ŠTRBAC: USTASHA SYMBOLS PRESENT AT EVERY MAJOR EVENT IN CROATIA

BELGRADE, JULY 14 /SRNA/ - There are no longer any celebrations, commemorations or sporting events in Croatia without the display of fascist-Ustasha symbols, so it comes as no surprise that a Croatian court acquitted former HOS wartime commander Marko Skejo and 12 others of charges over chanting the Ustasha salute "Za dom spremni/For Homeland-Ready!," Savo Štrbac, director of the Veritas Documentation and Information Centre, said in a statement to SRNA.

Štrbac said the ruling amounted to an abuse of the 2018 report by the Council for Dealing with the Consequences of the Rule of Non-Democratic Regimes, which, he added, is tolerated by Croatian politicians.

He said that, instead of regulating the use of Ustasha symbols by law as a criminal offense, the first government of Andrej Plenković established the council to prepare an expert report. The report provided an exception allowing the "strictly limited use of the salute 'Za dom spremni' in circumstances related to the Homeland War".

Štrbac explained that the exception was introduced because the HOS paramilitary unit used Ustasha symbols during the 1990s war and existed until February 1992, when it was integrated into the Croatian Army.

He said his prediction made immediately after the report was published had come true - that the exception would become the rule - pointing out that Ustasha symbols are now displayed during celebrations marking Operation Storm, even though the event commemorates developments from 1995, when HOS had long since ceased to exist.

According to Štrbac, Croatian judges use every loophole in laws and regulations to acquit those who display Ustasha symbols or chant Ustasha slogans.

"The Croats are following their old customs - the judge had 99 percent of the reasons to find them guilty and one percent to acquit them, and she seized on that loophole in the law," Štrbac said.

He said the intention had been for the council's report to be incorporated into legislation, but that this never happened, allowing members of the right-wing political spectrum to use it as justification for chanting Ustasha slogans and displaying Ustasha symbols wherever they choose.

"As a result, there is no longer a single commemoration of events from the Second World War, particularly those from the 1990s war, no Thompson concert or concerts by other singers, and not even a sporting event where spectators or participants do not display those symbols," Štrbac mentions.

He added that Croatia enjoys the support of the Roman Catholic Church and Germany on this issue.

"It is obvious that they have the traditional support of the Catholic Church, Rome and Germany, which have always been their traditional friends and mentors and have always forgiven them everything, both during the Second World War and afterwards," Štrbac said.

The Split Minor Offences Court on Monday acquitted former HOS wartime commander Marko Skejo and 12 former members of the notorious unit of responsibility for chanting "Za dom spremni" in Knin four years ago, after the judge ruled that exceptions existed despite the fact that the Ustasha salute is banned.

The ruling states that there is no dispute that "Za dom spremni", as the official slogan of the Ustasha movement and the totalitarian Independent State of Croatia /NDH/ regime, is contrary to the Croatian Constitution, but notes that it was also used during the so-called Homeland War as an integral part of the official HOS emblem, whose members "defended Croatia against aggression", Croatian media reported.