Yugoslav People's Army

Former Yugoslav Navy Fleet Admiral Branko Mamula in 1977. Photo: Private archive of Branko Mamula.

Born into a Serb family in Croatia in 1921, Mamula became a member of the Communist Party in his youth. At the start of Yugoslavia's involvement in World War II in 1941, he joined the Partisan resistance movement led by Josip Broz Tito.

A pier on fire in Dubrovnik, Croatia during the war in November 1991. Photo: EPA/PETER NORTHALL.

On the 28th anniversary of the closure of the Dretelj detention camp on Tuesday, former detainees recalled the desperate conditions at the wartime facility near Capljina but were unable to hold a commemoration at the site.

The Humanitarian Law Centre said on Friday that Belgrade Court of Appeals' compensation awards to relatives of people killed by Serbian fighters at Ovcara Farm after the fall of the besieged Croatian town of Vukovar to the Yugoslav People's Army in November 1991 are inappropriately low and do not meet standards set by the European Court of Human Rights.

Croatia's political leadership, wartime generals and war veterans gathered on Thursday in the town of Knin to mark the anniversary of the victorious military offensive, Operation Storm, that practically ended the independence war in the country in 1995.

Part of the ceremony took place at the Knin Fortress, while another part was held at the town's football stadium.

"Gentlemen, I want to talk a little bit more about [our] promotional focus, given the advantages gained from Storm," Tudjman said as he opened the session.

A law that will grant benefits to civilian victims of the 1991-95 war was adopted by Croatian MPs on Thursday with 107 votes in favour, 16 against and five abstentions.

It was passed after heated discussions in parliament about whether the law would also give benefits to people who were part of 'enemy' Serb forces during the war.

The verdict in their trial will be announced at the UN court in The Hague on Wednesday.

On June 27, 1991, the first day of the armed conflict in Slovenia, what were initially described as two 'enemy' helicopters were shot down by Slovenian troops.

The State Attorney's Office in the city of Osijek announced on Tuesday that it has indicted an unnamed 50-year-old former Serbian paramilitary fighter for committing a war crime in a settlement near Vukovar in eastern Croatia, two months before the fall of the besieged town.