Blaž Kraljević 1992: No Division of Bosnia and Herzegovina, We Will Preserve It for All of Us

Blaž Kraljević, a colonel of the Croatian Defence Forces (HOS) in Herzegovina, issued a public proclamation in early August 1992 calling on Croats and Muslims not to allow the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina, writes the Bosnian news agency Patria.

- Either we will all perish or we will be free - it was written in the Proclamation.

Already on August 9, 1992, after the brilliant successes of HOS units under Kraljević's command on the Trebinje battlefield and the liberation of the inner city core, and a sincere desire to liberate the entire territory of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with other patriotic forces that stood in the way of nationalists and fascists from the self-proclaimed Croatian community "Herceg-Bosna", members of the HVO military police, on the orders of the top leadership of the Croatian community Herceg-Bosna, ambushed and killed Blaž Kraljević and 8 HOS members in the place of Kruševo on the main road from Mostar towards Čitluk.

Blaž Kraljević was born on September 17, 1947, in the place of Lisice, near Ljubuški. Upon arriving in Herzegovina at the end of 1991, he became the head of the Croatian Party of Rights, i.e., the branch of the HSP for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and on January 15, 1991, he was appointed commander of the war headquarters of the HOS for Herzegovina, with the rank of colonel of the HOS.

The policy of the Croatian Defence Forces, led by Kraljević, was aimed at a political and military alliance of Croats and Muslims (Bosniaks) in Bosnia and Herzegovina against the Greater Serbian policy of conquering Bosnia and Herzegovina.

No one has been prosecuted for his murder.

According to those who were well acquainted with the political circumstances at the time, Kraljević's liquidation was ordered by Gojko Šušak, then Minister of Defence of Croatia, and was carried out by Mate Boban, who allegedly organized the execution of this crime.