Zagreb, (IKA) – “Rejoicing with our Croatian nation, especially with the released Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač and their families, I wish at this moment to express gratitude to God and to all those who fought for the truth throughout this case,” said Archbishop Josip Cardinal Bozanić in a statement issued November 16 following the generals’ acquittal.
“The truth is the only guarantee of peace, and the truth in this case is that the Croatian nation and Croatian society were subjected during the Homeland War to aggression, terrible destruction and annihilation in the name of hatred and ideologies, with the goal of destroying the right of the Croatian nation to its own free country. It is true that the Croatian nation had the right to defend itself and that it did so at the cost of enormous sacrifices and victims, which we still feel today. Today’s verdict has restored dignity to these sacrifices, victims and wounds. These sacrifices, victims and wounds warn us that now, in peacetime, as a nation and society we must not forget their price and as a community we should do everything for them to become a pledge of social solidarity, dialogue and the rule of law. This day also reminds us that in the name of the victory in the Homeland War, truth and justice, as the Croatian society we should do everything to correct the injustices committed in the past so that with a purified memory we can build a happy and blessed future. On this path to creating a just society and state, we pray for the intercession of Our Lady Queen of the Croats and the Blessed Alojzije Stepinac,” said Cardinal Bozanić in his statement.