35th anniversary of the death of 12 police officers in Borovo marked

A commemorative ceremony, wreath-laying and candle-lighting ceremony in Borovo marked the 35th anniversary of the death of twelve members of the Vinkovci special police, which, as Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Davor Božinović said, also meant an attack on the young Croatian state.

“We paid tribute to those who wanted to maintain peace and order, to those who were doing their job. The attack on them was an attack on the newly formed Croatian state. This is something we commemorate every year in order to strengthen that memory,” said Davor Božinović, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister.

Along with Minister Božinović, a wreath was laid on behalf of the Government by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture David Vlajčić, and on behalf of Croatian Parliament by parliamentary representatives Tomislav Zadro and Nikola Mažar.

Milina: 24 war crime reports filed this year

“The Croatian police filed 24 reports related to the commission of war crimes in the first four months of this year,” said the Chief of Police, Nikola Milina, on Saturday in Borovo.

In a statement to reporters after a commemorative ceremony marking the 35th anniversary of the murder of 12 members of the Vinkovci Special Police, Milina said that uncovering war crimes has been a priority for the Police Directorate for years.

“We have also established a special working group that is recording exceptional results. In the area of the city of Vukovar and its surroundings alone, the police have reported 48 people for war crimes, of whom 18 have been arrested,” he said.

He also stated that in recent years, the police have reported more than a hundred war crimes annually on average.

“So far this year, we have reported 24 war crimes and we will not stop there,” he said.

Touching upon the crime against 12 police officers in Borovo, he said that there were certain prosecutions in the 1990s after the Homeland War, but also the application of the Abolition Act.

“However, despite this, the Croatian police filed additional criminal charges for war crimes against four people,” he said.

Mlinarić: For me, this is the first anniversary as it should be

“In my opinion, it is dignified since the interior Ministry took over the protocol and organized it, and these guys deserve it. For me, this is the first anniversary as it should be because there is no mausoleum of Šoškočanin, their executioner, who was 300 meters from here,” said Stipo Mlinarić, deputy president of the Homeland Movement.

Family members and fellow brothers in arms of the killed police officers also laid wreaths and lit candles. A joint wreath was laid by delegations from Vukovar-Srijem and Varaždin counties and the cities of Vinkovci, Otok and Ilok.

Participants in the commemoration marched from the entrance to the town to the site of the commemorative ceremony in the center of Borovo, pre-war Borovo Selo.

The harrowing confessions of survivors from Borovo Selo

Martin Matković, deputy commander of the special forces unit of the Vinkovci Police Department, recalled those harrowing days.

“Based on the assessment of our superiors, we were sent as an intervention group that was supposed to rescue three of our colleagues from the Osijek Police Department who were detained in Borovo Selo. We entered Borovo Selo and almost gave our lives there. One harrowing day, a big scar on all of us,” said Matković.

Ivica Andabak was a platoon commander at the time.

“The task was for my platoon to surround the local community, to not allow anyone to approach and escape. We fought for about half an hour in the canals. When I saw that I had a lot of dead and wounded, I said that we were retreating to the first house. There was shooting all day. I told the guys that everyone should leave one bullet, one bomb for themselves and that we would head towards the Danube when night fell. Within a few hours, a Yugoslav People’s Army captain said over a megaphone that he would enter the yard with an APC and negotiate. There were about ten of us and he told us to surrender our weapons, but we refused. We all said in one voice: "We are not surrendering our weapons". We all then got into the APC,” Andabak said.

“We have been sad for all these 35 years, no one has been held accountable for the killed defenders, no one has been held accountable for the injuries. We are proud that we have our homeland, that we no longer face threats,” said Zdravko Mamić, president of the Association of 12 Police Officers.

“This is the ninth year that we have been riding the Prevlaka-Vukovar-Ilok memorial bicycle marathon, we are coming in honor of the 12 police officers. Every year we march, unfurl a large flag and go to the monument,” said Dalibor Talajić from Metković.

“We came to save our colleagues, and the local Chetniks welcomed us armed to the teeth. The situation was hopeless. A Šoško man pointed a gun at my forehead, and another Chetnik held a knife to my throat and threatened to kill us if our guys didn't surrender,” said Josip Vincetić, a surviving police officer.

“There was fire from all sides. A bomb was thrown, I lay in the parking lot until I came to myself. Our guys were lying on their stomachs, no one knew who they were,” said Matija Mičić, a surviving police officer.

“I was with my colleague Mičić, there was fire from all sides, you couldn't see anyone anywhere. They had heavy weapons, and we came to secure the negotiations. We were lucky that a few of them we had captured were in that San Marino café and they were our security,” recalled Borislav Orečić, a surviving police officer.

Mladen Karlić, a doctor, was rescuing the wounded.

“The last dead police officer was only noticed in the evening, so we had to return in the evening to get him. I think it was such a difficult and traumatic event for all of us who were here. Croatian police officers with good intentions went to protect the constitutional order and rescue their friends from captivity, and they were met by an ambush that had obviously been prepared for a long time,” said Dr. Karlić.

Killed in an ambush

The police officers killed in Borovo were Stjepan Bošnjak (1955), Antun Grbavac (1961), Josip Culej (1966), Mladen Šarić (1965), Zdenko Perica (1965), Zoran Grašić (1969), Ivica Vučić (1961), Luka Crnković (1970), Marinko Petrušić (1966), Janko Čović (1965), Željko Hrala (1968) and Mladen Čatić (1971).

They were killed in an ambush after two of their colleagues, Zvonimir Matković and Dalibor Križanović, were captured by members of Serbian paramilitary units in Borovo during a regular patrol on the night of May 1-2, 1991. 23 police officers were wounded in the attack.

Source: HRT