Ivan Čermak (born 19 December 1949) is a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n businessman, politician and former general.

Biography

Born in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, 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 (, , HDZ) is a major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. Since 2016, it has been the ruling political party in Croatia under the incumbent Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. It is one of the ...

(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) was a Croatian politician and historian who became the first president of Croatia, from 1990 until his death in 1999. He served following the Independence of Croatia, country's independe ...

. 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 military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically General officer#Old European system, general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, ...

. 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 pr ...

. In 1993, he briefly served as the

Minister of Economy A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

in the

Cabinet of Nikica Valentić Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Fil ...

. Čermak was commander of the Croatian Army's Knin corps during the 1995

Operation Storm Operation Storm ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Operacija Oluja, separator=" / ", Операција Олуја) was the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and a major factor in the outcome of the Bosnian War. It was a decisive victory f ...

. In 2000, he was one of the signatories to the

Twelve Generals' Letter The Twelve Generals' Letter () 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 Independence and asserted that wa ...

. 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 in the Yugoslav Wars, war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to tr ...

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 Joint criminal enterprise (JCE) is a legal doctrine that has been used during war crimes tribunals to prosecute individuals in a group for the actions of said group. This doctrine considers each member of an organized group individually respons ...

for the purpose of permanently removing the Serb population from the

Krajina Krajina () is a Slavic languages, Slavic toponym, meaning 'country' or 'march (territory), march'. The term is related to ''kraj'' or ''krai'', originally meanings ''land'', ''country'' or ''edge''Rick Derksen (2008), ''Etymological Dictionary of t ...

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 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