Jevnikar, Martin. 1989. "Boris Furlan." ''Enciklopedija Slovenij ...

, Zoran Hribar,

Angela Vode Angela Vode (; 5 January 1892 – 5 May 1985) was a Slovenian pedagogue, Feminism, feminist author and human rights activist. An early member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, she was expelled from the Party in 1939 because of criticism agains ...

, Metod Kumelj, Pavla Hočevar, Svatopluk Zupan, Bogdan Stare, Metod Pirc, Vid Lajovic, Franjo Sirc, Elizabeta Hribar and

Franc Snoj Franc Snoj (28 January 1902 – 22 April 1962) was a Slovenian politician and economist. He was a minister without portfolio in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1938 and 1939. During the Second World War, together with the other members of the Yugosl ...

, who stood at the

Nagode Trial The Nagode Trial ( sl, Nagodetov proces) was a political show trial in PR Slovenia, Slovenia, FPR Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia in 1947.Vodušek Starič, Jerca. 1993. Nagodetov proces. ''Enciklopedija Slovenije'', vol. 7, p. 270. Ljubljana: Mladinska knj ...

in 1947. *

Vlado Dapčević Vladimir "Vlado" Dapčević ( sr-cyr, Владимир "Владo" Дапчевић; 14 June 1917 – 12 July 2001) was a Yugoslav and Montenegrin communist, revolutionary and political leader who fought as a Partisan against Axis occupation tro ...

spent a total of 24 years in Yugoslav prisons as a political dissident for advocating anti-revisionism and Proletarian internationalism. *

Ali Aliu Ali Aliu (22 June 1924 – 25 April 2010) was a Kosovo Albanian writer, economist, teacher, politician and political prisoner who spent more than 10 years in prison for speaking out against the treatment of the ethnic Albanians in Yugoslavia as ...

was arrested three times and spent ten years in prison for Albanian separatism. *

Milovan Djilas Milovan Djilas (; , ; 12 June 1911 – 30 April 1995) was a Yugoslav communist politician, theorist and author. He was a key figure in the Partisan movement during World War II, as well as in the post-war government. A self-identified democrat ...

Jože Pučnik Jože Pučnik (9 March 1932 – 11 January 2003) was a Slovenian public intellectual, sociologist and politician. During the communist regime of Josip Broz Tito, Pučnik was one of the most outspoken Slovenian critics of dictatorship and lack ...

, arrested in 1958 for "subversion of the Socialist system" and sentenced to 9 years in jail, released in 1963, arrested again in 1964 serving two more years. *

Adem Demaçi Adem Demaçi (; 26 February 1936 – 26 July 2018) was a Kosovo Albanian politician and writer. Early life Demaçi studied literature, law, and education in Pristina, Belgrade, and Skopje respectively. In the 1950s, he published a number of sh ...

, first arrested for his opposition to the authoritarian government of

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...

in 1958, serving three years in prison. He was again imprisoned 1964-1974 and 1975-1990. He was released from prison by new president of Serbia,

Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević (, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the president of Serbia within Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1997 (originally the Socialist Republic of Serbia, a constituent republic of ...

. *

Alija Izetbegović Alija Izetbegović (; ; 8 August 1925 – 19 October 2003) was a Bosnian politician, lawyer, Islamic philosopher and author, who in 1992 became the first president of the Presidency of the newly independent Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ...

was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison in 1946 for opposition to the regime. In April 1983, Izetbegović and 12 other Bosnian Muslim activists were tried on "hostile activity and hostile propaganda". Izetbegović was further accused of organizing a visit to a Muslim congress in Iran. All of those tried were convicted and Izetbegović was sentenced to fourteen years in prison. In 1988, as communist rule faltered, he was pardoned and released after almost five years in prison. *

Borislav Pekić Borislav Pekić ( sr-cyr, Борислав Пекић, ; 4 February 1930 – 2 July 1992) was a Serbian and Yugoslav writer and political activist. He was born in 1930, to a prominent family in Montenegro, at that time part of the Kingdom of Yugo ...

. *

Dražen Budiša Dražen Budiša (born 25 July 1948) is a Croatian politician who used to be a leading opposition figure in the 1990s and a two-time presidential candidate. As president of the Croatian Social Liberal Party through the 1990s he remains to date the ...

. Arrested on December 11, 1971, and subsequently in the aftermath of the

Croatian Spring The Croatian Spring ( hr, Hrvatsko proljeće), or Maspok, was a political conflict that took place from 1967 to 1971 in the Socialist Republic of Croatia, at the time part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. As one of six republic ...

student movement. He served four years in

Stara Gradiška Stara Gradiška (, german: Altgradisch) is a village and a municipality in Slavonia, in the Brod-Posavina County of Croatia. It is located on the left bank of the river Sava, across from Gradiška in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Etymology The first wo ...

and

Lepoglava Lepoglava is a town in Varaždin County, northern Croatia, located southwest of Varaždin, west of Ivanec, and northeast of Krapina. Demographics A total of 8,283 residents in the municipality (2011 census) live in the following settlements: * ...

. He subsequently became a significant politician in the Republic of Croatia. *

Vlado Gotovac Vladimir "Vlado" Gotovac (18 September 1930 – 7 December 2000) was a Croatian poet and politician. Early activism In the late 1960s, Gotovac joined the Croatian movement demanding political and economic reform, which eventually led to the Cro ...

, arrested after the Croatian Spring and sentenced to four years for on "separatist" and "nationalist" charges. *

Bruno Bušić Ante Bruno Bušić (6 October 1939 – 16 October 1978) was a Croatian writer and critic of the government of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He was one of the best-known victims of UDBA (Yugoslav secret police) killings. Biography ...

, arrested after the Croatian Spring and was released in 1973. *Radomir Pejić served a sentence from 1972 to 1974 in Stara Gradiška for "verbal offence against the state". *

Dobroslav Paraga Dobroslav Paraga (born 9 December 1960) is a Croatian right-wing politician. He was first president of the Croatian Party of Rights, after the party was reestablished in 1991. In 1993 he founded the Croatian Party of Rights 1861 following a po ...

was arrested and tried in May 1981 for collecting signatures for a petition calling for the release of political prisoners. He was released in November 1984. *

Hasan Čengić Hasan Čengić (; 30 August 1957 – 7 November 2021) was a Bosniak politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Defence Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the Bosnian War, Čengić was the main fundraise ...

, Alija Izetbegović and

Omer Behmen Omer Behmen (10 June 1922 – 23 April 2009) was a Bosnian politician. He was one of the closest associates of Alija Izetbegović, the first president of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Behmen was also one of the founders of the Party of Democratic Actio ...

were arrested in April 1983 and tried before a Sarajevo court for a variety of charges called "offences as principally hostile activity inspired by Muslim nationalism, association for purposes of hostile activity and hostile propaganda", along with ten other Bosniak activists, and pardoned in 1988. * Prvoslav Vujcic was imprisoned for seven days in 1984 for criticizing the regime in poems. *

Marko Veselica Marko Veselica (January 9, 1936 – February 17, 2017 in Zagreb) was a Croatian politician, economist and university professor. During the Croatian Spring, Marko Veselica developed a reputation of being a Croatian nationalist. He was close to Iva ...

was arrested and tried in 1971 for "felonies against the people and the state" and sentenced to seven years in jail and a subsequent four-year ban on public actions. He was released in 1977, but an interview led to new charges and a sentence of eleven years in jail and another four-year ban on public actions. He was shortly detained in 1989 for taking part in the establishment of new political parties and violating the ban on public acts. *

Vojislav Šešelj Vojislav Šešelj ( sr-Cyrl, Војислав Шешељ, ; born 11 October 1954) is a Serbian politician, founder and president of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (SRS); he was convicted of war crimes by the International Criminal Tribuna ...

was imprisoned 15 May 1984–March 1986.

Croatia's approach to former political prisoners

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

's political prisoners' law recognizes those who were imprisoned during the period between December 8, 1918 (the establishment of the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

) and October 8, 1991 (the day Croatia severed all ties to Yugoslavia). Former political prisoners receive compensation for time spent in jail and subsequent time spent unable to secure a job. Political prisoners are organized into the Croatian Society of Political Prisoners (''Hrvatsko društvo političkih zatvorenika'').

References

{{reflist

External links

Croatian Society of Political Prisoners
Croatian prisoners and detainees Human rights abuses in Croatia Human rights in Yugoslavia Political repression in Communist Yugoslavia Political repression in Yugoslavia Prisoners and detainees of Yugoslavia Yugoslav Croatia Political prisoners in former countries