PREDRAG MATVEJEVIC was supported in the foreign press by a dozen intellectuals of global prominence, even though he was in no danger of serving a prison sentence"Predrag Matvejevic is not going to jail and the entire affair is proof of the fact that some reporters are doing their job poorly," Nacional was told by County Court in response to information according to which the well-known Croatian writer would soon be detained to serve a 5-month prison sentence. At County Court this Monday they asked reporters to not report erroneous information and that they make an effort to get their story straight. "The case is closed and Mr. Matvejevic is not going to prison. The Supreme Court rejected a request from the State Attorney's Office, which was of the opinion that the law had been violated in the first instance trial in 2005, but, we repeat, nobody is going to jail," County Court officials told Nacional.

"I am at their disposal, and if they wish to arrest me, I am at the Kolocep hotel near Dubrovnik. The ruling that sentenced me to five months in jail over the newspaper article "Our Taliban" is unworthy of my response, which is why I was unwilling to lodge an appeal as I would have thereby, in a way, confirmed it. I am 78 years old and if the state feels that I should be locked up, let them come to Kolocep and take me to jail," said Predrag Matvejevic in a breath, outlining his opinion as he travelled with his wife Monday morning from Dubrovnik airport to Kolocep, where he intends to vacation through to mid August. In other words, as a result of the erroneous interpretation of reporters, Matvejevic was convinced that he would have to go to jail in two days time, while the entirely unfounded story was also reported by many foreign media houses. Happily for him, Matvejevic will certainly not be arrested on Wednesday, July 28th, or detained for the coming five months. A decision came down from the Supreme Court of Croatia, which in May rejected a request from Chief State Attorney Mladen Bajic to quash the ruling handed down by Zagreb County Court, which in 2005 sentenced Matvejevic to a five month prison sentence with a two year probation period. Matvejevic refused to appeal the decision or seek a stay on his prison sentence, and his inflexible attitude engendered embarrassment and quite a bit of nervousness among top state officials. The press completely misunderstood the ruling handed down by the Supreme Court, rejecting Bajic's request for the protection of legality, or, simply, put, confirmed the first instance ruling. Since five years have passed since then Matvejevic is a free man and the entire commotion surrounding his arrest is a fabrication.

But the story spread around the world and renowned writers Salman Rushdie and Umberto Ecco recently protested against his "incarceration." It all started in 2001 when Matvejevic ran an article in the Jutarnji list daily newspaper under the headline Our Taliban, in which he accused Sarajevo writer Mile Pesorda of being "responsible for the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina," a "fascist collaborator" and a "quisling writer." Pesorda filed a defamation lawsuit and the court found Matvejevic guilty. Matvejevic refused to appeal the ruling because he felt that the ruling was a form of censorship. Matvejevic also rejected the procedural possibility of seeking a stay on his prison sentence from the County Court and thereby buy time in which a way would be found out of the current stalemate. He appeared very resolute when speaking for Nacional and repeated on several occasions that he could not put himself in a situation in which he would have to make requests of the institutions that accepted the lawsuit filed by Mile Pesorda and sentenced him to prison. At the President's Office they know that Matvejevic is in no danger of going to jail.

"It is a swinish ruling, but it is a suspended sentence with a probation period that has expired, and there is no chance that Predrag Matvejevic will wind up in jail. He will probably have to pay a fine, but it is entirely certain that he will not be going to jail," Nacional was told by officials at the Office of the President. Indicative of the absurdity of the court ruling is the fact that while the press was discussing, even at the international level, whether or not the police would bring him in to serve the prison sentence, President Josipovic on Monday appointed Predrag Matvejevic his envoy for French-speaking countries. In doing so Josipovic wished to give recognition of Matvejevic's work to date, and to show what he thought of the court ruling. On the other hand, it shows in a paradoxical fashion how the state has convicted Matvejevic, while at the same time the President of the same country is offering him the job of representing Croatia among the French-speaking countries. But this scandal is certainly no good for Croatia. On Saturday, July 26th, the press published a letter by French philosopher Bernard Henry-Levy, who demanded that the Croatian authorities stop the persecution of Matvejevic and the annulment of his prison sentence. A letter, entitled "Predrag Matvejevic does not have to go to jail" was signed by prominent intellectuals like Salman Rushdie, Umberto Ecco and Claudio Magris, the chief proposition of which is that "one of the greatest European intellectuals faces a prison sentence for the delict of verbal though in his homeland of Croatia." In Italy some 400 public figures signed a petition defending the author of the Mediterranean Breviary, and as he told Nacional, the Italian ambassador in Zagreb offered him asylum in the embassy building if he really did have to go to jail.

Predrag Matvejevic declined the offer and travelled to Kolocep. There, on vacation, he awaits his fate; quite convinced that he will, although innocent, wind up in jail. At the other end of the country, in Zagreb, top national and judicial officials are giving assurances that Matvejevic is a free man, and will remain a free man. Predrag Matvejevic can enjoy his holiday at peace on the Adriatic seaboard, and his case, which started as a judicial tragedy because of the shameful verdict, has come to a comic epilogue.