101-Year-Old Partisan from Split Interviewed Regarding 1945 Murder of Priest in Široki Brijeg
Vjera Andrijić, Photo: Screenshot/Youtube
The Split State Prosecutor’s Office has interviewed 101-year-old partisan Vjera Andrijić regarding the investigation into the murder of twelve friar priests in Široki Brijeg, Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the close of World War II, according to Croatian media outlets.
Andrijić was called for questioning following her media statements about events in Široki Brijeg in February 1945, made during her attendance at President Zoran Milanović’s inauguration.
As reported by Split’s Slobodna Dalmacija, Andrijić was discreetly brought in and out of the Palace of Justice in Split to evade media and public scrutiny.
Her questioning, which was initiated by Split Deputy State Prosecutor Nikša Vagner, was conducted in her capacity as a citizen.
Interior Minister Davor Božinović remarked to reporters that an individual being questioned “doesn’t imply anything significant.”
The Women’s Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia claimed that the investigation is politically motivated rather than a pursuit of justice.
Recently introduced to the public during President Zoran Milanović’s inauguration in Zagreb, she is recognized as the last surviving partisan from the significant battles of Sutjeska and Neretva.
During an interview with Vida TV, she discussed her experiences in the battles along the Sutjeska and Neretva rivers as well as the Partisan advance into Široki Brijeg.
The Split County State Prosecutor’s Office has stated that since 2005, it has been undertaking investigative actions related to incidents from World War II in the Široki Brijeg area, where a group of Franciscan priests were killed following the Partisans’ entry in 1945.
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