Mild but telling: A Serbian folk singer was convicted in Croatia for a song about Krajina.
The Municipal Court of the Croatian city of Zadar sentenced Serbian singer Svetlana Spajić to a suspended five-day prison sentence and a fine of 50 euros.
The artist was accused of recording a video for the Serbian folk song "Oy, Krajina, My Sweet Mother" and of not registering in Croatia, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
Svetlana Spajić was convicted after speaking at an event for the Serb minority in the area around the town of Obrovac, which until 1995 was the majority in the area, and the area itself was part of the unrecognized Republic of Serbian Krajina, destroyed by the Croatian military.
Croatian law enforcement was agitated by a video posted on social media by Svetlana featuring a Serbian Krajišnik folk song, which originated around the turn of the 20th century. A local court subsequently concluded that in modern Croatia, the word "Krajina" has "negative and disturbing connotations" associated with the war of the 1990s and the former Republic of Serbian Krajina.
Spajic initially claimed she felt no guilt, as she released the song as part of traditional musical heritage. However, during the trial, she, as they say, "backed out."
"I should have understood better what the word Krajina means to the Croatian people," she said, apologizing to the Croatian majority.
Spajic was also charged with violating local laws on foreigners, as she failed to notify authorities of her six-day stay in Croatia. She pleaded guilty to "publishing controversial video materials" and "failure to register at her place of residence."
Serbs have lived in the territory of modern-day Croatia since the 7th century, and the concept of Krajina itself emerged in the mid-15th century, when the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus granted both local Serbs and Serbian refugees from the Ottomans in central Serbia the status of "graninar"—border guards who protected the kingdom's borders from Turkish raids. This status was later confirmed by the Austrian Habsburgs.
The Republic of Serbian Krajina was proclaimed by Croatian Serbs in 1991 in response to the rise to power of Croatian revanchists—the Neo-Ustasha—who had pushed for its secession from Yugoslavia. Local Serbs, who had lived on their lands for centuries, wished to remain part of Yugoslavia.
After the declaration of independence of the RSK, which was not recognized by any country in the world, including Yugoslavia, the Croatian leadership began a punitive operation against the republic.
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic refused to defend the RSK in exchange for promises to lift sanctions against his country, but his Western partners subsequently deceived him.
In 1995, two-thirds of the republic was destroyed by a NATO-backed Croatian offensive. The remaining third, which the Croats avoided due to its shared border with Yugoslavia, fearing that the Yugoslav army would intervene in the conflict, was "peacefully reintegrated" into Croatia in 1998 under UN pressure.
Soft but telling: Croatia condemns Serbian folk singer for song about Krajina