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Tomislav Merčep (28 September 1952 – 16 November 2020) was 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 politician and paramilitary leader during the
Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence) and (rarely) "War in Krajina" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Рат у Крајини, Rat u Krajini) are used. was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croats, Croat forces loyal to the Governmen ...
who was later convicted of
war crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...
.


Early life and the Croatian War of Independence

A native of
Vukovar Vukovar (; sr-Cyrl, Вуковар, , ) is a city in Croatia, in the eastern Regions of Croatia, regions of Syrmia and Slavonia. It contains Croatia's largest river port, located at the confluence of the Vuka (river), Vuka and the Danube. Vukova ...
, Merčep worked as an engineer before joining the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) in 1990. He then entered the local city government as the Secretary of People's Defense (), where he exerted considerable power in the local police and business, esp. in preparation for the impending war. During the war, he engaged in paramilitary activities which were subsequently investigated by the Hague tribunal and covered by the (now defunct) Croatian newspaper '' Feral Tribune''. In the spring and summer of 1991, units under his leadership terrorized ethnic Serbs living in Vukovar; homes and cafes were blown up, many were executed or disappeared. In 1997 the ''Feral Tribune'' released a document which confirmed exchanges of large quantities of explosive materials in September 1990 between Merčep and Branimir Glavaš. In August 1991, Merčep was briefly arrested by Croatian authorities and detained on undisclosed charges, but was soon released and moved to
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 ...
together with his family, prior to the start of the
Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence) and (rarely) "War in Krajina" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Рат у Крајини, Rat u Krajini) are used. was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croats, Croat forces loyal to the Governmen ...
. Merčep later became an officer in the Croatian Ministry of Internal Affairs and he participated in the other fronts of the war, being in command of thousands of paramilitaries which were responsible for killing and expelling thousands of ethnic Serbs from areas in and around Gospić, among other places (notably the Murder of the Zec family in Zagreb). The "Merčepovci" unit also detained, tortured and killed several dozen Serb civilians at the Zagreb Trade Fair, Kutina in central Croatia and Pakračka Poljana in western
Slavonia Slavonia (; ) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria County, Istria, one of the four Regions of Croatia, historical regions of Croatia. Located in the Pannonian Plain and taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with f ...
in late 1991. A total of 46 civilians were killed by the Merčepovci, three went missing and have not been found, and six were tortured but survived. A decade later, five members of his unit, Munib Suljić, Igor Mikola, Siniša Rimac, Miro Bajramović and Branko Šarić, were indicted on several criminal charges related to the Pakračka Poljana case, involving the killing of prisoners, mostly ethnic Serbs, in a field near Pakrac, and later convicted. Tomislav Merčep himself was not indicted in these proceedings.


Political career

Merčep became a HDZ member of the Chamber of Counties of
Croatian Parliament The Croatian Parliament () or the Sabor is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Croatia. Under the terms of the Constitution of Croatia, Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the nation, people and is vested with legislative power. ...
in 1993. In 1995, he became the leader of the "Association of Croatian Volunteer Veterans of the Patriotic War" (, UHDDR). he remained at the head of that association. In 1997, he quit the HDZ and instead founded his own party, the Croatian Popular Party (''Hrvatska pučka stranka'', HPS). In 2000 he ran as a HPS candidate in 2000 presidential elections, where he received 0.85% of the vote and was eliminated in the first round.


War crimes prosecution

In 2003, the Croatian weekly '' Nacional'' reported that the ICTY was "completing an indictment against Tomislav Merčep", after interviewing Franjo Gregurić, Mladen Markač, Hrvoje Šarinić and others. There were media reports in 2006 that an indictment against Merčep himself, based on ICTY investigations, was forthcoming in the Croatian legal system. In December 2010,
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
recommended that Merčep should be prosecuted based on a series of public testimonies about crimes committed by his subordinates. The same week, the County Prosecutor in Zagreb brought up charges against Merčep and he was arrested. In May 2016, Merčep was sentenced to five-and-a-half years' imprisonment for failing to prevent the murder of 43 Serb civilians in Pakračka Poljana and other locations, committed by members of the unit under his command. In February 2017, upon appeal by the State Attorney's Office, the Supreme Court of Croatia increased his prison term to 7 years.


Death

Merčep was conditionally released from prison in March 2020 due to a serious illness, and died on 16 November 2020.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercep, Tomislav 1952 births 2020 deaths People from Vukovar Croatian Democratic Union politicians Croatian Popular Party (1997) politicians Croatian people convicted of war crimes Croatian war crimes in the Croatian War of Independence Candidates for President of Croatia Military personnel of the Croatian War of Independence Prisoners and detainees of Croatia