Liberland, also known as the Free Republic of Liberland, is an unrecognised micronation in Southeast Europe claiming an uninhabited parcel of the western bank of the Danube, controlled by Croatia across from Serbia (locally known as Gornja Siga). It was proclaimed on 13 April 2015 by the Czech right-libertarian politician and activist Vít Jedlička,^[1][2] who is also its self-proclaimed “president”.^[3] Jedlička anticipated an eventual population of roughly 35,000 for the micronation, with cryptocurrency as its money.^[4] Its motto is “to live and let live”.^[5]

The official website of Liberland states that the nation was created in the wake of the ongoing Croatia–Serbia border dispute.^[6][7][8] According to Jedlička, this dispute resulted in a plot of land west of the Danube being unclaimed by either side.^[1][7]

The parcel of land in question is 7 km² (2.7 sq mi) in area, roughly the same size as Gibraltar. It has been administered by Croatia since the Croatian War of Independence.^[9] Liberland has no diplomatic recognition from any recognized nation.^[10] The land lacks infrastructure and lies on the floodplain of the Danube.^[11][12]

Croatia has frequently blocked off access to the Gornja Siga territory since 2015. As a result, a number of people, including Vít Jedlička, have been arrested for trying to enter the claimed land.^[13]

Location

The dispute regarding the border along the Danube River valley first arose in 1947 but was left unresolved during the existence of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It became a contentious issue after the break-up of Yugoslavia. Serbia holds the opinion that the thalweg of the Danube valley and the centre line of the river represents the international border between the two countries. Croatia disagrees and claims that the international border lies along the boundaries of the cadastral municipalities located along the river – departing from the course at several points – reflecting the course of the Danube which existed in the 19th century before meandering and hydraulic engineering works altered its course. As a result, Croatia claims a large part of the disputed area controlled by Serbia, while Serbia does not claim the much smaller parts controlled by Croatia.

Jedlička says that the land he has claimed, known as Gornja Siga (meaning 'upper tufa') was not claimed by either side.^[1][7]

The area is about 700 hectares (1,700 acres)—about the size of Gibraltar—and most of it is covered in forest with no residents. A journalist from the Czech newspaper Parlamentní listy [cs], who visited the area in April 2015, found a house that had been abandoned for about thirty years, according to people living in the vicinity. The access road was reported to be in a bad condition.^[14]

The Danube, an international waterway with free access to the Black Sea for several landlocked nations, runs along the self-proclaimed territory.

History

Proclamation

Jedlička is a member of the Czech Party of Free Citizens, which bases its values on the classical liberal ideology.^[7] According to him, since no nation claims the land as its own, he could therefore could claim it using the terra nullius doctrine; the borders, he argued, respected Croatia's and Serbian's sovereignty.^[15] He intended the state to be a tax-free haven.

Proposed governance

The founders claim to have been inspired by countries like Monaco and Liechtenstein.^[15] On 18 December 2015, Jedlička held an event at which he presented the first provisional government of Liberland and its ministers of finance, foreign affairs, interior and justice as well as two vice presidents.^[16]

Access

Croatian authorities have frequently blocked access to the area since the beginning of May 2015.^[17][18]

In May 2015, Vít Jedlička and his translator Sven Sambunjak were briefly detained by Croatian police after making an attempt to cross the border. Jedlička spent one night in detention and then was convicted and ordered to pay a fine for illegal crossing of the Croatian border^[19] but appealed the verdict. He claimed that there were at least three Liberland citizens inside the area, who came from Switzerland.^{[20][21][22][23]} Later that month, Vít Jedlička was detained again.^[24] Initially, reporters were able to enter the area with Jedlička^[14] but subsequently they were also denied entry, including journalists from the Serbian public broadcast service Radio Television of Vojvodina,^[25] and from the Bosnian newspaper Dnevni avaz.^[26]

The detained were from various countries, including the Republic of Ireland, Germany, Denmark, and the United States.^[18] Croatian police have continued detaining people, including those that entered the area by boat (via an international waterway).^[27][28][29] One of them, Danish activist Ulrik Grøssel Haagensen, was placed in house arrest for 5 days before being sentenced to 15 days of prison, triggering some protests in Denmark.^[30][31]

In May 2016, several appeals court decisions from Croatia were published. The court upheld that the crossings from Croatia were illegal, but found the convictions for crossings from Serbia improper. The court said that the lower court committed "a fundamental breach of misdemeanour proceedings" and "essential procedural violations". It further ruled that "the facts were incorrectly and incompletely established [by the prosecutor] which could lead to misapplication of substantive law". A retrial was ordered in 6 of the 7 appeals. The lower court is required to determine the location of the border and the border crossing.^{[32][needs update]}

In April 2023, YouTuber Nikolas Omilana—together with a collaborator—went past the Croatian border police using jet skis, entering the disputed territory to plant a flag. They were both confronted by a policeman who forced them to lie down on the ground and kicked them, but they were ultimately released. The footage was uploaded on YouTube in July of the same year, and received millions of views the following days, as well as coverage in Croatian and Serbian media.^[33][34]

During August 2023, Liberland movement supporters and journalists managed to obtain unofficial access to the land parcel.^[35][36] However, this was brought to an end on 21 September, as Croatian police launched an intervention. During the police action, some makeshift wooden buildings, which the Liberland supporters had constructed earlier, were taken down. Liberland supporters also complained about confiscations of property.^[37][38] Croatian police has confirmed that they secured the location during the work with the demolition, and made three arrests, according to Dnevnik Nove TV.^[38]

Public reactions

Journalists have been uncertain as to how serious Jedlička is about his claims, with some calling it a publicity stunt.^[39][40]

On 20 May 2015, Petr Mach, the leader of the Party of Free Citizens, expressed support for the creation of a state based on ideas of freedom, adding that the Party of Free Citizens wants the Czech Republic to become a similarly free country.^[41]

Goran Vojković, professor of law and columnist from the Croatian news portal Index.hr, described Liberland as a "circus which threatens Croatian territory", and argued that there was a risk that Croatia's claim to control land on the other side of the Danube may be weakened by the attention that the Liberland project has drawn to the border dispute.^[42]

In 2016, an article in Stratfor summarized the initiative as follows: "Liberland is a curious case because, in principle, none of the actors that could claim control over it seems interested in doing so. But this will probably remain a curiosity with negligible consequences at the international level. For the rest of the world's disputed territories, violence and diplomacy will remain the main tools to claim ownership."^[43]

Legal analysis and recognition

Both Croatia and Serbia have dismissed Jedlička's claims as frivolous.^[44] While the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs considered the affair to be a trivial matter, it affirmed that Liberland did not infringe upon its soveiregnity.^[44] In contrast, Croatia, which currently administers the land in question, has found the idea "provocative" and suggested bringing it to a stop even if by force; rejecting the idea that the land is terra nullius, it has stated that after international arbitration, the land should be awarded to Croatia or Serbia, not to a third party.^[45][46] The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also disassociated itself from the activities of Jedlička, finding them inappropriate, illegal, and potentially harmful, and has asked him to respect local law.^[47][48] Legal experts in both Serbia and Croatia have asserted that, under international law, Jedlička lacks the right to claim the area.^[17][49][50]

There has been no diplomatic recognition of Liberland by any member nation-state of the United Nations.^[10] Jedlička has visited another unrecognized republic, Somaliland, a self-declared state that proclaimed its independence from Somalia in 1991, and discussed mutual recognition with them with no real effect.^[51] A few micronations — the Kingdom of Enclava, the Kingdom of North Sudan, and the Principality of Sealand — have expressed support for the idea of Liberland.^[43][52][53]