WISH OF MY MOTHER IVA “VIĆEKA” BOBAN –
ŽELJA MOJE MAJKE IVE “VIĆEKE” BOBAN
ŽELJA MOJE MAJKE IVE “VIĆEKE ” BOBAN, GABRIĆ
The most she was interested to know in detail of my case when I was in New York in court. I told her I had a tape of my farewell speech I said at a farewell dinner in the Croatia Associates Hall in South San Francisco. She asked me to send her that speech, which I promised. When I returned to America and found the promised tape, when I started listening and listening to the tape, because of the noise in the hall and not clarity, I decided to transcribe the speech from the tape and send it to my Mother.
In search of some things, I just came across a copy of a transcript of that speech I sent to my Mother for Christmas 1986. The speech is a bit long and I will not present it in the sequels. All I would ask dear readers is that, with the need to want to read this, they have the patience to read everything, and not only that, but to reflect on the time when I went to court in New York, when four years later transcribed from the tape to my Mother, and today, after over 32 years of events. I will endeavor to be consistent with the original transcript from the tape, provided that I correct some typographical errors, so that the content of this entire description can be better understood. Thanks everyone. Mile Boban, Otporaš.)CONVERSATION FROM THE FAREWELL DINNER BEFORE MY DEPARTURE
TO THE TRIAL IN NEW YORK, 14 FEBRUARY 1982, U DOMU HRVATSKIH UDRUŽITELJA, 415 GRAND AVENUE, SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.
Dear Mom,
December 14, 1986.
I am writing you this letter at your request and as we agreed in Paris. You probably still remember that. I am writing you this letter on Mother’s Day (an old Croatian custom when Mothers worshiped two weeks before Christmas, mo.) Which reminds me of a song you told me three decades ago: “Do you know my little one when Mother’s Day is celebrated, on Eyelets (Sunday before Christmas, mo.) Give me socks. ”
These days it is one year since we happily met in Paris. It was a joyous day! You have always longed to see Your grandchildren before you go to eternal rest, as well as to find out the real truth of what was happening to me in America. And finally that wish came true for you. But, unfortunately, the truth about my case and the case of my friends only Washington and Belgrade know and their faithful informants.
I told you a lot, dear Mom, and you always wanted to know how I felt in those days, before going to court. I told you that I had my recorded speech before going to trial in New York, when You said that you would like to have it, because it will be the only reflection of my feelings, as well as the confession of a man before death. I promised to send it to you, but unfortunately not in tape but on paper, because there are many ambiguities and noises on the tape that are familiar to me and only I can understand and explain them, because I was there.
My dear Mother, my brother Rafo and my sister Kata prepared a farewell dinner before I went to court in New York, on February 14, 1982. At a time of fear and quarrelsome revolution among divided Croats, at a time when many Croats were taking their positions, how towards me as well as towards the outcome of the process, creating their ideas and notions, condemning me before the jury and the court, yet the hall was full of those who, even at the cost of fear, threats and retaliation, did not want to betray the sympathies and friendly feelings they nurtured towards me and my family.
The program was led by Mr. Velimir Sulić, who with his skill and wit kept everyone present in a great mood.
There were many speakers and each wanted to be a part of my current torments and hardships. But because of the length of all the speeches and the lack of space, I will give you, translated into Croatian, the speech of Mr. Jim Bachan from Los Angeles, a lawyer of Croatian descent, who, to be known and not to be forgotten, is voluntary and free, agreed to assist ten (10) defense attorneys because Mr. Bachan speaks Croatian and English, in parallel.
By the way, I am sending you two different opinions from two different Croats from that time so that you can better understand the atmosphere in which Croats lived at that time. One of Mr. Vlade Glavaš from Chicago, and another from Mr. Ivo Vučićević from San Francisco.
Dear Mom, listen to Jim Bachan now:
Secondly, I appreciate Mile Boban for his principles. He has always been a simple man who believes in one thing: Freedom and Independence for his country Croatia. I believe that in three to four months, again all together, once again, we will meet here and wish Mili Boban a welcome from New York to San Francisco to embrace his family in the company of his many friends. Welcome as a free man, whose reputation and honor are not harmed. Thank you!”
Mom, mr. Bachan spoke English for guests who did not speak Croatian.
Dear Mom, here’s what I said:
My dear friends, first of all I greet those who really wanted to come here tonight, really, in heart and soul they wanted to be with us here, but they could not. Something prevented them: their personal, family, friendly, and other needs. We must give these people recognition, respect and our care. In the second row and then I greet also those who could and did not want to come. And not only did they not want to come, but they persuaded others not to come here tonight. In the third row, my dear friends, I greet you most of all who have come here tonight. You came to pay a friendly tribute to a man, a Croat and an acquaintance, who lived with you here, in the same Croatian community for over thirteen years. You have come to pay tribute to a friend and an honest man. I am an honest man and I guarantee you that. (Note. It’s not on tape. Here I emphasized the word “honest” – as opposed to theft – because the enemy was trying to spread and spread the news that I had made my house with “extortionate” money.)
I know you want to hear something from me tonight. And you will hear. I will tell you as much as I can tell. Not that I have anything to hide, far from it, but I have to be careful what I say, so as not to harm myself in court. I will tell you that I have been here for twelve and a half years, almost thirteen, that I have never talked about my personal or my family problems, things and the like. Everything that led me was led by Croatian enthusiasm, love for Croatia and love for those who suffered and fell for that Croatia, for which I also suffer today, for which thousands, thousands and thousands of other Croats suffer, throughout the Homeland and the so-called of the free world.
If I did not respect those heroes, then they would have the right, and the full right – if they were alive – to tell me: that I do not deserve their friendship.
I have often been glad to say a few words about myself, but I have never uttered it until tonight. I have friends here tonight. I always left it to them and others to let them say about me and I will about them. And so it seemed, and thank goodness it was so. You could see that tonight. But one thing I want to mention here tonight before I move on to another. It is as follows: Do not be deceived! Beware of fake friends! There are certainly some of them among us today. I’m telling you here tonight that there are fake Croats in San Francisco, those who talk about Croatia just so they can plot and conspire among us as easily as possible. They fettered me today. I guarantee you, if you are not careful, that they will fetter you tomorrow. They meet at various bars. They meet with foreign intelligence informants. (Note. Refers to those who initiated the meeting with the FBI at the Croatian Hall in San Francisco on 19th Street and who enthusiastically promoted the meeting through Mr. Ivo Vučičević on Radio program on August 1, 1981.) Ignore these worthless fellows! Don’t argue with them! Don’t waste time with them! You have honorable people, honorable Croats, honorable friends! Stick to these people if you want to do something for Croatia!
I see here tonight, in these difficult moments of my life of 42 years, who is my sincere and who is my false friend. And tomorrow, if that fake friend came to me and said, Mile, let’s go do something together, I’d just look at him and move away from him. You can do the same. Because, let’s not forget one thing, and that is that for the Yugoslav consulate on 1919 Sacramento Street in San Francisco, any accentuation and emphasis of Croatia is a terrorist act.
Next, you probably want to hear the thing around the process. I could tell you openly about it, but I won’t. Now that I see your happy faces, I see how you are in the mood, I don’t want to spoil that joy for you. Because the only way to spoil that joy and that mood that shines in your pupils is to tell you about my worries, my sufferings, the hardships of my six children and my wife Annie before I go to court in New York. I will not do it out of love for you. So be brave! Follow the events from the court in New York. It came at Zenith where nothing more can be hidden. And I am for nothing to be hidden and for all those trucklers to come to the surface that always bite you, throw a stone and hide their hands.
It’s hard to talk about yourself. I think that we Croats have one specific flaw, and that is that we never, when we are in one group, talk about ourselves, although each individual knows more about himself than anyone else, even the best friend. That is unfortunately so.
I see a man here in the hall, I see him, (Note. It’s not on the tape. He was Filip Šola from San Jose, California.) Who told me two years ago: “Mile, there are a lot of talks about you …”. As the son of a peasant mother, I will never be ashamed of that, because Mater taught me and raised me with that old Croatian proverb: “Dear son, never speak wrong against people, because false words hurt more than the strongest blows …”, so let people say whatever they want, so I answer that way to Philip Šola.
Unfortunately, I followed that rule and did not pay attention to the evil tongues speaking about me, weaving a web around me with all sorts of plots to bring me to court, just as Judas Iscariot did everything possible to betray Jesus. By this I do not mean that my mother taught me wrong. She taught me a peaceful doctrine: whoever stones you, you give him bread. And that remained very deep in my memory. Father Mate Markota said last Sunday from the Altar in a sermon for those who use evil tongues: “Whoever has passed forty years, neither the Church can repair him, nor the inn can spoil him.” That’s right. As a man, I sailed the Croatian way for over 42 years and that way I go to the grave, and that idea is called CROATIA.
Why did I mention this to you what my mother was telling me? I mentioned this so that each of us, individually and collectively, in the evening here and tomorrow and the day after tomorrow and everywhere and in every place, think about how our Croatian mothers raised us. It will not surprise me that this evening, here will be among us who will tomorrow pass on to their commanders what was said here tonight and how many guests there were. How lucky I would be that two years ago I listened to my friend (Filip Šola) who is here among us tonight, when he told me: “Mile, stop all these stories against you and the Croatian National Resistance …”
That is why, my dear friends, I really consider you my sincere friends tonight, so I am telling you this so that you do not have what happened to me. Sleep with your eyes open. Don’t let lies on you! Don’t give up! When you hear someone slander you, gossip, speak against you which is not true, you have the right to find three men, three witnesses and confront those people who spread lies against you, stop them and tell them: Come on, mother’s son, tell the truth or stop talking and spread lies, against me or anyone against anyone else. Only in this way can these lies in the sheep’s skin be detected. That’s so much about it.
I was born in 1939. I956. I got a call for pre-military training for two weeks. Of course we’ve all been seventeen and we know how we felt, and so did I. I was working in the field with my father when the policeman brought me that invitation. It says there: Comrade Mile Boban. Folks, don’t think I’m some fanatic, there’s no talking about it, but the word “comrade” has never been mentioned in my family. And I immediately started defying and arguing with the militiaman. When the mentioned day came that I had to go to Tihaljina for the pre-military training, I did not respond.
Since it was springtime, I was hoeing tobacco with my father. The policeman came and said that I had to go with him and that he would escort me. The father said, “Go son.” I did not want him to take me through the villages like a thief, but I told him: “I am giving you coin god of gold if you follow me. I know where Tihaljina is and I will be there tonight.” I went through Šimić Brijeg. We know where it is. I showed up at the pre-military training camp in Tihaljina.
I got there. They gave me a rifle and (šajkača) a Serbian military cap with a five-pointed red star on it, but not of iron, but of some cloth, green baize. I swear to you … this is true. I ripped the green baize out, and luckily I put it in my pocket, not threw it away. When we were lined up in the evening, everyone present had a five-pointed red star on the military cap, Mile Boban did not have it. When I saw that the devil had taken the joke, I took it out of my pocket and said it had fallen off. They gave me a few minutes to sew it on. I was “confused” and sewed five-pointed red stars inside the military cap, where she stayed for fifteen days.
What I wanted to say with this is, as attorney Jim Bachan said a moment ago, that I have my principle. Yes, I have my principle. I lost everything, as they say. When I say “everything”, I mean to say that our Croatian State was killed fighting against the five-pointed red star. I was only seventeen.
Good. One from Čapljina came and gave us political instruction classes. He was a first class captain. I don’t remember his name now. They called him “Yellow.” When he had finished his speech, he said, “Let me see who remembered what I was saying,” and pointed his finger at me. Admittedly I neither listened nor remembered what he was talking about. I got up and said, “I am Mile Boban.” He said to me, “Tell me now what I was saying.” I told him that I was deaf and did not hear well. He started shouting at me and cursing in a Tito’s partisan way, saying, “We have fixed Bobans, we will fix you too.” That was 1956. I was not even seventeen years old, and I was already under political pressure, and whether these roots of political pressure had spread to and on me here, it might be found out in court.
Day by day it becomes more and more unbearable for me. The militia knew almost every field I worked in, because they were always looking for me for something. The decision came. I had to flee; first to Slovenia, via it to Italy and then across the Alps to southern France. Now I already feel safer, I feel like a Croatian Political Emigrant! I am in exile now. I started looking for my own, when I say “my”, dear friends, I mean to say that I am looking for honest and honorable Croatian patriots, I am looking for like-minded people for the same thing, the same goal: how to liberate Croatia and Rebuild the Croatian State.
I lived in Paris and tonight there are a few of my friends here who know me from Paris. I would like, not because of them or because of me, but because of you who are here and do not know me from Paris, let them say a word / two about me, did I blacken/slander the Croatian name, did I conceal the Croatian name from anyone, especially from the Frenchmen and foreigners . Do not forget, gentlemen, that Paris is another Belgrade for us Croats. The more I stood out for my Croatian activities in Paris, the more and more dangerous it became for me. I can tell you for sure tonight that if I had stayed in Paris, I would have experienced the fate of Zvonimir Kučar, Nedjeljko Mrkonjić “Zmijar”, Bruno Bušić, Mate Kolić and others.
I finally came to America in 1969. I arrived at the Croatian Hall in San Francisco on 19th Street and Mission. This thrilled me, because it was the first time I saw, in exile, a Croatian house, a Croatian Hall with Croatian insignia, with Croatian paintings, with Croatian flags and tricolors and with Croatian feelings. (Note. In Paris, we rented Halls for our Croatian festivities and needs that were not decorated with Croatian insignia and Croatian ornaments.) Here in that Croatian Hall, Mr. Mate Kovačević and Mr. Zvonko Pribanić. I am still so human and polite to say Mr. Zvonko Pribanić. (Note. Mr. Zvonko Pribanić is an honest Croat, an honest patriot who did not have enough strength to resist lies, and due to lack of sound judgment, he became an accessory of liars and informants of foreign services, which work closely with the Yugoslav authorities. They all gathered around Croatian Radio Hour in San Francisco, edited by Mr. Ivo Vučičević. This gathering began in the spring of 1979, when Mr. Jozo Vrbić has been among us.) They ask me to join the Croatian Hall, to which I answer: ” People, very gladly, but I don’t have $ 100 to pay to become a member. ”
Since I was and worked as a construction worker, they asked me if I would like to fix one of the stairs leading from the Hall outside for those hundred dollars. I said I would and those two men paid $ 100 for me, and so I became a member of the Croatian Hall in San Francisco because I didn’t want or want to be outside the Croats of the San Francisco Bay Area.
I tried in every way, not to be the leader or to be at the head of the Croatian movements in San Francisco and San Jose, but I tried to be with the Croats and that this Croatian community – as the Bible says, does not live only on bread and water – but it takes from “A” to “Z,” that is, thousands of things. Let someone say, who knows me, whenever help was sought, whether I was present or not, whenever it was necessary to help Croats or the Croatian cause, and when I was asked if I ever refused. No! Never, because it is not in my nature, nor my mother did not give birth to me to be stingy, as many other Croats behave stingily when it comes to the Croatian cause.
(Note. I said this because we had a CROATIAN DEFENSE FUND in which Croats of noble hearts, according to their Croatian feelings and abilities, could send their share, in order to cover the high legal costs. Except for a small number of honorable Croats who helped as much as they could, and thank them!, the vast majority stayed aside.On stinginess or fear, it doesn’t matter, because the result is the same! One of the slanders and sinister birds from the Croatian Radio Hour from San Francisco sent a letter to the CROATIAN DEFENCE FUND, calling it: THE HELL DEFENSE FUND THAT SERVES THE LUCIFERS. So let that be known and not be forgotten.)
From that side, I did and did accomplished my part, as I said this morning on the radio hour “GLAS SLOBODNA HRVATSKA”, #THE VOICE OF THE LIBRE CROATIA” run by Mr. Marijan Pehar and Leon Galić, as a parishioner and as a patriot.
New forces, a new Croatian generation are coming here. Something else needs to be sought. What was once good and met the needs of the Croatian community in the Bay Area, does not mean that it is no longer good, but it means that it is dilapidated and needs changes. And it was only in 1972 that talk began that the Croatian community here should be revived. Because, let’s not forget one thing, and that is: Fifteen years ago, there were perhaps no more than twenty to thirty Croatian children in this Bay. Today there are over five hundred of them. See what the natural process does. We can marry and marry each other, which is one big and noble thing in another world. When we talk about this, I want to emphasize that the needs required that something else be done here. We made this building “CROATIA ASSOCIATES”, “HRVATSKI UDRUŽITELJI”. My construction company built it and I know for every nail where I nailed and put it.
Dear friends, we make the biggest mistake when we are silent, when we go around the truth. And we are all witnesses here and we know how much this building was boycotted. This building was boycotted – I am convinced, and I will withdraw my belief only when proven otherwise – that is: if this building was made by Ranković and Đilas in the name of Croatia and put the name “CROATIA ASSOCIATES”, so that will came in it, this building, more than had come so far. (Note. It is not on tape. I found this building on January 9, 1978. Then Mr. Milan Cvitanović and I started working on making this large and dilapidated building a modern “CROATIAN HALL”. It took more than a year to prepare a plan, which the Architect Mr. Ivo Terzić made and donated his fee, which exceeded seven thousand dollars, as a gift to this great and significant Croatian undertaking. Mr. Milan Cvitanović is the most deserving for all administrative steps and official papers, so the building is officially called “HALL OF CROATIAN ASSOCIATES”. Without exaggeration I am certainly the most deserving of building and modernizing the building. I almost know where each nail is. I also managed to have the City of South San Francisco officially announced throughout the City that “CROATIAN WEEK” is being celebrated for “GRAND OPENING”, all to make the Croatian name heard and spread among foreigners and Americans who have never heard of the Croatian name before. And Tadija Pavić from San Jose – I don’t know if he is in any kind related with Nino Pavić who writes in Vjesnik’s Feuilletons from a Yugoslav perspective on Croats and Croatian nationalism – had the strength to propose that the Croatian Statehood Day be held on April 10 in the Hall of Croatian Associates, but only Mili Boban should be banned from coming to that building. How much audacity and “Croatian” consciousness?!)
In 1972, my Father and my Mother came to visit here. First they were with brother Rafa for a week. Then with sister Kate for a week, and with me for a week. One evening we talked. Parents, like all parents, want to know everything. We are almost all parents here and we know parental feelings. Mater tells me, “Son, you have children. What is your future idea for children. What do you think.” I said: Mom, my future idea is for me to return home, with my children, to Croatia and to be able to go to the field peacefully and freely, down my path, my road, to meet the man freely and to talk and talk about everything, without fear, and tell to them that we Croats also have our State of Croatia.
He confessed on Sunday, September 20, and on Wednesday, September 23, 1981, he went with his wife Iva “Vićeka” to pick corn and on the knees of his godfather Dominik Boban, Blaškić died of a heart attack. That is what I was told that my father’s last words were: “I am happy that my son Milan is not afraid of them and I am dying happy …”
Furthermore, I listened to everything and everything. Thank goodness I have one God’s inspiration, God’s power, which has always been my direction. Neither the winds nor the storms could turn me from that direction, but I always boldly went in that direction for the liberation of our Croatia.
When I went to meetings, I was ready to go, not like some when they come to a meeting, they came unprepared, and those who came ready and proposed a ready proposal for work, encountered opposition from those who came unprepared and immediately started voting against ready proposals. I have always fought against the lazy and against Takojevic (which means “Yes man”and I will always fight. That is my duty. Because in order for us to be equal in discussions, those who are not prepared they also will need one night to not sleep and be prepared and be ready to come to the meeting. Only then, on equally sleepless nights in preparation for our common goal and common purpose, will we be able to talk.
Why did I say all this? I have attended almost a thousand meetings for our Croatian cause in the last 25 years of my political emigration. I chewed ten kilos of toothpicks in that nerve-wracking, not to get rich or rich, but to really move forward in our Croatian efforts to liberate Croatia. Everything I did I did to prove to foreigners from King Tomislav to Bruno Bušić, Stanko Nižić, Mate Kolić and others, that we are honorable followers of their ideals.
That idea has always guided me. And here I admit, my dear friends, to you who are here tonight, one great truth, and that is: that man will never succeed, in any business: trade, sports, politics – especially in politics – culture and all others, if there is no understanding of his wife.
Thank goodness, here we are seventeen years in marriage, together. We have six children, thank God. She never told me, “Mile, don’t do this and that, or why you do that or that.” She has done more for our Croatian cause, as a foreigner, and I speak this with pride here, than many who are Croats or who are Croats with wet tongues, and nothing more. This is not an attack or gossip at any time and to anybody. This is the defense, the defense I had to tell you ton-night, to you my friends.
I am asking you tonight, my dear friends, how would you feel and what would you say about those who slandered you the most and prepared the ground for the trial in New York?
There sits my 14-year-old daughter Catherine. On Easter last year, therefore, there is not even a year ago, when everyone rejoices in Christ’s Resurrection. We left the Church. Everyone looks at their friends, looking for their company; children to theirs, women to theirs and I to mine, men. We congratulate each other Easter and even the Tenth of April. Lots of people in the parking lot, all Croats. Hundreds of children. All full of Easter’s joy!
On the way home, my wife was driving. I read the “Glas Koncila” Voice of the Council. I noticed that my daughter Catherine was saying something through crying. After reading the newspaper, I admit that I did not pay much attention between my daughter Catherine and my wife Annie, but I noticed that something was wrong.
When we got home I asked my wife: What is it? Why was Catherine crying? My wife tells me that the guests are coming now and that she will tell me later. That is my wife’s custom not to say things in front of kids that aren’t for kids. I was really, at the same time, interested in and worried about what my wife would tell me later. About four O’clock after lunch, when the guests parted, I asked my wife if she could tell me now, we are alone now. My wife tells me that Catherine cried because one girl in the parking lot persuaded other girls not to hang out with Catherine Boban because her father was a murderer and arsonist (Note: Refers to the arson attack on a house built by Mr. Ivan Kapetanović in August 1977. No arsonists detected, mo.)
That was in April, on Easter, so seven weeks before my arrest. Now I ask you, my dear friends: Where did all this come from! Where do all these plots come from! Who prepared all this so nicely that the children knew about it and talked about it in public in the parking lot, while I didn’t know anything or notice anything? It’s understandable that I didn’t notice anything, because I was very busy building this building where we are tonight. I built and built this building so that Croats and their children have a place to meet and have fun. Did Udbaš (Udbaš means a secret Yugoslavian agent working for UDBA, equal FBI agents, mo. Mile) prepare this situation for us today? No! I know what I’m saying here tonight and I know how much I can say. I’m not telling you here to turn your heads away from them, far from it. With those who put us in today’s position you can only say good day to them for a good day, and nothing more. Otherwise you’ll be as rude as I am. (Note: It’s not on tape. It was popular at the time to be an informant, because those who agreed to it could travel freely to Yugoslavia and come back without fear or apprehension. You could never know when you would be accused by someone of something you didn’t do. The case of Dr. Andrija Artuković and our New York case will open the eyes of many and these loose Croats will finally see that Washington and Belgrade are working together against the benefits and interests of Croatia, mo. Mile.)
Out of my great kindness and love for Croatia, I was arrested and together with my family I suffer and suffer this injustice and difficulties. I will prove my innocence in a New York court. That is why I am asking you here, not to bother you but to be living witnesses: Will those who screw up in my arrest have the strength, when I return from New York clean of all thirteen (13) counts of accusations, to say: My sin , my sin, my too great sin! Not. These people will not have that strength. I say again: NO! These people are sculpted in a different way, their way and that is their way of working.We had a session the other day at the Croatian Hall in San Francisco. Friendly began to be spoken. There are several witnesses here tonight who were at that session. Proposals fell on where to hold this year’s Croatian Statehood Day on April 10th. One gets up and says, “I don’t know if everyone else is honest, but I’m honest.” (Note: It was Mr. Josip Vrbić who said the same evening about Mr. Marijan Pehar that he was “Otporaški” painted, when Marijan Pehar replied that he was only painted in Croatian.)
My dear friends mr. Josip Vrbić gave us a way and a path to get into an argument. We have such snakes in our bosoms. We keep such snakes around us and we hang out with such snakes. If we want to be nationally constructive Croats, we must first know what we want: to speak honestly or we will honestly lie, gossip and scold our friends. Let’s leave it to the future. Let’s move on!
Recently, a friend of mine called me and asked me from left to right, out of fear of being offended: how did I feel? I told them I felt steely, good, and even better than good, that I felt very good. I feel very good because I am confident in myself, and the one who is confident in himself is pure as gold, and rust does not cling to gold. If the rule would reign: two men without a soul, the third man will be without his head, then I am doomed. But if the rule reigns: Come on, bring the evidence here, the facts here, then I am on horseback, a pure and free man.
A week ago, I had the opportunity to see these lies at the interrogation of Jozo Majić and Ilija Ćurić on the third of February, when they started listing who were in their slanderous society. And now it will happen that I, Mile Boban, sue this or that. Mile Boban is not suing anyone. Mile Boban only defends himself from various slanders and gossip. God has given me life to have the right to guard and defend it. And I do so. All those who will later bear any consequences should not blame Mile Boban, but let them blame themselves and those others who pointed fingers at those who spread lies, gossiped and slandered me. That’s where we understand each other. (Note: One month before my arrest on June 25, 1981, in front of the Church in San Jose, Jozo Majić, Andrija Škrabo and Ilija Ćurić distributed leaflets against me. The title of the leaflet was “DEAR CROATIAN BROTHERS”. The content of this leaflet was defamatory. The leaflet accuses me of setting fire to Ivan Kapetanovic’s house, killing Križan Brkić and many other lies. This led to my arrest. Before I went to court in New York on February 15, 1982, I sued the mentioned troika above, so this troika was heard on February 3. I am enclosing a link to the contents of that leaflet as well as other interesting facts related to this conspiratorial role.)
Let me go back a little. When my Father Peter was here right now 10 years ago, we talked about everything. In one conversation he said to me, “Son, I would like to tell you about some things. When you were home I didn’t want to tell you about many things about the war, during and after the war. You were young, inexperienced and windy. Now you are married and parents. You know how I was at home and that I was in prison and always looked for a place in my head, smuggling tobacco and fighting to survive. Now you have spent half of your life and God knows if I will ever see you again. You know that I was in Domobrani and was wounded in Romania in 1942. After the war, the current government persecuted me, not because of thieves, thefts, fights or burglaries, but because of my Croatians. For that reason be smart, because you don’t know who’s messing with whom. ” unfortunately we never saw each other again.
Many often ask me how come that I talk about many things, names, dates and years I mention and that I know many things. Thank God I remembered! I swear to you, there they are, all six of my children, sitting on a bench. My kids will remember too! My wife will remember too! I’ll finish, but just one more thing.
The other day a friend came to my house for sincere reasons, and he was asking me: “Mile, tell me the truth about how you feel, but only the truth and what bothers you the most. If I were you, I don’t know if I could have endured all this “. (Note. That was Jakov Jurić, mo.) I look at him and laugh, and he says to me: “What are you laughing at.” And I say to him: My dear friend, it seems to me that there is not a drop of faith in you, not even a drop of faith.
In the end, I wish you all the best. I will defend myself and I will defend myself. I will be friends with you. This case will not ruin my friendship with you and I firmly believe that neither will yours with me, because otherwise you would not be here tonight. But those who last year when I was arrested put a song on Radio Sat: “Walk Mujo down the bazaar and he will never come back.” (Note. The editor of the Croatian Radio Hour in San Francisco, Mr. Ivo Vučičević, composed the song at the request of the company of his slanderers. Mr. Nedjeljko Miličević argued with him over the song, when Mr. Vučičević told him: “I will apologize to Mr. Boban because of the suspicion and insults I inflicted on him, if the court acquits him of the charges. “Neither the court found me guilty nor did Mr. Vučičević ever apologize. Vjesnik never apologized on Wednesday for the insults and slander against the Croatian people, so cheers to both of you!)
I’m telling you I’m coming back. Šime is coming back and Šime will be back … and where he will be, he will be nice.
In the end, I apologize for the length. Sorry to be the most about myself Mr.
In the end, I apologize for the length. Sorry to say the most about myself. After all, you came here for me and this is my evening. I love you all. I greet you all. I wish you all the best. I end with the one from the Bible: Women do not weep for my fate, but weep for your sons who have brought me to judgment. I would translate this saying into: that no one should weep for my fate, but for the fate of those who put me and my family to these trials, torments and sufferings. Thank you! (Note. As some women wept as I spoke and many had tears in their eyes, I quickly remembered this Bible saying, and so I ended up saying it.)
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Here, dear Mom, for you and your request, I transcribed from the tape my speech from the farewell evening before leaving for the court in New York. Now you can know what I said. You wanted to know that before you went into eternity. And you find someone in the village who will read this letter to you, or go to Grude to sister Mila to have her children read this to you. By the way, I’ll tell you what Mr. Vlado Glavaš from Chicago told to his listeners about us in the radio program on November 15, 1981:
“As you know, ten Croats from America and Canada are awaiting trial in New York in early February. Among them are: Mile Markić, Ivan Mišetić, Ante Ljubas, Ranko Primorac are in prison, Milan Bagarić, Miro Biošić, Vinko Logarušić, Drago Sudar from Toronto, Anđelko Jakić and Mile Boban from San Francisco are defending themselves from freedom. Knowing the accused, we believe that they will not linger behind the iron bars for long and we believe that victory is on our side.
However, regardless of the outcome of the trial, and these Croatian altars were released completely tomorrow, the police succeeded in what they demanded. People lost their jobs, lawyers will look and ask for a lot of money, family care was disrupted, and, most sadly, great disorder and mistrust were introduced among Croats.
Regardless of what tomorrow will be like, it is the duty of us Croats to come to the rescue and help today, to alleviate family pain and remove the black cloak from the Croatian name, and finally to help the defense itself. Because not only the fate of these Croatian altars will depend on the defense itself, but also the future Croatian activity on this continent. To achieve this to some extent, the Croats of Chicago are organizing a charity banquet tonight at six thirty … You are all welcome !!!!”
My dear Mom, now you see that Mr. Glavaš worried about the fate of arrested Croats. He believes that they will not linger long behind iron bars and that victory will be on our side. He calls on Croats to come to their aid immediately. You will read everything, that is, I mean someone will read for You and you will be able to decide for yourself who is good and who is bad, who is someone and who is nobody, scoundrels.
Now let’s listen to mr. Ivo Vučičević from San Francisco and his program, which he sent to his listeners on May 22, 1982:
“On Saturday, the jury finally pronounced its verdict at the trial of ten Croats in New York, and the news soon spread throughout our settlements across America. We learn that the (New York) Times published the verdict in one of its local and Sunday editions, (Note. What kind of hitch, handles does Mr. Vučičević catch only to belittle the event in front of the Croatian public. He himself says in his beginning that “… the news soon spread throughout our settlements across America …”. If that was a Sunday local newspaper intended only for the inner circle and the neighbors in the neighborhood, for sure the news would not have spread so quickly. What contradictions!) as the San Francisco Examiner.
According to the court’s instructions, the jury should have found all the accused guilty or acquitted them of all charges, if in its opinion it does not accept the evidence and witnesses of the state prosecutor, beyond any doubt. The jury made its decision on two charges. First, conspiracy, that is, conspiracy to commit acts of conspiracy, and second, the commission of certain crimes, including possession and transfer of weapons and extortion letters from Germany and murders.
According to these instructions, the jury found guilty under both counts of the accused: Milo Markić, Ante Ljubas, Milan Bagarić, and Ranko Primorac. And based on the first point, count, that is, the conspiracy: Vinko Logarušić and Drago Sudar. Following these same instructions, the accused: Miro Biošić, Andjelko Jakić, Mile Boban and Ivan Mišetić were acquitted and were not found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and were immediately released.
The judge will hand down the verdict six weeks after the jury’s verdict, that is, on the occasion at the end of June. Under Count One of the indictment, each convict could theoretically receive up to twenty years in prison, and under Count two a maximum of up to twenty years. But also condemnation can be imposed minimally. (Note. If Mr. Ivo Vučečević had stopped here, this could have been understood as daily news of the event. But when Mr. Vučičević began to present his opinion, it no longer seemed like news, but like a simple outburst of his hatred towards the arrested)
As might be expected, the jury’s verdict caused both disappointment and joy among all those who followed the court hearing. Why the jury made such a decision and not a different one, that is, why it did not acquit or condemn everyone, will be debated for a long time to come. Certainly the American court proved that it was not fascist as some have said and written, nor is it the product of some Jewish conspiracy, because there were Jews among the jury and among the defense attorneys and among the prosecution attorneys. (Note. Mr. Ivo Vučičević was the staunch Ustasha who in his time cheered for Hitler, who persecuted Jews. Prosecution and defense attorneys were all Jews, except for one Mike Monico from Chicago who defended Ivan Mišetić. That is why there could not have been or was no talk of a court of Jewish conspiracy production, as Mr. Ivo Vučičević “nicely” reports to the audience of the Croatian Radio Hour in San Francisco, because all the accused are the war or post-war Croatian generation, not educated by the anti-Semitic school, but by the communists. That is why it can be said with peace of mind that this kind of court of Jewish conspiracy is the product of Mr. Ivo Vučičević’s sick imagination.)
(As for the jury’s verdict, which can only be understood through official American policy, which is so influential in all areas of American public life, including the judiciary, that in early September 1986 it could release a Russian spy, Mr. Zakarov, whom she replaced as her American spy, Mr. Daniloff, all this is happening without a court or a jury, and you used to claim, Mr. Vučičević, through your Radio program, that here in America the government does not interfere in the judiciary system, which is a separate body from all government influence.Then who extradited yo Yugoslavia Dr. Andrija Artuković if not the government.The American court did not sentence him to extradition.)
From time to time, we will look at a point in this debate that has done great damage to the reputation of the Croatian name and the Croatian people’s struggle. (Note. When the Croats of San Francisco went on a hunger strike in front of the federal building in 1978, a banner read: WE CROATS ARE FIGHTING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS. None other than you, Mr. Vučičević, were against the word “fight” because that could harm the Croatian name. Then I said to you in front of everyone: “The sheep that cannot bear its fleece is doomed to death. If we Croats are bothered by the word” fight “, then we are doomed to extinction. (Four years later, in 1982, you are scattering yourself with the words “Croatian people’s struggle”.)
In his closing remarks, however, the US Attorney emphasized that this was not a political process, as the accused wanted, and it was not a political struggle against Croats within the legal possibilities of this country, but only the prosecution of crimes committed. . (Note. Here, Mr. Vučičević struggles from the bottom of his legs to convince his listeners that the accused Croats are guilty, and keeps silent about his friends who were state witnesses against us. Therefore, we are not surprised that Mr. Vučičević defends the position of US attorneys who gave pardon (immunity) to his friends for all crimes committed in this country. Convicted and accused Croats are only “sufferers of other people’s sins.”)
According to some counts in the indictment, the trial did not discuss, for example, the Cikoja case, the bombs in New York, some events in the San Francisco area, and others. That the investigation will continue in the sense of the statement of the FBI Director General. Webster, who said last year: “that this is one of the processes, one of the results of the ongoing investigation against Croatian terrorism.” (Note. God does not judge a man until he dies. Here, Mr. Vučičević condemns all those with whom he does not agree, before they have committed any offense. He is certainly very sorry that the indictment was overwhelmed by those accusations that could not be proven, and before the trial was thrown out. Always invoke what the US attorneys said is identical to those who accepted, accepted and believed in everything that the Yugoslav state attorney in 1946, comrade Jakov Blažević, in 1946, used in court against His Excellency, the Archbishop of Zagreb, Dr. Alojzije Stepinac.)
In the meantime, it is expected that the lawyers of those found guilty will file an appeal to a higher institution “, Mr. Ivo Vučičević concludes his presentation via radio clock.”
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Here, my dear Mom, I am sending you what you asked from me. My feelings are expressed in this letter, and you can judge for yourself how we felt. Everything written in italics was not on the tape. That’s what I inserted when I was copying from the tape.
Catherine is at Rafa’s in San Francisco. She wants to go to France, so she needs an item that is in San Francisco that the French Sorbonne will recognize.
We thank God we are all good and healthy. For Christmas Catherine is coming here so we will spend the Christmas holidays together. I hope you are in very good health. Please Mom, say hello to all our neighbors and wish them all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 1987 from all of us. And to You, dear Mother, your son Milan, Your grandchildren and Your daugther-in law wish You a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Blessed New Year 1987!
Dear Mom, you wanted to have this tape. I have transcribed everything for You from tape to paper so that you can know everything as well and as clearly as possible from the tape.
God bless you! Your son Milan.
Odgovori
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