ZAGREB, 20 June 2022 - A parliamentary delegation on Monday laid wreaths and lit candles at Zagreb's central Mirogoj cemetery to commemorate the 1928 killing of two Croatian deputies and the fatal wounding of Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) founder Stjepan Radić in the parliament of the then Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

The Croatian parliament in 2015 proclaimed Stjepan Radić and the June Victims Memorial Day in tribute to HSS founder and MP Stjepan Radić and Croatian MPs Pavle Radić, Đuro Basariček, Ivan Pernar and Ivan Granđa.

Pavle Radić and Đuro Basariček were killed in the parliament of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes on 20 June 1928 by Serbian Radical Party politician Puniša Račić while HSS founder Stjepan Radić was fatally wounded in the attack and died several weeks later. MPs Ivan Granđa and Ivan Pernar were wounded.

Parliament Deputy Speaker Željko Reiner, who headed the parliamentary delegation, said today they were paying tribute to the Croatian greats.

"Stjepan Radić brought together a large number of those who... opposed the Great Serbian hegemony in the then Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Belgrade's anti-Croat policies," said Reiner.

Radić is doubtlessly one of the great historical figures on Croatia's long, difficult and bloody journey to freedom, Reiner said, adding that Radić, just like Ante Starčević and Eugen Kvaternik, had dreamed of what was achieved by Croatia's first president Franjo Tuđman and Croatian defenders - a free, independent and democratic Croatia.

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