Kelava

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Kelava, an anti-communist dissident, came to the United States from the Croatian region of the former Yugoslavia as a refugee in 1969. He became a legal permanent resident in 1972.

In the late 1970’s, the Federal Republic of Germany (“West Germany”) began deporting and extraditing Croatian dissi- KELAVA v. GONZALES 6495 dents to Yugoslavia where they were allegedly being tortured and executed. In April 1978, Kelava and another man entered the West German Consulate in Chicago, armed with hand- guns, ropes and a phony bomb. United States v. Kelava, 610 F.2d 479, 480 (7th Cir. 1979). They seized several employees (including a Consular Officer), demanding that West Ger- many refuse to extradite Stepan Bilandzic, a prominent Cro- atian dissident, to Yugoslavia. After being permitted to speak with Bilandzic, Kelava and his cohort released the hostages unharmed. Id.

Kelava and his companion were initially indicted and con- victed in federal court of conspiracy and kidnapping of for- eign officials, but the district court judge later determined that he had erred in instructing the jury on a lesser included offense and ordered a new…