President Zoran Milanovic attended the unveiling of the bust of General Petar Stipetic in his home town of Ogulin on Saturday, describing the general as a person who had radiated a special energy.

General Stipetic “could be impertinent and rub politicians the wrong way without even being aware of it. He was an important person throughout the war. He will be remembered by the Croatian people as the one who enabled the surrender of a corps of the hostile Serb Krajina Army,” Milanovic said.

Speaking of the general’s role in the 1991-1995 Homeland War, in particular in the Posavina region in 1992, Milanovic said that Posavina was a defeat. Stipetic discussed the matter at meetings of the National Security Council, which included President Franjo Tudjman and Defence Minister Gojko Susak, and was not treated gentlemanly but was “illegally and unfairly forced into retirement,” he added.

Stipetic was born in Ogulin, about 100 km southwest of Zagreb, in 1937 and died in Zagreb in 2018. He was a professional soldier in the Yugoslav People’s Army before joining the defence of Croatia in September 1991. One of the most memorable pictures from the war shows the commander of the 21st Kordun Corps of the Serb Krajina Army, Cedo Bulat, signing the surrender document to General Stipetic during Operation Storm in August 1995.