Branimir Glavaš (born 23 September 1956 in Osijek) He then fled to neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina where he was arrested. In September 2010, his conviction was upheld by a Bosnian court, though the sentence had been reduced to 8 years in prison. On 20 January 2015, after serving five years in prison, he was released from prison, after Croatia's Constitutional Court rescinded his war crimes conviction on procedural grounds. His case was sent back to the Supreme Court for retrial. In July 2016, the Supreme Court quashed his verdict and ordered a retrial.

In 2021, a new retrial began, with Glavaš being retried along with three of his subordinates. In October 2023, he was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison in a first instance verdict.

Early life and military career

Glavaš' father Ljubomir and his mother Zorka (née Pandžić), were born in Drinovci, Grude (present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina) and moved to Osijek in 1949.

On 2 November 1991, with Croatian War of Independence and Battle of Osijek already in progress, he was appointed assistant to the commander for the defence of Osijek in charge of territorial co-ordination and public relations. On 1 December 1991 he was appointed to the rank of major (bojnik) and on 7 December 1991, he was appointed commander of defence for Osijek. In April 1992, after the Command for the defence of Osijek was dissolved, he was named Assistant to the Commander of First Operation Zone, Osijek.

Over time, Glavaš developed a rivalry with the Osijek mayor Zlatko Kramarić, who was his opposite in everything—from politics to style. After the 1993 local elections, Kramarić came to power in Osijek, but Glavaš and his HDZ kept the rest of the Osijek-Baranja County. In that period Glavaš surprised many by offering agricultural subsidies to ethnic Serb citizens in then-occupied sections of eastern Slavonia, and explaining that he would be "first in peace just as he was first in war".

At the October 1995 elections he was elected to the Chamber of Representatives (Zastupnički dom Sabora), then he was re-elected to the Chamber of Counties at the April 1997 elections, and in May 1997 he was also reelected prefect of the Osijek-Baranja County.

He was reelected to the Croatian Parliament in the January 2000 elections.

Glavaš maintained a tight grip on power and eastern Slavonia remained an HDZ stronghold even after the death of Franjo Tuđman and his party's loss of power at the national level in 2000. In 2002, when hardliner Ivić Pašalić challenged the more moderate HDZ leader Ivo Sanader for party leadership, Glavaš, despite his own hardline credentials, decided to support Sanader. In the crucial HDZ convention, this endorsement helped Sanader to remain the party chairman.

A year later, the HDZ won the November 2003 parliamentary election and Sanader became prime minister, with Glavaš as one of his most important allies. Glavaš was reelected to Parliament in the same election.

Split with HDZ

As time went by and Ivo Sanader's policies became less popular, and there were apparent setbacks for Croatia's prospects for entry into the EU, so Glavaš began to publicly distance himself from Sanader. Glavaš expressed Euroscepticism with regard to how the EU would handle the Croatian accession negotiations, and was critical towards the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

This process escalated a few days before the start of local elections in May 2005. Glavaš proclaimed himself to be a regionalist and began to advocate regional reorganisation of Croatia, founding a political organisation with that aim. On 20 April 2005, the programme of the Hrvatski demokratski sabor Slavonije i Baranje - Croatian Democratic Assembly of Slavonia and Baranja - was first published. Glavaš was immediately ejected from the HDZ the following day but not before persuading almost the entire membership of his local party to support his project and new electoral ticket.

In the 2005 Croatian local elections, his list of independent candidates won a relative majority in Osijek and Osijek-Baranja County.

Osijek's investigative judge Mario Kovac ruled that the case against Glavaš could begin. Glavaš subsequently went on hunger strike. On 2 December 2006, Glavaš was released from custody pending his trial, bringing to an end his 37-day hunger strike. The investigating judge had ruled that Glavaš was too ill to attend legal hearings, and investigations were suspended. On 8 February 2007, the case against Glavaš was reopened.

On 16 April 2007, Glavaš was re-indicted at the county court in Osijek, on charges of having given orders to members of a unit under his command to abduct, torture and murder Serbs in late 1991. Following the indictment, he was returned to custody. He started a second hunger strike on 27 April. This restored his immunity, and he was released from detention.

On 8 May 2009, the Zagreb District Court found Glavaš guilty of torture and murder of Serbian civilians in Osijek, and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. Following the verdict however, Vladimir Šišljagić, the leader of HDSSB, the political party Glavaš founded when he left HDZ, showed up in court instead of him and stated that he was "in a safe place". Glavaš fled the country, reportedly to Herzegovina, having procured citizenship in Bosnia and Herzegovina seven months earlier.

On 13 May 2009, Glavaš was arrested near the Bosnian town of Kupres. The Ministry of Justice filed a request for his extradition but this was rejected on 23 June 2009.

The verdict meant his membership in the Parliament automatically rescinded, together with the immunity and other privileges he continued to enjoy up to that moment. The parliamentary committee subsequently decided that his mandate ended with the day of the final verdict, 2 May 2010, a decision he publicly appealed saying he was still owed one month's salary.

Another scandal arose after it was discovered that prominent members of Glavaš' political party had participated in a plot to bribe members of the Supreme Court to show him leniency.

Based upon the agreement of mutual execution of criminal sanctions between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed the second-instance verdict and Glavaš was arrested in Drinovci on 28 September 2010. He was incarcerated in the southern Bosnian town of Mostar. On 20 January 2015, Croatia's Constitutional Court rescinded Glavaš' war crimes conviction on procedural grounds. He was released from prison after having served five years of his original sentence.

His case was sent back to the Supreme Court for a retrial. He is the highest ranking Croatian official to have ever been convicted for war crimes by a local judiciary. He returned to Croatia in mid-December 2023 and has been residing in Osijek ever since. He appealed his verdict once again.

On 18 April 2025, Glavaš announced his candidacy in the local elections, seeking his third term as prefect of the Osijek-Baranja County. Legal proceedings pertinent to Glavaš' appeal of his verdict are expected to be completed by 18 May 2025.

Decorations

Due to his contribution during Croatian War of Independence Glavaš was rewarded with several medals:

  • Homeland's Gratitude Medal
  • Homeland War Memorial Medal
  • Order of the Croatian Trefoil
  • Order of Ante Starčević
  • Order of Ban Jelačić
  • Order of Duke Domagoj
  • Order of Duke Trpimir

After his war crimes conviction, the revocation of these decorations was an oft-mentioned topic in the media, and both Croatian Presidents Mesić and Josipović said that they would handle the issue according to the law which states that illegal and immoral acts are grounds for revocation.

Following the Supreme Court verdict, President Josipović formally took away the decorations,

In August 2010, President Josipović also said that Glavaš would enter a military procedure for his rank of general to be rescinded, based on the law which stipulates that officers who are given a prolonged prison sentence (over three years) lose their rank.

In 2021, President Zoran Milanović annulled the decision on the revocation of Glavaš' decorations and rank, saying the decision had been made based on Supreme Court's request for a retrial. He added he would reinstate the original decision if Glavaš were to be convicted again.

References

  • Glavaš homepage, branimirglavas.com; accessed 17 December 2015.