Marko Veselica (January 9, 1936 – February 17, 2017 in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

) was a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n politician, economist and university professor. During the

Croatian Spring The Croatian Spring (), 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 republics comprising Yugoslavi ...

, Marko Veselica developed a reputation of being a Croatian nationalist. He was close to Ivan Milas. As a prominent Croatian dissident his Croatian nationalist views brought him into conflict with the

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

authorities of

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

.Croatia Dissident Reported Held

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

1981 In 1981 he was arrested on suspicion of "antistate activities", charged with spreading hostile propaganda in interviews with Western news organizations and maintaining contacts with emigre groups, and after a seven-day trial sentenced by a Zagreb court to eleven years imprisonment. In 1983 he was an

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

prisoner of conscience. In 1990, he became leader of the newly formed

Croatian Democratic Party Croatian may refer to: *Croatia *Croatian language *Croatian people *Croatians (demonym) See also * * * Croatan (disambiguation) * Croatia (disambiguation) * Croatoan (disambiguation) * Hrvatski (disambiguation) * Hrvatsko (disambiguation) * Se ...

(HDS). Following the merger of the HDS and the

Croatian Christian Democratic Party The Croatian Demochristian Party ( or HDS) is a Christian democratic political party in Croatia. It was formed in 2009 from a merger of three minor Christian Democratic parties: * Croatian Demochristians () * Croatian Christian Democratic Par ...

(HKDS) he became chairman (1992–2001) of the

Croatian Christian Democratic Union The Croatian Christian Democratic Union ( or HKDU) was a minor right-wing Christian-democratic political party in Croatia. It was founded in 1992 after the merger of Croatian Democratic Party (HDS) and the Croatian Christian Democratic Party (HK ...

HKDU. He died on 17 February 2017 at morning in Fran Mihaljević hospital in

References

1936 births 2017 deaths People from Sinj Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Yugoslavia Croatian Christian Democratic Party politicians Croatian Democratic Party politicians Candidates in the 1992 Croatian presidential election Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb alumni Representatives in the modern Croatian Parliament Academic staff of the University of Zagreb Croatian Christian Democratic Union politicians Croatian nationalists Yugoslav prisoners and detainees Croatian prisoners and detainees Croatian Spring participants {{Croatia-politician-stub