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Hate Speech and Violence Against Serbs in <strong>2015</strong><br />
/ 93<br />
/2.4. Catholic Church Clergy<br />
The day of the formation of the 9 th brigade of HOS (Croatian<br />
Defence Forces) named Rafael vitez Boban 28 and marked on April<br />
10, the date when NDH (the 1941 –45 Nazi puppet Independent<br />
State of Croatia) had been proclaimed – was celebrated by father<br />
Mate Munitić, who delivered a short prayer next to a cross dedicated<br />
to the fallen homeland fighters at the Lovrinac cemetery<br />
in Split and wound up with the words: “The centuries-old salute<br />
with which Croats have defended their own, without wishing<br />
harm on anyone else. God and Croats. For the homeland!”<br />
– to which the gathering readily replied: “Ready!”<br />
Franjo Jurčević, the parson of Kastav (a small town near the<br />
northern Adriatic port of Rijeka), uses his two blogs 29 and his<br />
parish’s website 30 to promote intolerance. “During the recent<br />
homeland war, had the brave Croatian soldiers, including the<br />
famous Split-Dalmatia brigades, not been Ready for the homeland,<br />
the murderous Serbian-Chetnik bandits would have certainly repeated<br />
Bleiburg and the way of the cross of the Croatian people.”<br />
28 Ustasha war criminal<br />
29 Zupnik.blog.hr and<br />
zupnikfranjo.bloger.hr<br />
30 http://www.kastavcrkva.org/blog<strong>2015</strong>/<br />
blog<strong>2015</strong>.html<br />
/3 Verbal Threats and Physical Violence<br />
In <strong>2015</strong>, an increase in the incidence of verbal threats and<br />
physical violence against Serbs has been recorded. Physical<br />
violence continues to be more common in war-affected areas<br />
of the Republic of Croatia, where the majority of Serb returnees<br />
live. What is worrying is that the perpetrators in most cases are<br />
young people, often under-aged. On February 6, the secretary<br />
for Milorad Pupovac, president of <strong>SNV</strong>, received a telephone call<br />
from an unknown man who told her in a threatening voice: “I<br />
shall come there and kill you all! Do you have any idea how many<br />
Croats were killed in Banja Luka (a Serb stronghold in northwest<br />
Bosnia) and no one was ever held accountable!” The call took<br />
place after a news conference the SDSS party caucus held at the<br />
Croatian Parliament building to express its disagreement over<br />
the visit of Branimir Glavaš to this state institution. This overt<br />
death threat, which was reported to the police, was preceded by<br />
insulting messages delivered over the intercom in the building<br />
that seats the <strong>SNV</strong> office, saying: “Serb Chetnik Council“ (January<br />
23) and “Milorad Pupovac – a Chetnik“ (February 5).
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