- The murder of Dalibor Srdelic, which took place on August 20
1992, made quite a stir in the city. Unfortunate Srdelic was unlucky to pick
a verbal fight with a group of Split Military Police officers. He was arrested
and taken to Lora where he was beaten to death. Srdelic was from Split
and a Croat; consequently his friends organized demonstrations and a petition
drive. All without results, although Military Police head, brigadier
Mate Lausic stated on September 17, 1992, the following for
Slobodna Dalmacija:
I ordered the suspension of the 72nd Bojna [military unit] commander; also, all officers
and soldiers from that unit who took part in that event or failed to prevent
the event were also suspended. All culprits were made available to to military
judges and investigators, and you know that four members of that unit have
been detained.
This was said in September 1992. By the end of December, 1995, nothing has been
done regarding the case. Srdelic is dead and his murderers free.
- Two months before Srdelic's murder, on June 14 1992, Military Police
broke into the Bulovic family Split apartment and arrested
brothers Ugljesa and Gojko because of the "suspicion that
they took part in the armed rebellion against Croatia." The interrogation of
the rebels in Lora was "spiced up" with a brutal beating, which resulted in the
death of Gojko Bulovic. Ugljesa was released several days after Gojko's
death; his "participation in the armed rebellion" had not been proved. Gojko's
murderer (murderers?) has never got even close to a trial.
- Nenad Knezevic was murdered a month later, in July 1992.
Like the Bulovic brothers, he was accused of taking part in the armed rebellion
against Croatia. The official version goes like this: he was killed during an
attempt to escape from the jail. Still, an autopsy showed that Knezevic
had not been killed by a bullet; he had been beaten to death. His entrails had
been turned into pulp. Nothing is known about his murderers.
- One of the first murders was that of the Gasparovic family.
Although they were Croats, they had been receiving threats for several months
because they were supposedly Serbs. Enraged greater Croats dressed in fatigues,
broke into the Gasparevic family apartment in February 1992. They abducted
the Gasparevics, Dorde and Vesna and disappeared. The bodies
were found lated on a garbage dump in Zrnovnica near Split. Is it necessary
to add that the murderers remain anonymous until today?
- At the end of August, 1992, a group of Military policemen broke into the
Split apartment belonging to Dorde Katic, under suspicion
for collaboration with the enemy. Katic was taken to Lora and released
five days later as if nothing had happened in the meantime. That case
(known in Split as "the case of citizen D.K.") opened a lot of eyes and clearly
demonstrated what had been happening in the Military Police jail during those months.
Actually, Katic was the only victim which summoned enough courage to publicize
the story about his suffering: about daily beatings, torture with electricity,
about being forced to sleep in a dog kennel and bark like a dog, about the
mistreatment of his wife and daughter, intimidation...
- Year 1992 was very fruitful for the Military police 72 Bojna stationed in
Lora. During that summer many Split inhabitants were taken to jail, beaten
and released. Public knows about a case of a Split physician who was arrested
at a bus stop, mistreated and beaten in order to sign an empty peace of paper,
on which the police would later, perhaps, write his confession. He refused
to sign; consequently, after two days spent in jail, he spent another ten
days in a hospital.
After a series of murders and beatings in 1992, the following two
years were marked with the smell of gunpowder. One by one, night club
"Hollywood Dream" (end of 1992), restaurant "Stefanel" (Summer 1993),
the building of the Civil engineering institute in Zrnovnica near Split
(Summer 1994) and a whole series of shops, cafes, houses and office
buildings have been blown up. All these incidents have something in common:
they were carried out so expertly that there is no doubt regarding
the perpetrator. The amount of explosive used in each incident was
proportional to the desired effect.
- At the start of September 1994, a strong explosion shook all of Zrnovnica.
Once the dust settled down, shocked locals saw the demolished annex of
the Split Civil Engineering Institute building. The annex was razed to
the ground while the building was almost untouched by the explosion.
The professional execution of the explosion demonstrates that the
perpetrators were the masters of their calling and that they were employed
by the Croatian army.
The mentioned building in Zrnovnica was supposed to serve as the premises
of the first Split independent daily paper. It was supposed to be started
by the dissidents from the privatized Slobodna Dalmacija and a
wealthy sponsor from Split. However, his desire to invest in a daily paper
suddenly disappeared after the explosion in Zrnovnica. The perpetrators of that
terrorist act remain unknown until today.
- On April 27 1994, a group of Police Special forces officers blocked
all access routes to Split night club "Mississippi". The club was razed
to the ground and the officers also abducted one of the people who had
been guarding the club. After he was beaten in "Villa Dalmatia" which
in those days doubled as the Special forces headquarters, he was dumped
from a car.
Because of that case which stirred public anger, [Police] minister
Ivan Jarnjak arrived to Split and immediately promised
that "the authorities will show no mercy toward the perpetrators."
The result was an indictment "against unknown perpetrators"; a little later
Jarnjak put a foot in his own mouth: Police ministry made a deal with the
owner of "Mississippi". The owner dropped the case in return for
a payment. Vandals in police uniforms were not punished, and the price of
their barbarity was covered by the taxpayers.
- Croatian Army members immediately realized that vandalism pays.
Unsanctioned, two weeks later they broke in cafe "Song", had a
drink on the house, threw out the customers and demolished the interior
of the cafe. They slowly left the scene of the crime, got into
cars and drove off in an unknown direction. Military Police, which
showed up an hour later, was only capable of noting down that "Song"
didn't exist any more.
This chronicle is only a smaller part of the Split war without a war,
but it is sufficiently impressive and bloody. The beginning of a
new chapter of these leaden years is a direct attack
on the city nervous system which is, under the influence of terror
from the previous period, extremely
sensitive.
