ALEKSANDAR TRAVICA: CROATIAN COURTS TRY TO FORCE CONVICTION OF MY SERIOUSLY ILL FATHER FOR ALLEGED WAR CRIME

BELGRADE, FEBRUARY 8 /SRNA/ – Aleksandar Travica, son of Željko Travica /64/, a Serb detained in Osijek on charges of an alleged war crime in Cerić and Mirkovci near Vinkovci in 1991, is waging a fierce battle against Croatian judges. He claims the courts are rushing to convict his father in a fabricated trial, despite the fact that he recently underwent cancer surgery while in detention and narrowly survived.

"My father was just hours away from death, having undergone last-minute surgery for cancer. Yet the judge ignores his critical health condition, sending him back to prison between chemotherapy sessions at the Osijek hospital. The judge is doing everything possible to expedite the trial and secure a conviction, even though my father is innocent. The truth would emerge if the judge allowed the defense witnesses to testify," Travica told SRNA. According to Aleksandar, his father is a victim of a false witness, whose testimony led to the indictment, ambitions of the court panel president to use a fabricated trial to gain the position of Osijek court president, and an orchestrated media campaign in Croatia. DEFENSE WITNESSES BLOCKED Aleksandar says eight defense witnesses have so far been denied, including two eyewitnesses to the events at the "red house" in Cerić, where, according to the indictment, eight captured Croatian police and HOS members were allegedly executed in October 1991. His father is accused of participating in the shootings and prior alleged mistreatment, even though he was reportedly on another part of the front at that time. Aleksandar says Željko Travica was responsible for transporting the wounded, which is documented and confirmed by the former Territorial Defense commander in Mirkovci and his deputy, who wished to testify but were blocked by the court. Until his arrest, Željko Travica had no idea anyone could accuse him of a crime, especially one of the men he had saved in early October 1991 in Cerić. FAKE ACCUSATION BY MAN HE SAVED The events came to light on October 5, 2024, when Travica, living in the United Kingdom since 2016, traveled to France. Upon stepping onto French soil, he was arrested in the border town of Calais under a Croatian warrant and placed in extradition custody, learning that he was accused of a war crime allegedly committed 33 years earlier. Aleksandar explains that one of the three Croats his father had saved provided false testimony that led to the indictment. "My father was on the other side of the front and, after the battle, encountered three Croats who were led by two Serbs from the village. One aimed a rifle at them, but my father told him not to touch them. One of the villagers, who had been in prison before the war, then got into an argument with my father, who reacted, knowing what could happen," Aleksandar said. The dispute escalated but was broken up by Serbian local fighters. His father then went to the village to transport the wounded, while the Croatian captives went elsewhere. The story was well known locally, and the three Croats told it to the Vinkovci police in 1992. Yet over 30 years, the narrative was twisted against his father. COURTS IGNORE HEALTH EVIDENCE Aleksandar adds that witnesses for the prosecution repeatedly changed their statements. One of the three Croats even went further in accusations, implicating his father in multiple crimes, though he had initially not mentioned him at all. When he submitted documentation showing that his father had surgery for kidney cancer in the UK, the court reportedly dismissed it as irrelevant. "These are their European 'values'. Likewise, our request to allow my father house arrest during treatment was rejected—not based on the circumstances we requested, but citing an unrelated law. It’s incredible that a judge would break the law to deny house arrest for a man needing radiation," Aleksandar said. He emphasized that since August last year, his father has been battling colorectal cancer and faced delayed surgery for his gallbladder, which was only performed in December instead of the recommended timeline.