Ivan Čermak (born 19 December 1949) is a Croatian businessman, politician and former general.

Biography

Born in Zagreb, Čermak became a small businessman in the 1980s. In the 1990s, he entered the oil business. Between 1990 and 1991, Čermak held the position of Vice President of the Executive Board of the

Croatian Democratic Union The Croatian Democratic Union ( hr, Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, lit=Croatian Democratic Community, HDZ) is the major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Croa ...

(HDZ) and also served as an advisor to the President of the Republic of Croatia,

Franjo Tuđman Franjo Tuđman (; 14 May 1922 – 10 December 1999), also written as Franjo Tudjman, was a Croatian politician and historian. Following the country's independence from Yugoslavia, he became the first president of Croatia and served as p ...

. In 1991, he was appointed the Assistant Minister of Defence in the Croatian Government, a position he held until 1993. While in this position and thereafter, he held the rank of

Colonel General Colonel general is a three- or four-star military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, and was a ra ...

. He was succeeded in this position by his former chauffeur,

Vladimir Zagorec Vladimir Zagorec (born 22 November 1963) is a former Croatian general and former deputy defense minister. In 2008 he was arrested in Austria and extradited to Croatia for trial on charges of embezzlement while he was responsible for state arms pro ...

. In 1993, he briefly served as the

Minister of Economy A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

in the Cabinet of Nikica Valentić. Čermak was commander of the Croatian Army's Knin corps during the 1995 Operation Storm. In 2000, he was one of the signatories to the

Twelve Generals' Letter The Twelve Generals' Letter ( hr, Pismo dvanaestorice generala) was an open letter, signed by twelve generals of the Croatian Armed Forces, that criticized the government, politicians and media for perceived criminalization of the Croatian War of ...

. In February 2004, he was indicted by the

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...

and brought to

Trial of Gotovina et al The Trial of Gotovina et al. was a war crimes trial held from March 2008 until (including the appeals process) November 2012 before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), set up in 1993. The ICTY indicted Croatian A ...

in the Hague on charges of operating a joint criminal enterprise for the purpose of permanently removing the Serb population from the

Krajina Krajina () is a Slavic toponym, meaning 'frontier' or 'march'. The term is related to ''kraj'' or ''krai'', originally meaning 'edge'Rick Derksen (2008), ''Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon'', Brill: Leiden-Boston, page 244 an ...

by force and of crimes against humanity. In April 2011 the judgement was handed down and he was acquitted of all charges by the Trial Chamber and released immediately. The Prosecution did not appeal his acquittal.

References

1949 births Croatian army officers People indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia People acquitted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia Military personnel of the Croatian War of Independence Living people Economy ministers of Croatia Military personnel from Zagreb Businesspeople from Zagreb Croatian Democratic Union politicians Politicians from Zagreb {{Croatia-bio-stub