Zvonko Bušić

Zvonko and Julienne Bušić in Zagreb (2009)

Zvonko Bušić (born January 23, 1946 in Gorica, zu Grude , Yugoslavia , today Bosnia and Herzegovina ; † September 1, 2013 in Rovanjska near Zadar , Croatia ) was the ideological leader of a group of Croatian emigrants operating in the USA whose political goals are the Establishment of an autonomous Croatian state. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in the US for fatal airplane hijacking and conspiracy.

Life

Crime and detention

Bušić and his wife Julienne Bušić (nee Eden Schultz ), Petar Matanić, Frane Pešut and Slobodan Vlašić hijacked a Boeing 727 operated by Trans World Airlines (TWA) on Flight 355 on the New York - Chicago route with the destination to get their propaganda published in the media. The five kidnappers seized 92 people including the crew. Under threat of violence and blowing up the plane, they forced an overflight to Europe, but in fact there was only one dummy bomb on board. After fulfilling their demands - publishing summarized propaganda on flyers in US newspapers - they landed in France and surrendered to the authorities.

A bomb previously planted on Grand Central Station in New York cost New York police officer Brian Murray his life while defusing it. Zvonko Bušić took responsibility for the death of the police officer, but also blamed the police officers who ignored his instructions to defuse the bomb.

During the criminal trial, the terrorists claimed that they tried to achieve their goals through persuasion and argument, which made their actions no less violent to Judge John Bartels. Zvonko and Julienne Bušić were sentenced to life imprisonment. After 31 years in prison, Zvonko Bušić was pardoned on July 24, 2008 and deported to Croatia. The Croatian state had been campaigning for him for a long time, since 2007 through the HHO (Helsinki Committee in Croatia). His wife Julienne was released in 1990 after 13 years in prison. The remaining kidnappers, who had been sentenced to several years in prison, were released in the 1990s.

return

Zvonko Bušić was able to return to Croatia at the expense of the Croatian state. On his arrival he was received with a fascist greeting by like-minded people. The Croatian press unanimously qualified the acts of the returnees convicted of terrorism. In the Croatian public he is sometimes seen as an independence fighter and hero. Above all, the use of force has been and is systematically pushed into the background, while the assertions of the kidnappers are emphasized, e. B. that they only wanted to drop flyers via London and Paris.

In the parliamentary elections in December 2011, Bušić was the candidate of Hrvatska stranka prava dr. Ante Starčević , first on the party's constituency list in constituency IX.

death

Zvonko Bušić died of suicide on September 1, 2013 . He was buried with the participation of several thousand people among the fallen of the Croatian War ( Aleja branitelja ) in the Mirogoj cemetery in the Croatian capital Zagreb .

family

The politician Zdravka Bušić is a sister of Zvonko Bušić. The exile activist Bruno Bušić , who was indirectly involved in the plane hijacking committed by Zvonko Bušić, was his cousin.

Aftermath

After Bušić's death, his widow Julienne Bušić, his sister Zdravka Bušić and the politicians Nikica Valentić and Dražen Budiša founded the Zvonko Bušić Foundation; its main purpose is the publication of books in which the life of Zvonko Bušićs and the Croatian war should be presented from the perspective of Bušić's followers.

swell

1. ↑ 592 F.2d 13: United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Zvonko Busic, Julienne Busic, Petar Matanic, Frane Pesut, defendants-appellants. In: justia.com (English).
2. ↑ Robert Bajruši: HHO u operaciji oslobađanja Zvonka Bušića. ( Memento of the original from November 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: nacional.hr , July 30, 2007 (Croatian). 
3. ^ Slavenka Drakulić : Shadows in the sunshine. In: The Guardian , August 29, 2008.
4. ↑ US Concedes Amnesty to Zvonko Busic After 32 Years. ( Memento of the original from October 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: dalje.com , July 8, 2008 (English).  
5. ^ Nives Rogoznica: Zvonko Bušić prvi na listi HSP-a "Dr. Ante Starčević" In: zadarskilist.hr , April 5, 2011 (Croatian).
6. ↑ Bušić u oproštajnom pismu: Nisam mogao živjeti u Platonovoj pećini , vecernji.hr, September 1, 2013 (Croatian)
7. ↑ Zaklada Zvonko Bušić prikuplja donacije za stanovnike poplavljenih područja , Večernji list online, December 19, 2014; Razgovor s Julienne Bušić: Moramo početi od sebe , direktno.hr, November 20, 2014

Web links

Commons : Zvonko Bušić  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of Zvonko and Julienne Bušić. Retrieved April 28, 2014 (English / Croatian). 
• “Ljubavnici i Luđaci”, documentary film by Croatian television HTV (2012) on YouTube