Miro Barešic
Encyclopedia
Miro Barešić was a terrorist, Croatia
n nationalist
militant convicted for the murder of the Yugoslavia
n ambassador
to Sweden in 1971 and later released as a demand made in the hijacking
of a Scandinavian Airlines domestic flight.
, Croatia (then part of communist Yugoslavia). In 1968, as was required by any 18 year old, Barešić was called to attend military service. However, due to his political beliefs that the Croatian nation was deprived of any human rights, and that many of his relatives were killed by the communists, he refused the military service. As a result, he was convicted and forced to serve 6 months in the infamous Goli Otok prison, known as the "Alcatraz of Europe". In 1969, after the completion of his sentence, he escaped Yugoslavia to Italy where he was linked with members of the Croatian National Resistance movement, whom assisted him through Germany and ultimately Sweden.
and other Croatian extreme nationalists and Barešić was very positive in the Swedish groups plans to start a new organization called The Black Legion (Crna Legija) in Sweden, as a revolt against Yugoslavia.
Baresic and another Croatian militant were convicted in 1971 for the murder of the Yugoslavian ambassador to Sweden, Vladimir Rolovic
, the former head of the Yugloslav Secret Police, UDBA. On 7 April 1971, Miro Barešić and his friend Andjelko Brajkovic drove in a rented car to Stockholm with 4 other partners involved in plotting the coming murder. The two men walked into the embassy and started looking at some visas in the reception in order not to draw attention to them. Once they saw Rolovic near the reception they drew their guns and shouted "we are armed!" Barešić then hit the ambassador in his face with his own gun and they both forced him into his office, there Barešić hit him another time so that he fell to the floor. When Andjelko then thought that Rolovic wasn't lying still he decided to tie him to a chair with a rope around his hand and feet and a belt around his throat so that he would choke on his own blood. During this time Barešić was guarding the door and outside the building masses of people, the media, police and paramedics had arrived on the scene. When Barešić was looking out from the balcony of the room he saw the police coming closer and thought the original plan to take the ambassador hostage now seemed to have failed if the police would storm the building, so after hitting Rolovic again Brajkovic who also got blood on his hands from tying him up walked outside to the balcony and urinated on his hands to get the blood off, then wiped them with the curtain. Barešić who has seen the chaos outside picked up a framed photo of Josip Broz Tito from the wall and threw it out, smashing it to the ground. They both heard the police moving in on the building and Brajkovic at this time took his gun, put it in Rolovic's mouth and shot him in the head. The police, hearing the shot and the chaotic sounds inside the office, told both men to surrender, and they put their guns on the floor and kicked them outside the door and let themselves be arrested without any resistance. When being taken out from the murder scene in handcuffs the newsteams of several mediastations was filming the whole incident as Barešić kisses Brajkovic on his cheek and then begins to yell "long live the Independent state of Croatia" and "long live Ante Pavelić
" on the way to the parked police cars.
They began serving their sentences at a Swedish high security prison, but were released the following year as part of demand made by the hijackers of a domestic airline at Sweden's Bulltofta airport
.
The hijackers managed to get the Swedish authorities to refuel the airplane and flew to Madrid
. They surrendered themselves to the Spanish authorities once it was confirmed that Barešić was released from the Swedish prison and flown to Spain (then ruled by Francisco Franco
). The hijackers served a short prison sentence and Barešić was later acquitted of any involvement in the hijacking and was released from Spanish custody after 19 months. During these 19 months, the Swedish authorities made no request to Spain for his extradition, despite the two countries having an extradition treaty with one another. After his release, the Spanish and Paraguayan governments agreed that Barešić's life was in danger by the UDBA
and arranged for Barešić to fly to Paraguay
, where he was given a new identity, Toni Sarić.
trainer and a professional karate
athlete. He was later employed by the Paraguay
an foreign service as the bodyguard
for the Paraguayan ambassador to the USA in Washington, D.C.
Sources are conflicted as to how his real identity was discovered. Some say that Barešić was part of an extortion ring that targeted Yugoslav immigrants; others say that he demanded that a Croatian flag should be raised during the medal ceremony of a karate competition that he had won.
After his identity was discovered he was convicted by the American authorities for several offenses and deported to Sweden to serve the remainder of his life sentence there. In the Swedish book about the Swedish serial killer John Ausonius
, who shot 11 immigrants, called "Lasermannen" it is stated that during his time in jail he met John Ausonius, who saw Barešić as a role model and could listen to Barešić telling stories about his life for hours.
Barešić's act of murder came in a time during the 1970s when many Yugoslavian immigrants lived in Sweden, and many of them in fear of the exiled Ustasa-movement that had a network of Croatian terrorist groups and people in Europe. One example of one of these groups is the Hrvatski narodni odpor (Croatian National Resistance
) who were created- and led by Maks Luburić
himself, a World War II war criminal who was the commandant of the Jasenovac concentration camp in the Independent State of Croatia
. In Sweden a series of death threats and acts of terror against Yugoslavian immigrants had been committed by people associated with these post-World War II Ustasa-movements after World War II who were telling the police and the media that they were Ustashas who were going to kill Olof Palme
and communists, blow up Yugoslavian clubs and government buildings with bombs, therefore Barešić also got extremely much attention in the Swedish media during the time of his murder of the Yugoslav ambassador. The fact that his act of terror was the first in Sweden ever committed by a person of non-Swedish background also made it into the headlines in the media.
Barešić was released in 1988 and returned to Paraguay.
. He was killed in fighting with Serb forces in July the same year, at the age of 40.
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
militant convicted for the murder of the Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
n ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to Sweden in 1971 and later released as a demand made in the hijacking
Aircraft hijacking
Aircraft hijacking is the unlawful seizure of an aircraft by an individual or a group. In most cases, the pilot is forced to fly according to the orders of the hijackers. Occasionally, however, the hijackers have flown the aircraft themselves, such as the September 11 attacks of 2001...
of a Scandinavian Airlines domestic flight.
Early life
Miro Barešić was born on 10 September 1950 in ŠibenikŠibenik
Šibenik is a historic town in Croatia, with population of 51,553 . It is located in central Dalmatia where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea...
, Croatia (then part of communist Yugoslavia). In 1968, as was required by any 18 year old, Barešić was called to attend military service. However, due to his political beliefs that the Croatian nation was deprived of any human rights, and that many of his relatives were killed by the communists, he refused the military service. As a result, he was convicted and forced to serve 6 months in the infamous Goli Otok prison, known as the "Alcatraz of Europe". In 1969, after the completion of his sentence, he escaped Yugoslavia to Italy where he was linked with members of the Croatian National Resistance movement, whom assisted him through Germany and ultimately Sweden.
History and murder in the Yugoslav embassy
In Sweden, Barešić associated with people connected with the Croatian National ResistanceCroatian National Resistance
The Croatian National Resistance was a terrorist Croatian Ustaše emigrant organization which sought to destroy Yugoslavia and to establish an independent Croatia, according to the vision of Ustaše leader Ante Pavelić and ideology of Mile Budak...
and other Croatian extreme nationalists and Barešić was very positive in the Swedish groups plans to start a new organization called The Black Legion (Crna Legija) in Sweden, as a revolt against Yugoslavia.
Baresic and another Croatian militant were convicted in 1971 for the murder of the Yugoslavian ambassador to Sweden, Vladimir Rolovic
Vladimir Rolović
Vladimir Rolović , was a SFRY politician, Ambassador of Yugoslavia and National Hero of Yugoslavia who was murdered by Ustasha Croatian emigration while serving as Ambassador in Stockholm.- Biography :...
, the former head of the Yugloslav Secret Police, UDBA. On 7 April 1971, Miro Barešić and his friend Andjelko Brajkovic drove in a rented car to Stockholm with 4 other partners involved in plotting the coming murder. The two men walked into the embassy and started looking at some visas in the reception in order not to draw attention to them. Once they saw Rolovic near the reception they drew their guns and shouted "we are armed!" Barešić then hit the ambassador in his face with his own gun and they both forced him into his office, there Barešić hit him another time so that he fell to the floor. When Andjelko then thought that Rolovic wasn't lying still he decided to tie him to a chair with a rope around his hand and feet and a belt around his throat so that he would choke on his own blood. During this time Barešić was guarding the door and outside the building masses of people, the media, police and paramedics had arrived on the scene. When Barešić was looking out from the balcony of the room he saw the police coming closer and thought the original plan to take the ambassador hostage now seemed to have failed if the police would storm the building, so after hitting Rolovic again Brajkovic who also got blood on his hands from tying him up walked outside to the balcony and urinated on his hands to get the blood off, then wiped them with the curtain. Barešić who has seen the chaos outside picked up a framed photo of Josip Broz Tito from the wall and threw it out, smashing it to the ground. They both heard the police moving in on the building and Brajkovic at this time took his gun, put it in Rolovic's mouth and shot him in the head. The police, hearing the shot and the chaotic sounds inside the office, told both men to surrender, and they put their guns on the floor and kicked them outside the door and let themselves be arrested without any resistance. When being taken out from the murder scene in handcuffs the newsteams of several mediastations was filming the whole incident as Barešić kisses Brajkovic on his cheek and then begins to yell "long live the Independent state of Croatia" and "long live Ante Pavelić
Ante Pavelic
Ante Pavelić was a Croatian fascist leader, revolutionary, and politician. He ruled as Poglavnik or head, of the Independent State of Croatia , a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany in Axis-occupied Yugoslavia...
" on the way to the parked police cars.
They began serving their sentences at a Swedish high security prison, but were released the following year as part of demand made by the hijackers of a domestic airline at Sweden's Bulltofta airport
Bulltofta Airport
Bulltofta Airport was, from 1923 to 1972, the main airport serving the city of Malmö, Sweden, until it was replaced by Sturup Airport. The former airport area, in the district of Kirseberg, has been converted into, in part, a major park, in part a commercial area.The route Malmö-Copenhagen, started...
.
The hijackers managed to get the Swedish authorities to refuel the airplane and flew to Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
. They surrendered themselves to the Spanish authorities once it was confirmed that Barešić was released from the Swedish prison and flown to Spain (then ruled by Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
). The hijackers served a short prison sentence and Barešić was later acquitted of any involvement in the hijacking and was released from Spanish custody after 19 months. During these 19 months, the Swedish authorities made no request to Spain for his extradition, despite the two countries having an extradition treaty with one another. After his release, the Spanish and Paraguayan governments agreed that Barešić's life was in danger by the UDBA
UDBA
The Department of State Security was the secret police organization of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.Although it operated with more restraint than other secret...
and arranged for Barešić to fly to Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
, where he was given a new identity, Toni Sarić.
Life in Paraguay
His new identity in Paraguay was Toni Saric. Under that name he joined the Paraguay armed forces and rose to become a captain. Barešić was a close combatClose combat
*Close combat is a generic term for both Close Quarters Battle and Hand to hand combat.*Mêlée generally refers to disorganized close combat.*CQB is an acronym for Close Quarters Battle, such as that which occurs in urban warfare....
trainer and a professional karate
Karate
is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,...
athlete. He was later employed by the Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
an foreign service as the bodyguard
Bodyguard
A bodyguard is a type of security operative or government agent who protects a person—usually a famous, wealthy, or politically important figure—from assault, kidnapping, assassination, stalking, loss of confidential information, terrorist attack or other threats.Most important public figures such...
for the Paraguayan ambassador to the USA in Washington, D.C.
Sources are conflicted as to how his real identity was discovered. Some say that Barešić was part of an extortion ring that targeted Yugoslav immigrants; others say that he demanded that a Croatian flag should be raised during the medal ceremony of a karate competition that he had won.
After his identity was discovered he was convicted by the American authorities for several offenses and deported to Sweden to serve the remainder of his life sentence there. In the Swedish book about the Swedish serial killer John Ausonius
John Ausonius
John Wolfgang Alexander Ausonius , known in the media as Lasermannen is a Swedish convicted murderer, bank robber, and attempted serial killer. From August 1991 to January 1992 he shot eleven people in the Stockholm and Uppsala area, most of whom were immigrants, killing one and seriously injuring...
, who shot 11 immigrants, called "Lasermannen" it is stated that during his time in jail he met John Ausonius, who saw Barešić as a role model and could listen to Barešić telling stories about his life for hours.
Barešić's act of murder came in a time during the 1970s when many Yugoslavian immigrants lived in Sweden, and many of them in fear of the exiled Ustasa-movement that had a network of Croatian terrorist groups and people in Europe. One example of one of these groups is the Hrvatski narodni odpor (Croatian National Resistance
Croatian National Resistance
The Croatian National Resistance was a terrorist Croatian Ustaše emigrant organization which sought to destroy Yugoslavia and to establish an independent Croatia, according to the vision of Ustaše leader Ante Pavelić and ideology of Mile Budak...
) who were created- and led by Maks Luburić
Maks Luburic
Vjekoslav "Maks" Luburić was a Croatian Ustaše, a war criminal, and the commander of the Jasenovac concentration camp.- Biography :...
himself, a World War II war criminal who was the commandant of the Jasenovac concentration camp in the Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
. In Sweden a series of death threats and acts of terror against Yugoslavian immigrants had been committed by people associated with these post-World War II Ustasa-movements after World War II who were telling the police and the media that they were Ustashas who were going to kill Olof Palme
Olof Palme
Sven Olof Joachim Palme was a Swedish politician. A long-time protegé of Prime Minister Tage Erlander, Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 to his assassination, and was a two-term Prime Minister of Sweden, heading a Privy Council Government from 1969 to 1976 and a cabinet...
and communists, blow up Yugoslavian clubs and government buildings with bombs, therefore Barešić also got extremely much attention in the Swedish media during the time of his murder of the Yugoslav ambassador. The fact that his act of terror was the first in Sweden ever committed by a person of non-Swedish background also made it into the headlines in the media.
Barešić was released in 1988 and returned to Paraguay.
Death
When the civil war started in Yugoslavia in 1991, Barešić returned to Croatia from ParaguayParaguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
. He was killed in fighting with Serb forces in July the same year, at the age of 40.