A helicopter carrying EU monitors, four Italians -- Colonel Enzo Venturini and Lieutenants Marco Matta, Silvano Natale and Fiorenzo Ramacci -- and French Lieutenant Jean Loup Eychenne, was shot down above Podrute by a Yugoslav Air Force MiG-21 on 7 January 1992. Everyone on board was killed.
The mayor of Novi Marof, Siniša Jenkač, stated today at a wreath-laying ceremony that it was not an unfortunate event, but an act of "intentional murder."
"It is important to pay tribute to those who came to witness peace, who came from other countries, from Italy and France, and, as peacekeeping forces, stood between the warring sides to stop the bloodshed of the aggressors – the Yugoslav army, Serbian Chetniks, and local traitors, who at that moment sought to tailor history," said Jenkač, adding that those aggressive forces were the product of a totalitarian regime, similar to those who still sow death today.
"This act clearly showed the European community who the aggressor was and who the victim, and who did not shy away from such shameful acts just to achieve their predetermined policy," Jenkač said.
He also pointed out that the deaths of the European observers was a turning point in the struggle for Croatia's independence and sovereignty.
Varaždin County Prefect Anđelko Stričak said at the commemoration that the attack by the enemy JNA on an unarmed European observer helicopter shocked the entire world.
"At that time, war was raging in Croatia, a third of our beautiful country was occupied, tens of thousands were killed, hundreds of thousands were displaced, and we really needed every kind of help. We were striving for international recognition, and that horrific event in Podrute showed the full malignancy of the attack, the aggression against Croatia, and certainly accelerated that recognition," he said.
The Italian Ambassador to Croatia, Paolo Trichilo, said that the activities carried out at that time must be considered part of Italy's long and strong contribution to international peace missions around the world.
Lilas Bernheim, the First Counselor at the French Embassy in Croatia, thanked the Croatian authorities, especially Mayor Jenkač, for the annual commemorations of this tragedy.