Croatian Army Colonel Vinko Štefanek Confirmed: "I Commanded Matuzović"

Vinko Štefanek, a colonel of the Croatian Army, confirmed on Saturday for Croatian N1 television that he was the one who commanded the actions of the Croatian Defence Council in the Orašje and Eastern Posavina areas.

The Croatian Army colonel thus confirms the statements of Almin Dautbegović, the lawyer of Đuro Matuzović, one of the arrested members of the HVO, that the Croatian Army was superior to the HVO units in Posavina.

Numerous publicly available documents indicate such a command hierarchy, but for the first time, one of the high-ranking officials of the Croatian Army confirms such a chain of command in a public statement.

- You can publish that, under the command of OG Eastern Posavina – Štefanek said.

So, that was the only chain of command in that area?

- The command line was the only one. Stipetić interfered a little, but very little – Štefanek answered further.

So, all the actions carried out by the HVO in the Orašje area were directly ordered by you?

- Correct.

Do you believe that crimes were committed in that area?

- Mostly not in that area. There were some excesses, individual troublemakers, but as for Matuzović, he is nothing. He is an extremely decent, honest, and good man. You can publish that to everyone. He never did anything without permission and approval, and he protected the interests of Croats in Orašje – Štefanek said, NAP reports.