01 August 2008 Zagreb_ Israel's ambassador to Croatia on Thursday harshly criticized the funeral given to a head of a World War
Two concentration camp in Zagreb.
Sakic died aged 87 on July 20 while serving 20 years in prison for war crimes he committed as head of the notorious Jasenovac camp, the worst of about 40 camps run by the then Nazi puppet regime of Croatia. Read more: http://balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/12003/?tpid=147
According to Croatia's Vecernji List daily, Sakic was buried in the Ustasha uniform and described by the priest at the funeral as "a person Croats must be proud of"'.
"I'm convinced that the majority of the Croatian people are shocked by the way the funeral of the Jasenovac commander and murderer, dressed in an Ustasha uniform, was conducted," ambassador Meirom said in a written statement to the state news agency Hina.
"At the same time, I strongly condemn the inappropriate words of the priest who served at the funeral and said that Sakic was a model for all Croats. I'm convinced it is not an official attitude of the Catholic Church in Croatia."
Meirom said the event did not contribute to a positive image of Croatia, which had "made commendable efforts in recent years to condemn the years of the Ustasha regime".
Dinko Sakic's funeral was an "outrageous display of unrepentant racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia," the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Israeli branch director, Efraim Zuroff, said in a letter on July 30 addressed to President Stipe Mesic and obtained by The Associated Press news agency.
Mesic said in a statement that he has repeatedly condemned Nazi crimes, including Sakic's.
Sakic fled Croatia when the pro-Nazi state was crushed in 1945. He was extradited from Argentina in 1998 to face trial in Croatia, where he was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Tens of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Gypsies and anti-fascist Croats were killed in Jasenovac.
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Israeli ambassador Shmuel Meirom said it insulted the memory of those killed in the camp run by Croatia's Nazi-allied Ustasha regime.
Sakic died aged 87 on July 20 while serving 20 years in prison for war crimes he committed as head of the notorious Jasenovac camp, the worst of about 40 camps run by the then Nazi puppet regime of Croatia. Read more: http://balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/12003/?tpid=147
According to Croatia's Vecernji List daily, Sakic was buried in the Ustasha uniform and described by the priest at the funeral as "a person Croats must be proud of"'.
"I'm convinced that the majority of the Croatian people are shocked by the way the funeral of the Jasenovac commander and murderer, dressed in an Ustasha uniform, was conducted," ambassador Meirom said in a written statement to the state news agency Hina.
"At the same time, I strongly condemn the inappropriate words of the priest who served at the funeral and said that Sakic was a model for all Croats. I'm convinced it is not an official attitude of the Catholic Church in Croatia."
Meirom said the event did not contribute to a positive image of Croatia, which had "made commendable efforts in recent years to condemn the years of the Ustasha regime".
Dinko Sakic's funeral was an "outrageous display of unrepentant racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia," the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Israeli branch director, Efraim Zuroff, said in a letter on July 30 addressed to President Stipe Mesic and obtained by The Associated Press news agency.
Mesic said in a statement that he has repeatedly condemned Nazi crimes, including Sakic's.
Sakic fled Croatia when the pro-Nazi state was crushed in 1945. He was extradited from Argentina in 1998 to face trial in Croatia, where he was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Tens of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Gypsies and anti-fascist Croats were killed in Jasenovac.
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