Retired general Ivo Jelic, who heads the federation with some 12,000 members, said in Split on Wednesday the film was "a documentary in which members of the occupying army are stating the alleged truth about the events in Split". Jelic believes that the film was intentionally shown ahead of the retrial of indictees in the "Lora" war crimes case "so that they are declared guilty in advance and stigmatised as criminals". The Lora war crimes case refers to eight former military police officers charged with war crimes against civilians in Split's naval prison Lora in 1992.
Members of the federation say they are not claiming that the indictees are innocent, but they want to warn about the fact that the real truth about the events in the prison must be clarified before the court.
Last week, the federation sent a request to the Split County Court to postpone the showing of the film until the end of the retrial, but the court did not react to the request, Jelic said.
"The showing of the film, which contains untruths about the murder of as many as 70 prisoners, while the indictment alleges the murder of two, leads to the conclusion that the verdict of the eight former military police officers, regardless of its nature, will be overshadowed by the so-called truth from Serbia, financed with the money of international emissaries, and directed by Nenad Puhovski," federation vice-president Davor Karnicic said.
Federation member Milivoj Novak said that "Puhovski's place is not in Croatia" because his film showed that he did not recognise Croatia nor the truth about the Homeland War, which he said was "spotless".
The federation also criticised the chairman of the parliamentary committee on war veterans, Djuro Decak, for failing to react to the film.