The Transnational Radical Party's initiative for the real establishment and functioning of the international tribunal was signed by one member of the Czech Parliament, Mr.Andrej Gjuric, member of the ruling ODS, who also took part in the hunger strike on March 24, 1994. This is all the more interesting because Mr.Gjuric's party leaders, especially Prime Minister Klaus, have expressed alibistic and even pro-Serb views. Mr.Gjuric, however, has been urging a recognition of the Bosnian conflict as an aggression, not a civil or ethnic war, ever since the conflict started. No other parliamentarians signed the Radical appeal, presumably because they were reluctant to be involved in anything which has the headline "Radical Party" on it. (An analysis of this phenomenon would require a separate article, yet it remains an objective fact. Several press releases about the campaign and hunger strike were boycotted by the whole Czech press.) Therefore Mr.Gjuric wrote (with the collaboration of Jan Jarab and Olga Cechurova) a parliamentary proclamation, which he proposed in his name for the Czech Parliament to accept it as a collective body. The motion was defeated; thereafter, Gjuric then turned it into a parliamentary petition, to which until March 31, 1994, a total of 35 deputies added their signatures.
PETITION OF GROUP OF PARLIAMENTARIANS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC
We, the undersigned member of the Czech Parliament:
- being aware of the historic experience of 1938-9 and the aspirations of our country to become part of European structures;
- continuing in the line of the declaration of the Czech National Council (parliament) of June 4, 1992,
1. We continue to be seriously alarmed by the current situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the suffering of the civilian population thereof, which has been going on for almost two years.
- We consider it tragic that democratic Europe at the end of the 20th century has tolerated that there should be once again ethnic cleansing, burning of villages, establishment of internment camps and mass exodus of people on European territory.
- We consider it necessary to emphasize that the well-known "marketplace massacre" in Sarajevo, which cost the lives of several dozen people, was merely an episode of the permanent massacre in that country, which has already cost more than 100,000 human lives.
- Moreover, we want to emphasise that freeing Sarajevo does not in itself solve this dreadful situation; it neither stops the fighting in that country nor represents an end of the political and military role of the world community. Quite on the contrary: this is the most crucial moment for firm and just action since the beginning of the invasion, and it should not be wasted.
2.Therefore we state:
- that the war in Bosnia was started against the explicitly stated will of the Parliament and of citizens of all nationalities, that it was CARRIED INTO THE COUNTRY;
- that in Bosnia also the future of European values is at stake, if Europe accepts the strategies and results of genocide and ethnic cleansing as one of the possible methods of politics.
3.Therefore we APPEAL TO OUR GOVERNMENT:
- to use all its influence, as well as the influence of the historic experience of the Czech nation, to help Bosnia-Herzegovina as a whole;
- to support or co-initiate all decisive and active views, propositions and steps, which would result in the control and cessation of all violence in that country, INCLUDING ENFORCEMENT THROUGH THE MILITARY POWER OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY.
- above all, to join all other states in its support for the UNCONDITIONAL OBSERVANCE OF ALL PREVIOUS DECISIONS OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL, especially those concerning the distribution and protection of humanitarian aid;
- to join all other states in supporting the existence of Bosnia-Herzegovina IN ITS HISTORIC BORDERS, thus MINIMALIZING ALL FORMAL DIVISION of the country;
- to use all its influence to ensure TRIALS FOR WAR CRIMES and CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, that is TO ENSURE A TRUE FUNCTIONING OF THE INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL ESTABLISHED BY THE UNITED NATIONS.
In all these measures our Government has our full support.
4. WE ADDRESS ALL PARLIAMENTARIANS OF ALL COUNTRIES who share our fears, all parliamentarians of civil and European beliefs, to initiate and support similar ideas, positions and activities in the behavior of their respective governments and political bodies of the European Community.
Signed by the following members of Czech Parliament:
Andrej GJURIC
Jirina PAVLIKOVA
Eduard BURES
Ondrej ZEMINA
Hana MARVANOVA
Milada KADLECOVA
Eva NOVAKOVA
Josef KRIZEK
Pavel SEIFER
Hana OGRONIKOVA
Tomas STERBA
Radim SPACEK
Marta HABOVA
Miroslav CERBAK
Jiri STADLER
Rene HABA
Cestmir HOFHANZL
Vladimir SUMAN
Ivan MASEK
Katerina LOJDOVA
Tomas JEZEK
Zdenek TROJAN
Jan BLAHA
Frantisek BROZIK
Jiri VYVADIL
Jan ZAHRADNICEK
Vladimir KORONTHALY
Jiri HARINGER
Lukas VENCESLAV
Pavel KOLAR
Michal LOBKOWICZ
Marek BENDA
Jaroslav MELICHAR
Jan CERNY
Gerta MAZALOVA
The group which signed the petition is remarkably transspectral, including members of all clubs except for Republicans and Communists. There are several prominent members of Parliament included, especially Tomas Jezek (ODA), who is the former Minister of Privatization, Vladimir Suman (ODA), who is the Chairman of the Defense Committee, and Zdenek Trojan, a Social Democrat active in the Movement for Citizen's Solidarity and Tolerance (HOST).
