ZAGREB, 10 Jan 2022 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Monday he was "appalled" by a decision by the Banja Luka city authorities to put up a plaque in tribute to JNA Major Milan Tepić, who blew up an ammunition depot in Bjelovar, Croatia in 1991, killing 11 members of Croatian defense forces.

"We are all appalled considering (the incident) and the number of people killed at the time. Therefore we consider any memorial plaque inappropriate and condemn it," Plenković said during a visit to Split.

When Croatian forces liberated the JNA barracks in Bjelovar on 29 September 1991, most JNA soldiers there surrendered, while Tepić refused. Instead, he destroyed the ammunition depot, killing himself, 11 Croatian defenders, and dozens of JNA conscripts.

Tepic, who was in charge of the ammunition depot in the village of Bedenik, had planned to blow up all four warehouses at that location but was prevented from doing so by four Croatian soldiers, whose intervention prevented an even bigger disaster.

Banja Luka Mayor Draško Stanivuković on Sunday unveiled a plaque commemorating Tepić, describing him as "the last Yugoslav national hero." The plaque was unveiled on the occasion of the day of the Serb entity of Republika Srpska, January 9, a holiday that was declared unconstitutional by the BiH Constitutional Court in 2016.

On Sunday, a parade was held in Banja Luka for that day, which is a public holiday in the Serb entity, with the Serb member of the BiH Presidency, Milorad Dodik, saying that "Republika Srpska is our state, regardless of those who deny it to us."

In a comment on the event as well as the Serb entity's aspirations for secession, Plenković reiterated Croatia's strong support to the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, "which we respect and are helping on its European journey and which we want to be a functioning country."

"We are against any messages that have secessionist and separatist connotations," Plenković stressed.

President of the Serb National Council (SNV), and a Croatian Member of Parliament Milorad Pupovac, also attended the events in Banja Luka on Sunday.

"As for Mr. Pupovac's attendance, he was there only for the official ceremony in his capacity as president of the SNV," Plenković said, adding that "there has been significant support there to the post-earthquake reconstruction of Banovina", a reference to post-earthquake aid to Croatia's Sisak-Moslavina County provided by the Serb entity authorities.

"He neither made any speeches nor did he have any special role there," Plenković said in conclusion, in reference to Pupovac.

For more, check out our dedicated politics section.

ZAGREB, 28 Aug, 2021 - Wreath-laying ceremonies were held on Saturday in Osijek at the "Last Shot" monument erected in memory of HRT cameraman Žarko Kaić, killed by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) in that eastern Croatian city on 28 August 1991.

Kaic lost his life in the suburb of Brijest when fire was opened from a JNA armoured fighting vehicle at the HRT crew that was covering the passage of a JNA column of tanks through Osijek.

Participants in today's commemoration pointed out that Kaić had been covering the war developments in Slavonia at the start of the Great Serbian aggression.

His work conveyed the truth about the war and the beginning of the Great Serbia aggression, the war veterans ministry's state secretary, Špiro Janović, said at today''s commemorative events.

The truth cannot be interpreted differently, and Kaić's recordings of the events in Osijek, Aljmaš and Dalj show the suffering of the Croatian people and the resolve of Croatian soldiers, Janović said.

In that incident 30 years ago, Kaić was killed while an HRT sound operator, Dragan Krička, was seriously wounded and the third member of the TV crew, journalist Saša Kopljar, remained unwounded.

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Pavle Strugar, the war criminal who shelled Dubrovnik, causing not only wanton destruction and horrific damage to the UNESCO World Heritage Site, but also a terrible loss of life, has passed away in Serbia.

Strugar was born on the 13th of July, 1933 in Peć, in the then Kingdom of Yugoslavia, now Kosovo. The Montenegrin general served in the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), undertaking various different roles, and eventually becoming the commander of the Second Operational Group of the JNA, which operated in southern Croatia, in 1991.

Under his command, the JNA monstrously attacked Dubrovnik in 1991, in a siege which caused tremendous damage to the city, and took the lives of both veterans and civilians. The terrible siege of Dubrovnik lasted until 1992, with Strugar retiring one year later, in 1993.

As Jutarnji reports on the 13th of December, 2018, the retired General Pavle Strugar has died in Belgrade following a short but serious illness.

Strugar was tried and sentenced for his actions, as well as for the deaths of civilians at the Hague tribunal, this was coupled with the fact that in 1991, he did nothing to prevent the horrendous war crime of the shelling of Dubrovnik. The Montenegrin initially attempted an appeal to his sentence, but that was later withdrawn.

Strugar voluntarily handed himself over to the Hague Tribunal in 2001, making a name for himself as the first Serb or Montenegrin to make such a move. Because of his part in the criminal shelling of Dubrovnik, a beloved UNESCO World Heritage Site, he was sentenced to a pitiful 7.5 years in prison, and of course, he didn't even serve that, after serving a mere two-thirds of his sentence, he was released back in 2009. 

Strugar will be buried this Saturday at the Bežanijska cemetery in the Serbian capital, according to a report from Mondo.rs.

Make sure to stay up to date with our news page for much more.

ZAGREB, February 19, 2018 - Sisak County Court on Monday sentenced a Serb citizen in absentia to 20 years imprisonment for the murder of three and attempted murder of four Croatian police officers while commanding a Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) tank.

26 years have passed since the horrendous attack on the Pearl of the Adriatic at the hands of the JNA and their Serbian-Montenegrin helpers.

Foresight and hindsight are incredibly important things to know how (and when) to execute, and many are seemingly left without such abilities...

During the early hours of the 1st of October, 1991, the JNA's barbaric attack on Dubrovnik and the surrounding area began.

The history of hotel "Zagreb" from Facebook group Split kroz povijest, STav!, and Pogledaj.to.