GULIĆ: LAST-DITCH APPEAL BY CROATIAN NGOS TO GOVERNMENT TO RESPECT CONSTITUTION AND LAWS

BELGRADE, AUGUST 11 /SRNA/ - Historian Milan Gulić said that complaints filed by three Croatian non-governmental organisations with Croatia’s Ministry of the Interior and State Prosecutor’s Office over the public incitement of hatred against Serbs and the use of Ustasha symbols during Croatia’s celebration of the "Storm" criminal operation in Knin were a last-ditch appeal to the state to respect its own Constitution and laws.

He stressed that this primarily concerned the Ustasha salute "Za dom spremni" /"For the Homeland Ready"/, which is a clear fascist legacy and the Croatian version of the Nazi salute "Sieg Heil" from the Second World War, which is completely inappropriate anywhere in the world. "The Constitutional Court of Croatia has clearly established that this is a salute rooted in the Ustasha movement and that, as such, it is incompatible with the Croatian Constitution," Gulić told SRNA, commenting on the complaints filed by the Centre for Peace, Non-Violence and Human Rights in Osijek, the Antifascist League of Croatia and Dokumenta. He stressed that there was no doubt about this and that it was the official position of Croatia’s judicial authorities. "However, tolerating this salute in the context of the so-called Homeland War and the claims that the salute has a so-called dual connotation have resulted in its continued presence in public life, with a significant number of police officers and lower courts failing to respond to it," Gulić said. He stressed that the salute could not have any dual connotation because its origins and symbolism were well known, adding that those who used it during the 1990s war did not do so as an abstract gesture, but to demonstrate their connection to the NDH and Ustasha ideology. "It is clear that this is not in accordance with the Croatian Constitution, and the only issue here is compliance with the Croatian Constitution and laws. It is clear that such a salute should be banned from any public use because it evokes a traumatic period in the country’s history, specifically the history associated with this salute," Gulić said. Commenting on direct threats by some participants at the gathering in Knin to "kill" Serbs, chants that they would "cross the Drina and set Serbia on fire", as well as a series of insults and openly hateful messages directed at the Serbian people, Gulić said that this was nothing new, but added that he had little expectation that the authorities would act on the complaints filed by Croatian NGOs. “"roatian police and courts are very diligent when monitoring the Facebook profiles of expelled Serbs who come to Croatia - they pay close attention to what songs they post, where the displaced persons have taken photographs and with whom. It is therefore logical to expect the Croatian police and judiciary to be equally diligent in such cases. However, it is clear to everyone that this will not happen," Gulić stressed. The NGOs also filed a complaint with the public prosecutor based on footage recorded during the commemoration of "Storm" in Knin on August 5. Among other things, the three organisations stated that the footage clearly shows that some participants in the "Storm" anniversary parade publicly shouted messages directed against Serbs and used symbols and salutes unequivocally associated with the Ustasha regime of the Independent State of Croatia /NDH/.