ZAGREB, 16 May 2022 - The leaders of three Croat parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) on Monday supported President Zoran Milanović's policy considering the issues burdening Croats in that country, including his idea to block Finland and Sweden's accession to NATO unless the election law in BiH is amended.

Earlier on Monday Milanović called on representatives of Croats in BiH to clearly state if they agree with his policy so that he can continue pursuing it.

"I support President Milanović's policy and call on institutions in Croatia to help in finding a solution to the Croat issue in BiH and to take all the necessary steps, regardless of how difficult they may be," the leader of the HDZ 1990, Ilija Cvitanović told the Bild.ba web news portal.

He added that this was a 'historic moment' for Croats in BiH and that it has to be utilized.

The leader of HSS BiH, Mario Karamatić posted on Facebook that he can see "the point, interest and advantage' in what Milanović is doing and asked that he continued doing so.

"Mr. President, please do not give up from us too, like many others who have done so for whatever reason," Karamatić wrote.

Leader of the Republican Party Slaven Raguž said that "over the past 15 days, Zoran Milanović has done more to internationalize the Croat issue in BiH than HDZ has in the past 20 years."

Milanović has been repeating for days that Croatia should block Finland and Sweden's accession to the alliance until the election law in BiH is amended in an attempt to prevent the more numerous Bosniaks to outvote Croats in that country at the October election.

However, Croatia's Prime Minister and leader of the HDZ, Andrej Plenković, has accused Milanović's rhetoric saying that it has damaged attempts for an agreement to be reached over the election reform.

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ZAGREB, 25 Oct 2021 - The Croatian Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Monday strongly condemned the frequent attacks on Croatian symbols in that country and warned that these are serious incidents that authorities in the country must not ignore as they create feelings of fear and insecurity.

After a monument to killed soldiers of the Croatian Defence Forces (HVO) had been desecrated in Vitez over the weekend, the embassy today issued a statement to condemn in the strongest terms the incident and underscore that the Vitez case, as well as another recent incident against the Catholic church in Bihać, are just two in a series of similar worrisome cases.

"This vandalic act, and recent threats to Croatian political representatives in Bugojno and the violent tearing down of the Croatian flag in Bugojno and Vareš, comprise serious incidents directed against the Croatian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina," the statement says noting that attacks on Croatian premises and symbols create fear and distrust and must not be ignored." "Hence the Embassy of Croatia calls on the highest competent institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina to condemn these incidents, and to shed light on their background and punish those responsibly," the statement said.

The Embassy recalled that the Croatian state wishes to be a sincere friend and is committed to all efforts to support that country on its European and Euro-Atlantic journey, to guarantee the equality of all three constituent peoples and all citizens, and to strengthen the respect of coexistence, tolerance, and rule of law.

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ZAGREB, 9 Sept 2021 - The 28th anniversary of the massacre committed by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina against 33 local Croats in Grabovica was commemorated in that village north of Mostar on Thursday.

The families of the victims and other participants in today's commemorative events underscored that the remains of 17 victims, including a four-year-old girl, had not yet been found even after 28 years since the atrocities were committed.

So far, partial remains of 16 of the 33 victims have been identified, while the remains of the other 17 victims have not still been found.

The families also point out the command responsibility of senior officers of the B-H army.

To date, five members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina have been sentenced for the murders of the Zadro and the Mandić families, however, although we have presented plenty of evidence, no one has been held responsible for this massacre, based on command responsibility, said a representative of the families of the Grabovica victims.

Thus, Nihad Vlahovljak, Sead Karagić, and Haris Rajkić were given 13 years each for the Grabovica atrocities, whereas Enes Šakrak was sentenced to ten years and Mustafa Hota to nine years.

In 2007, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia acquitted General Safer Halilovic, former Deputy Commander and Chief of the Main Staff of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, of charges pertaining to his alleged command responsibility for murders committed by Bosnian Army troops in the villages of Grabovica and Uzdol in the Jablanica and Prozor areas of Herzegovina in September 1993.

In July 2014, the Bosnian State Prosecutor's Office indicted two former members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) -- Rasema Handanović and Elmedin Čaušević- who were members of the Zulfikar special unit, for torturing a Bosnian Croat married couple in the village of Grabovica in 1993.

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