Croatian State Leadership Not Concerned About Orašje Croats, But About Minister Krstičević and HV Commanders

Neighboring Croatia has certainly not launched a fierce political offensive in recent days to defend the 10 HVO members arrested in Orašje, but primarily because of the Minister of Defense Damir Krstičević and other commanders of the Croatian Army who participated in the Southern Move operation in which more than 180 civilians of Serbian nationality were killed, writes Patria.

Krstičević is under investigation for war crimes committed by the Croatian Army in Mrkonjić Grad between October 8 and 15, 1995.

The victims were mostly elderly men and women. The investigation so far has established that the crime was committed by members of the Fourth Guard Brigade, which was then headed by the current Minister of Defense of the Republic of Croatia.

The crime was committed after the deputy commander of the Fourth Guard Brigade, Andrija Matijaš Pauk, was killed in the operation to liberate Mrkonjić Grad. This case was handed over by the Hague Tribunal to the judiciary of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In April 1996, 181 bodies were exhumed from a mass grave in the Orthodox cemetery in Mrkonjić Grad, in the presence of experts from the Hague Tribunal.

According to unofficial information, the investigation into the October 1995 crime could also include Ante Gotovina, Željko Glasnović, Ljubo Ćesić Rojs...

All of them, along with Minister Krstičević, are the reason for the fierce reactions from the Croatian state leadership, and political pressure is being exerted on the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is working on this case.