Conviction of Alojzije Stepinac overturned

The Zagreb County Court has fully overturned the conviction of Archbishop Alojzije Stepinac, who was sentenced by the communist authorities in 1946 to 16 years in prison and forced labor, and to a five-year loss of political and civil rights.

The decision of the non-trial chamber was explained by judge Ivan Turudić. The review of the verdict was requested by the archbishop's nephew, Boris Stepinac, who had previously announced a statement after the decision was published.

In September 1946, Stepinac was accused by the then Public Prosecutor's Office of the People's Republic of Croatia, based on the "Law on Criminal Offenses Against the People and the State," of collaborating with the Italian and German occupiers and the Ustaše regime in the Independent State of Croatia, of forcibly converting Orthodox Christians, of aiding the Ustaše regime, and of enemy propaganda after the end of the war.

The verdict was delivered by the Supreme Court on October 11, 1946, which found him guilty on all counts of the indictment.

In February 1992, the Croatian Parliament adopted the "Declaration on the Condemnation of the Political Trial and Verdict against Cardinal Dr. Alojzije Stepinac," which states that he was unjustly convicted in a fabricated political trial "because he refused, on the orders of the communist authorities, to carry out a church schism and to separate the Catholic Church of Croats from Rome and the Vatican, with the far-reaching goal of destroying the Catholic Church as the age-old guardian and protector of the identity and freedom of the Croatian people."

- He was convicted because he acted against the violence and crimes of the communist authorities, just as he acted in the whirlwind and cruelties of the Second World War, in defense of the persecuted, regardless of their ethnic origin or religious worldview. Although the Croatian people and the Catholic Church never recognized the conviction of Archbishop Stepinac, the Croatian Parliament, as the highest representative body of Croatia, by expressing a clear stance towards the unjust conviction of Cardinal Stepinac, is correcting a historical injustice and insult to the Croatian people.

By condemning the fabricated trial and conviction of Archbishop Stepinac, the Croatian Parliament simultaneously condemns the political trials of numerous unjustly convicted priests, monks, and believers, thereby condemning the anti-national communist regime as well," the declaration states.

Review enabled by amendments to the law in 2009.

The review of the proceedings is carried out based on the provision of the Criminal Procedure Act from 2009, which stipulates that persons convicted by the courts of former Yugoslavia during communist rule for political, politically motivated criminal offenses, or other criminal offenses if the conviction was reached through the abuse of political power, can request the annulment of the conviction or another corresponding legal act through a review.

The review must contain the convicted person's personal details, details of the verdict being challenged, details of the facts and evidence on which it is based, the reasoning and signature of the applicant, and, if the applicant is an heir, proof that the convicted person has died and that the applicant is their legal heir.

If it determines that the review is founded, the chamber, according to the law, can annul the verdict in whole or in part, and the applicant for review and the public prosecutor can appeal the county court chamber's decision to the Supreme Court.