Croat sentenced to a year and a half in prison for Nazi salute at Bleiburg

KLAGENFURT, (Patria) - Due to a Ustasha salute at a gathering in Bleiburg, a Croatian citizen was sentenced today in Austria to 15 months in prison, suspended for three years, Austrian media report, BHRT reports.

A Croat from Vukovar-Srijem County, one of the arrested six, had the indictment read at the start of the trial, which states that he shouted “Za dom spremni!” and saluted the flag of the Croatian Armed Forces with a Hitler salute, media report.

The court in Klagenfurt sentenced the 51-year-old man under the law banning the glorification of Nazi ideology, the Austrian APA agency reported.

The convicted man said he was drunk.

The Austrian police previously warned that they would monitor the gathering in Bleiburg, where Nazi symbols and uniforms of the Ustasha NDH could previously be seen, and announced “zero tolerance” for such acts.

This year's commemoration was held on May 12.