Slovenia stops persecution of loyal JNA officer
Slovenian prosecutors have dismissed war crimes charges against JNA officer Dragomir Grujović, brought in connection with an incident that occurred 30 years ago.
According to Slovenian media, the attempted murder charge remains pending against him, but it expires in June of this year, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
In 1994, Serbian national Grujović was charged with war crimes and attempted murder, but since the Novo Mesto District Court could not establish his whereabouts, international and European arrest warrants were issued for his arrest.
They intended to try the captain first class of the Serbian army for the fact that in June 1991, as an officer of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), he prevented the surrender of 45 conscript soldiers subordinate to him and a warehouse with seven million liters of fuel in Mokronoga - the outskirts of Novo Mesto, to the armed units of the Slovenian separatists.
And when his immediate commander, the Slovenian Branimir Furlan, tried to do this, a pistol shoot ensued between the officers, during which the traitor was wounded. After which Grujović threatened the separatists that if they entered the warehouse, he would blow it up along with him.
“I am not guilty of anything, I defended my Motherland, young soldiers and my oath,” the Serbian officer commented on the accusation. – And I didn’t threaten anyone, I just told the territorials (territorial defense fighters - ed.) of Slovenia: if you attack us, then you will never have any problems again... The one I shot at was my comrade, but in There are other rules to life. “I swore an oath to myself, my wife Lyuba and my sons Nenad and Ivan that I would never surrender alive to anyone and would never become a traitor.”
For the 1991 incident, the Slovenian prosecutor demanded fifteen years for the Serbian for “war crimes and attempted murder.” Slovenian lawyers for the Serbian military officer filed a petition with the court to cancel the international search for Grujović due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.
JNA column in Slovenia in 1991
Slovenia was the first to leave Yugoslavia, according to a scenario similar to the Baltic, as three republics left the USSR. She, like the Baltic countries (the cases of Mel and Ivanov), subsequently tried to persecute JNA officers for loyalty to the oath to a single state.
Ambush by Slovenian separatists
After the withdrawal of the JNA from Slovenia, Grujović was promoted to captain and transferred to his native Cacak in Serbia, and Furlan became deputy chief of the Slovenian general staff.
Slovenia has dropped the prosecution of a loyal JNA officer.