ZAGREB, October 13, 2018 – A protest rally initiated by Vukovar Mayor Ivan Penava slightly over a month ago because of discontent with the work of state institutions in prosecuting war crimes started in that eastern town on Saturday afternoon.
The rally started with a rendition of the national anthem and a minute’s silence for the Homeland War victims, after which war veteran Mladen Roguljić spoke via video link about the suffering endured by people held at the Borovo Commerce company in Vukovar’s Borovo Naselje neighbourhood, after the town fell into the hands of the former Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) and Serb paramilitaries in November 1991.
The rally was then addressed by the president of the Vukovar mayor’s council for war veterans, Tomislav Josić, who said that those who could help Vukovar were not in town today.
Numerous protesters carried Croatian flags as well as flags of their wartime units and banners calling for the punishment of people responsible for the tragedy of Vukovar and other Croatian towns in the 1991-95 war.
Among the protesters were retired general Ljubo Ćesić Rojs, conservative activist Željka Markić, Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) MP Stevo Culej, MOST MP Miro Bulj, independent MP Željko Glasnović, Zlatko Hasanbegović and Bruna Esih, MPs of the Independents for Croatia party, former HDZ member Darko Milinović, and HRAST party MP Hrvoje Zekanović.
Speakers at the protest said that in parallel with the Vukovar rally, protests were also being held in many countries where Croat emigrants lived.
By the end of the rally, several other Croatian defenders and war victims were expected to give their testimonies, and the rally will close with an address by Mayor Penava.
