FUROR IN YUGOSLAVIA OVER INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL
Vladimir Dedijer, the Yugoslav historian and author of the book Tito Speaks, has been subjected to heavy pressure because of his participation in the International War Crimes Tribunal initiated by Bertrand Russell, according to a report in the November 16 issue of the Paris weekly Le Nouvel Observateur.
Dedijer fell into disfavor with the Tito regime in 1955 when he expressed solidarity with Milovan Djilas. He was sentenced to prison for "disseminating news in the American press prejudicial to his own country." His sentence was commuted and he was permitted to go abroad. After teaching history at Manchester, Harvard and Cornell, he finally returned to Yugoslavia about a year ago.
Russell knew of his reputation for integrity and considered him particularly well-qualified to serve on the tribunal. Dedijer accepted, becoming the sole member on the tribunal from any of the workers states.
From Belgrade, Piotr Sardej reported to Le Nouvel Observateur what happened next: ae
"Dedijer explained in the Belgrade newspaper Politika why he had accepted this invitation. A little later he was attacked by Josip Vidmar, chairman of the Academy of Sciences of Slovenia, close friend of Edvard Kardelj and former president of the Slovene Republic. According to Vidmar, Yugoslavia-did not need to participate in Bertrand Russell's enterprise nor conduct propaganda for him. Vidmar's theses on the war in Vietnam strangely resembled those of the Americans, indicating the political confusion reigning in certain leading circles of the Yugoslav Communist League.
"A newspaper of the students of Ljubljana, Trubuna, took up Dedijer's defense and even formed a committee to support the Bertrand Russell tribunal. The author did not hesitate to accuse the Yugoslav government of furnishing shoes for the American army right during the war in Vietnam. It was to be hoped that this courageous. move would be made the occasion for opening a free discussion on the war in Asia. The poet Matej Bor, chairman of the Writers Union of Yugoslavia, and several other figures wrote an open letter in which they solidarized with Dedijer. The authorities intervened and barred it from being published.
"It is not known yet whether the Yugoslav authorities envisage taking measures against Dedijer. If they do so, Dedijer, sentenced ten years ago on charges of '‘Americanism,' would now be condemned for the opposite -- which would be truly paradoxical."