Retired general Brodarac died in the Osijek hospital on Wednesday morning where he was transferred from the local prison a day before. Brodarac and another two men, suspected of war crimes in Sisak, had been in investigative custody in Osijek for the past three weeks.
The association said that pressures exerted on war veterans, due to "shameful" accusations from the UN tribunal in The Hague about "the joint criminal enterprise aimed at exterminating Serbs" directly and indirectly undermined the health conditions of Croatian veterans, which has likely been the case of General Djuro Brodarac and hundred of other veterans "detained in prisons throughout Croatia".
It added that Croatian war veterans must permanently recall that they were exposed to the the imposed war and brutal aggression led by proponents of a Great Serbia policy with Slobodan Milosevic being at their helm and that the then commanders of the Jugoslav People's Army have not yet been prosecuted for war crimes despite ample evidence.
This association calls on the Croatian president, parliament and government as well as judicial institutions to use all legal and legitimate means to stop the prosecution of Croatian veterans.