Croatia's verdict

"The Croatian war was a war for liberty! And not criminal act!"

I'm standing in the main square in Zagreb and staring at the sign in front of me. The sign is attached to a military tent, where Croatian war veterans have gathered to oppose the conviction of Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač. It's not so crowded today, but when the verdict was announced in the Hague two weeks ago, the main square was full of booing and hissing Croats. 

In Croatia these two Generals are viewed as war heroes and feelings about the trial are strong. International Criminal Court convicted Gotovina and Markač of "persecution, deportation, plunder, wanton destruction, two counts of murder, inhumane acts and cruel treatment", which took place during the Operation Storm between July and September 1995.

Croatia's prime minister Jadranka Kosor has stated the operation was legitimate, aiming at liberating Croatian territory from occupation. Many Croats feel the verdict is a judgement for the whole country and questions the legitimacy of their war of independence.

It makes me wonder. How true is the saying "someone's terrorist is someone else's freedom fighter"?


Trialing the Generals has been major issue concerning EU membership talks with Croatia. EU already postponed them once, claiming that Croatia hadn't done enough to bring war criminals to justice. War criminals, who in fact for Croatia, are war heroes. So how badly does Croatia want to join European Union? Badly enough, since the Generals eventually were caught and trialed.

Croatia is now likely to become a member of EU next year. But at what cost? Not all Croats embrace this. They claim that Croatia has been ruled by other countries long enough.

Economically Croatia is surprisingly strong, growing country. Even though the unemployment rate is high and the deficit growing, the inflation is low and the currency, Kuna, remains stable. As a member of European Union Croatia would benefit financially, since it would receive various fundings especially for maintaing the magnificent nature and forests.

Being a member of European Union, however, is far more than money. And somehow I get the feeling many Croats don't really care about the money. They care about their own nation. They want to feel the real independence and embrace their national identity.

But what do I know? I'm just another European. So with the words of the famous Croatian writer Miroslav Krleža, I'll finish for now:


"Europe never knew more about the stars, about illnesses, about the agonies and mysteries of life than it knows today; and while today it knows more than ever before, and questions everything it knows, Europe doesn’t know what it knows and has no idea whatsoever about what it wants."