1. Janko Bobetko was a Croatian general who had participated in World War II and later in the Croatian War of Independence.
17 Facts About Janko Bobetko
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Janko Bobetko was one of the founding members of 1st Sisak Partisan Detachment, the first anti-fascist military unit during World War II in Yugoslavia.
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Janko Bobetko later had a military career in the Yugoslav People's Army.
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In 1992, Bobetko became the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Army.
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Janko Bobetko served in this capacity until his retirement in 1995.
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Janko Bobetko had been charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia but died before he could be tried; a later verdict in another case found that he took part in the joint criminal enterprise against the non-Croat population during the Bosnian War.
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Janko Bobetko was born in the village of Crnac, Sisak in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
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Janko Bobetko studied at the veterinary faculty in the University of Zagreb, but Croatian pro-Nazi authorities expelled him from university at the start of World War II for his anti-fascist views.
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Janko Bobetko was heavily wounded in the Battle of Sutjeska in Montenegro, but survived to become a Yugoslav People's Army officer.
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On 20 November 1992, Janko Bobetko was named the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia.
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Janko Bobetko had the status of a fully disabled person, caused both by his leg injury he sustained during World War II, and later by an onset of cardiac decompensation in 1994.
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In 2000, Janko Bobetko was the most prominent signatory to the Twelve Generals' Letter.
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Janko Bobetko was the most senior Croatian officer sought at the tribunal.
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The government adopted a strategy of delaying any further move until Janko Bobetko's health declined to the point where, in early 2003, the tribunal had deemed him unfit to stand trial.
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Some veteran groups went further by guarding the general's home, threatening violence if Racan's government attempted to have Janko Bobetko forcibly arrested and extradited to the Hague.
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Janko Bobetko died in 2003, aged 84, before any final decision was reached regarding his extradition.
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Janko Bobetko was survived by his widow, Magdalena, and three sons.