The Zadar County War Veterans Association held a peaceful rally in the coastal city of Zadar on Saturday, protesting against the omissions they say the Croatian institutions in charge made in the case of war veteran Tihomir Purda, who is currently in custody in Bosnia and Herzegovina awaiting extradition to Serbia to face war crimes charges.
Zadar's veterans feel the justice and interior ministries should have warned Purda about the Interpol warrant for his arrest. They referred to the Homeland War Declaration, which says that Croatia will provide full protection, dignity and care to all its war veterans, the families of killed soldiers and Homeland War victims.
"We call on all Croatian institutions, in accordance with Article 7 of the Homeland War Declaration, to preserve and promote the principles of the Homeland War in the world with all their means and to re-examine relations with the Republic of Serbia and not allow the equation of the victim and the aggressor, which Serbia is wholeheartedly advocating," the veterans said.
They called on the War Veterans Ministry to protect veterans from further persecution, extend legal assistance to Purda and Veljko Maric, who is standing trial in Belgrade for war crimes against civilians, as well as financial assistance to their families.
They fully supported Purda, Maric, the three Croatian generals on trial at the Hague war crimes tribunal - Ante Gotovina, Mladen Markac, and Ivan Cermak - as well as generals Mirko Norac, Branimir Glavas and Tomislav Mercep. The former two are serving prison sentences for war crimes, while the third is suspected of war crimes.
At the end of the rally, Davor Prtenjaca said on behalf of the association that "forgiving doesn't mean forgetting because if we forgot, we would have nothing to forgive."
The rally was attended by Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Bozidar Kalmeta, who said he came to support the veterans as a government envoy as well as a citizen and a veteran.
"I can say that the utmost is being done and that the prime minister is doing her utmost so that this whole matter ends well. Croatian institutions, namely the State Prosecutor's Office, has reached a decision after (an investigation into the case) that Tihomir Purda is innocent, which is why we all expect him to return to Croatia as soon as possible, because he is (...) detained in Bosnia and Herzegovina as an innocent man," he said.
