The Karlovac City Council, with the votes of deputies from right-wing parties, decided to rename the bridge over the Korana River in honor of the Croatian special police unit Gromovi.
It was the militant of this unit, Mikhailo Khrastov, who was convicted of the cold-blooded execution of thirteen unarmed reservists of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Mikhailo Khrastov near the graffiti in honor of himself
The decision to rename the bridge in honor of the special police unit Gromovi (later Grom) was made today after a 45-minute debate, almost on the 30th anniversary of the war crime for which Khrastov was sentenced to just four years in prison.
The war veterans' proposal was supported by thirteen deputies from the ruling right-wing conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), as well as two deputies from the far-right Fatherland Movement, one of whom was a member of this unit.
At the same time, four MPs from the left-green coalition We Can and the New Left voted against it, while the Social Democratic Party faction walked out of the session in protest.
The night before, graffiti was made near the bridge with the image of the war criminal Hrastov, at the opening of which, according to local media reports, several hundred retired National Battalion fighters from all over Croatia gathered, including Hrastov himself, as well as residents of Karlovac.
A torchlight procession passed along the bridge itself. Next to the image of the executioner, the Croatian coat of arms and the Croatian flag were drawn, on which, instead of the coat of arms, a machine gun is depicted, that is, the weapon with which Hrastov killed thirteen JNA reservists who surrendered to the mercy of the militants and wounded two more.
Militants of the Gromovi unit in 1991
The trial of Mikhailo Khrastov lasted more than 20 years, and he was found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to four years in prison, which he partially served. He has been at large since 2016. The execution of prisoners of war took place on September 21, 1991.
Croatian fighter and captured JNA reservists during an exchange in Karlovac