The Croatian Armed Forces' Military Police on Wednesday held the central commemoration of the 20th anniversary of their establishment, with President Ivo Josipovic, government officials and top-ranking military officers addressing the event, which was held at the Petar Zrinski Military Academy in Zagreb.
On occasions like this one, we speak with dignity about our past, looking to the future and thinking realistically about the present, Josipovic said.
The first wartime commander of the Military Police, retired General Mate Lausic, said that military policemen had participated honorably in the Homeland Defence War.
There were, however, those who dishonoured the uniform of the military police and "went through a red light", Lausic said, congratulating those who had contributed to the development of the military police and urging dispense of justice for those who acted against laws and rules.
Colonel Tihomir Zebec of the Armed Forces' Military Police Department said that a military police unit was the first Croatian military unit to take part in the NATO-led peace mission in Afghanistan, and that Croatian miliary policemen were still deployed in the ISAF mission.
Zebec recalled that during the Homeland Defence War, 132 military police officers lost their lives.
