Anto Đapić

Anto Đapić (born August 22, 1958 in Čaprazlije, near Livno, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia now in Bosnia and Herzegovina) is a Bosnian Croatn far-right politician and president of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP). He currently serves as a Representative in the Croatian Parliament, a post he was elected to in 1992, 1995, 2000, 2003 and 2007 elections.

Biography

The family of Đapić had a history of supporting the old Croatian Party of Rights, and later the Ustaše regime. Therefore, when his father and uncles chose to go to West Germany on a permanent work instead of living in socialist Yugoslavia, while Anto, his mother and brother lived in Osijek, Croatia ever since 1962. Đapić considers Osijek to be his hometown.

Đapić lost his mother in a car crash when he was a teenager, so he had to do manual work while studying law at Osijek University. Đapić obtained law degree in 1989.

When pluralism took over in Croatia and rest of Yugoslavia in 1989, Đapić first joined Franjo Tuđman's Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). He was one of the party's organizers in Osijek, but he left it after short time. In 1991, he joined the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP), which was renewed year earlier. After the assassination of Ante Paradžik, he was named party's Vice President.

Đapić was also for short period of time a commander of voluntary military units called HOS (Hrvatske Obrambene Snage - Croatian Defensive Forces), which were organized by Croatian Party of Rights. They wore black uniforms like the Black Legion of the Ustaše army, and fought in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Later HOS was blended with Croatian Army (in Croatia) and Croatian Defense Council (in Bosnia). Several of their units are accused of widespread war crimes against Bosniak and Serb civilians.

In 1993, Đapić was named president of HSP. Previous president Dobroslav Paraga claimed Đapić was elected illegally, and he later formed the new party Croatian Party of Rights 1861, which has miserably failed at each parliamentary election since 1993. Đapić was less critical of President Tuđman and HDZ then Paraga, and he was considered to be their satellite.

In the 1995 election, HSP won 4.8% of vote, but after a recount, 5.01% was claimed to be official result, which meant that HSP remained represented in Parliament. With war being over the party took more and more criticism for its neo-ustaša views. However, HSP led by Đapić mainteined small but solid support among the voters. In 2000, this time in coalition with Croatian Christian Democratic Union (HKDU), HSP kept four Parliament seats.

Đapić led a presidential campaign same year, which failed miserably, with his finishing a distant fifth. But ever since then, Đapić and his party worked hard to change perception among voters. The extremist right-wing agenda was softened a bit.

Đapić's political reputation was severely tarnished after the media found out that he cheated to obtain his first post-graduate degree in law at the University of Split, in collusion with Boris Kandare, a senior member of his party and professor at the Law Faculty. Đapić was later prosecuted, and in April 2005, Split Court judge found him not guilty on charges of fraud and abuse of power because the judge said that "copying academic material was a widespread practice" and that "there was no obvious economic gain in it for the accused".

HSP still opposes Hague War Crimes Tribunal, holds eurosceptic views and is socially very conservative. Anto Đapić on 2007 pre-election meeting in Imotski said that HSP is to protect a life from conception and family from same-sex unions because they are "unnatural and abnormal" [http://izbori.hrt.hr/content/view/1491/29/] . But it also takes care of economic, educational and various other problems. Therefore it won over some moderates and doubled its seat numbers in 2003 election.

HSP and its president are now viewed as an anti-establishment solution as opposed to establishment parties like HDZ and the Social Democratic Party of Croatia. Representative Đapić currently serves in Foreign Politics Committee. He is married with one daughter.

In June 2005 Đapić became mayor of Osijek. After he concluded coalition with the person who is suspected to be responsible for war crimes towards Serbian civilians, Osijek citizens, during 1990-1991 (Branimir Glavaš). He became mayor in very disputable way – there is still going on investigation about corruption during voting for him becoming mayor (buying councilor) by him and his coalition partner.