Another witness of war crimes in Gospić testified to me and he is prepare to give testimony in front of any court that the American-Croatian citizen Dragan Lozančić during these bloody years visited Gospić in the company of Canadian-Croatian citizen Gojko Šušak, then Minister of Defence of the Republic of Croatia, who, as we already know, together with his deputy in charge of security Josip Perković, was a patron of convicted war criminal Tihomir Orešković.
“Today’s Chief of Staff of the Croatian Army, Drago Lovrić, Head of the Security and Intelligence Agency Dragan Lozančić were at the Gospić battlefront… All of them happened to be there but none of them stood up to Orešković”, stated Zdenko Bando, witness in trial for war crimes at the Hague Tribunal, on February 14, 2015 for weekly Nacional. Due to his testimony he had enjoyed protection of German authorities for several years.
First name of Orešković from Bando’s incriminating statement is Tihomir and he was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for was crimes that occurred in Gospić 1991. These days, his namesake, the current Croatian Prime Minister, should decide whether he will co-sign decision of President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović on relief of the above mentioned Dragan Lozančić.
As much as Tihomir Tim Orešković until now opposed this decision, in which he allegedly enjoyed support of First Deputy Prime Minister Božo Petrov, during his visits to European capitals, the Prime Minister from several high addresses, allegedly including the US Embassy, received clear recommendation that he has to waive services of Dragan Lozančić, precisely because of his role in the bloody drama in Gospić and obstructions of truth on that drama.
Another witness of war crimes in Gospić testified to me and he is prepare to give testimony in front of any court that the American-Croatian citizen Dragan Lozančić during these bloody years visited Gospić in the company of Canadian-Croatian citizen Gojko Šušak, then Minister of Defence of the Republic of Croatia, who, as we already know, together with his deputy in charge of security Josip Perković, was a patron of convicted war criminal Tihomir Orešković.
This man from Lika assured me that he was the one to inform then Minister of Defence Željka Antunović on connection of current Head of the Security and Intelligence Agency with events that were subject to investigation by ICTY and that only partially were processed in front of the Croatian courts.
– Željka Antunović relieved him on the basis of that information and not, as it is presented today, because she believed that he only subsequently became close with Gojko Šušak, claims our source.
This witness says that Tomislav Karamarko relieved him from state service when he became the head of the Counter-intelligence Agency and found out whom my interlocutor disclosed his findings in respect to war crimes in Lika. He hoped that Kukuriku Government will reinstate him to state service, since he is a member of SDP, but he was bitterly disappointed when it was precisely Milanović who appointed Dragan Lozančić as Head of the Security Intelligence Agency.
– I interpreted the fact that Milanović practically drove Željka Antunović from SDP as his over ambitiousness but it never occurred to me that the head of my party, who constantly boasts that he has no connections with crimes that happened in the socialist era or with crimes that occurred in the new state, could still be a part of this ominous octopus, disappointedly stated my interlocutor.
One interesting coincidence about the crimes in Gospić, from which about a decade later Tihomir Orešković, a returnee from the USA, was convicted, is that New York Times was the first to cover this story at the beginning of 1992 while at the end of the same year the same newspaper published an extensive and positive article about the young American-Croatian citizen Dragan Lozančić, who has been helping his country of birth for 15 months in spite of war perils. Lozančić stated for the New York Times that Consul in Zagreb, probably during summer of 1991 or or early 1992, advised him to return to the USA since American authorities are not in position to guarantee his safety, taking into consideration the pending perils, which he rejected and boasted about his role in arrival of additional 80 young people from USA, Canada and Australia in order to help the homeland.
Professor Ivo Banac told me in two occasions: once in the presence of his ex-partner Nadežda Čačinović and the second time in presence of Ranko Ostojić, Josip Boljkovac and professor Ivan Pađen that on August 25, 1991 he flew for the last time from New York with American airliner “Delta” and was in the company of Tihomir Oreškovića, whom he met on the plane.
– While we were flying I was reading something when my seat was approached by some guy with a beard who asked me if I was professor Banac. I was slightly surprised but I confirmed and he introduced himself as Tihomir Orešković, passionate fighter for Croatia and started to show me some CIA manuals on guerrilla warfare. I was completely surprised but I could do nothing but compassionately smile. Only later I found out from a person who worked at the police who Tihomir Orešković was, as well as the fact that the plane carried large quantities of weapons, which astonished me, taking into consideration that it could not be done without knowledge of American authorities, professor Ivo Banac told me twice in front of witnesses.
At the beginning of 2000, during the trial of Orešković for murder of some 50 civilians from Gospić, mostly Serbs, formed Head of Agency for Protection of Constitutional Order (SZUP) Smiljan Reljić stated that late President Tuđman suspected that the accused works for a foreign secret agency. Reljić added that it was most likely an Americal secret agency which was confirmed by the fact that, at late 1991, when he was arrested for the first time, a badge of this agency fell out of his pocket but the witness could not remember exactly which agency that was.
In his appeal against the first instance ruling to the Supreme Court, Orešković requested the court to obtain Udba’s files on him in order to prove that he was a persecuted patrior and not a collaborator of Yugoslav or American secret agencies. When the file was submitted to the court, informed persons claim that it turned out that Orešković was a collaborator of both Udba and KOS (Counter-intelligence agency of the Yugoslav People’s Army) and that file mentioned his collaboration with American agencies as well. The accused claimed it to be a lie and that his file was forged.
All of the above mentioned places not only Dragan Lozančić, who pursuant to statements of Zdenko Bando and my, as of yet unnamed witness, knew who is and Tihomir Orešković does in Gospić, into a very unpleasant situation. However, current Croatian Prime Minister is in even worse position since Croatian strategic partners from the USA no longer wish to be linked with crimes committed in Lika through anyone and particularly not through head of Croatian secret agency with American-Croatian citizenship.
There is another, even more horrific addition to this story. Milan Levar, murdered witness of war crimes in Lika, in his testimony given to ICTY investigators in the Hague at the end of 1997, in presence of two other persons: witness Tomislav Orešković, police inspector from Gospić and chief of military police Zdenko Bando, claimed that Tihomir Orešković came from the USA in order to commit war crimes and thus harm Croatia. He also added that two American citizens of Croatian background: Tony Kujundžić and Branko Goluža, personally killed civilians.
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Former minister of internal affairs Ranko Ostojić in 2014 promised bounty of 100,000 kuna for information on Milan Levar’s murderer. He met with his family: widow Vesna and son Leon, and promised that Cold cases department in police headquarters with do anything possible to find persons who assassinated Levar.
– This is all just misleading of the public. Investigation has been obstructed already in 2000, one month after the murder, by then deputy minister of internal affairs Vladimir Faber. He gave order to Dubravko Novak, then head of Gospić police, to qualify the criminal act as homicide instead of a murder and to dismiss Agency for Protection of Constitutional Order (SZUP) from the case, while this Agency already had rounded information on murderers and organizers and it remained only to break the weakest link among them. After Faber’s intervention, no serious work was ever done to prosecute Levar’s murder. On top of the irony are alleged requests of part of the ruling coalition, from MOST, to appoint precisely Vladimir Faber as the new chief of police, the person who in 2000 participated in investigation of Milan Levar’s was agitated to say.
In case First Deputy Prime Minister and head of MOST Božo Petrov would insist with the Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković that Faber should become chief or at least deputy chief of police and in case Prime Minister would accept it, that would be the ultimate shame for the current government that would thus clearly demonstrate its inability to confront sinister parts of recent history and let alone those from the period of communist rule.
