Croatia marks 31st anniversary of JNA shelling of Banski Dvori

The 31st anniversary of an attack in which the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) planes shelled the then President's headquarters in Zagreb in 1991 was marked on Friday with a wreath-laying ceremony at Government House.

In the afternoon of 7 October 1991, JNA planes shelled and severely damaged Government House, which at that time was also the official residence of Croatia's first president, Franjo Tudjman, who was inside the building at the time of the shelling.

One person was killed in the attack and four were injured.

The JNA attack was an intent to kill the President, the then-Croatian leadership and Croatia's representatives in the Yugoslav federal institutions. The jets shelled Banski Dvori during a meeting between President Tuđman, the then chairman of the Yugoslav presidency, Stjepan Mesić, and former Yugoslav Prime Minister Ante Marković.

The attack was carried out after a three-month moratorium on the implementation of the decision on severing all ties with the other republics in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY).

October 1991 marked the end of the three-month European Community moratorium on the Croatian parliament's decision on independence and sovereignty from the previous June. The European Community was confident the Yugoslav crisis and the Serbian military aggression could be resolved peacefully, so it asked Croatia to delay its decision on independence.

On 8 October 1991, the first Croatian multiparty parliament adopted the historic decision on Croatia's independence. The decision was not adopted in Parliament House as the Parliament held its session in INA's headquarters at the time.

Today's wreath-laying ceremony was conducted by the government's delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister and War Veterans' Affairs Minister Tomo Medved.

Text: Hina

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