| 1992 European Community Monitor Mission helicopter downing | |
|---|---|
| Part of theCroatian War of Independence | |
The map of Croatia in January 1992. Serb/JNA-held territories are highlighted in red. | |
| Type | Aircraft shootdown |
| Location | nearPodrute, Croatia 46°10′21″N16°13′50″E / 46.17250°N 16.23056°E /46.17250; 16.23056 |
| Objective |  ECMM helicopters |
| Date | 7 January 1992 |
| Executed by |  Yugoslav Air Force |
| Casualties | 5European Community military observers killed |
The1992 European Community Monitor Mission helicopter downing was an incident that occurred on 7 January 1992, during theCroatian War of Independence, in which aEuropean Community Monitor Mission (ECMM) helicopter carrying fiveEuropean Community (EC)observers was downed by aYugoslav Air ForceMikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21, in the airspace above the village ofPodrute, nearNovi Marof,Croatia. An Italian and a French officer and three Italiannon-commissioned officers were killed. Another ECMM helicopter flying in formation with the attacked helicopter made an emergency landing. The second helicopter carried a crew and a visiting diplomat, all of whom survived. The incident was condemned by theUnited Nations Security Council and the EC. As a result of the incident, theYugoslav authorities suspended the head of the air force, and the Yugoslav defense minister,GeneralVeljko Kadijević, resigned his post. The events followed the end of the first stage of the war in Croatia and closely preceded the country's international recognition.
The MiG-21 pilot,Lieutenant Emir Šišić, an ethnicBosniak, disappeared after the incident. He wastriedin absentia together with his superiors by Croatian authorities, convicted, and sentenced to extended imprisonment. Šišić was subsequently arrested in Hungary in 2001 and extradited to Italy, where he was tried, convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison. In 2006, he was turned over to Serbia for the remainder of the sentence, but was released in 2008. Two other Yugoslav officers were triedin absentia in Italy and convicted in 2013, while Serbia was ordered to pay monetary damages to the victims' families. The victims were posthumously decorated by Italy and France.
In 1990, following theelectoral defeat of the government of theSocialist Republic of Croatia, ethnic tensions worsened. TheYugoslav People's Army (Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija – JNA) confiscatedCroatia'sTerritorial Defence (Teritorijalna obrana - TO) weapons to minimize resistance.[1] On 17 August, the tensions escalated into anopen revolt byCroatian Serbs,[2] centered on the predominantly Serb-populated areas of theDalmatian hinterland around Knin,[3] parts of theLika,Kordun,Banovina andeastern Croatia.[4]
Following thePakrac clash between Serb insurgents andCroatian special police in March 1991,[5] the conflict had escalated into theCroatian War of Independence.[6] The JNA stepped in, increasingly supporting the Croatian Serb insurgents.[7] In early April, the leaders of the Croatian Serb revolt declared their intention to integrate the area under their control, known asSAO Krajina, with Serbia.[8] In May, theCroatian government responded by forming theCroatian National Guard (Zbor narodne garde - ZNG),[9] but its development was hampered by aUnited Nations (UN)arms embargo introduced in September.[10] TheBrioni Agreement established an observer mission which was eventually called theEuropean Community Monitor Mission (ECMM). The mission was tasked with monitoring the disengagement of belligerents in theTen-Day War in neighbouringSlovenia,[11] and the withdrawal of the JNA from Slovenia.[12] However, on 16 August, an ECMM helicopter was hit by Croatian Serb gunfire in westernSlavonia, injuring one of the pilots.[13] This caused the ECMM's scope of work to be formally expanded to include Croatia on 1 September.[14]
On 8 October,Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia,[15] and a month later the ZNG was renamed theCroatian Army (Hrvatska vojska - HV).[9] The fiercest fighting of the war occurred around this time, when the1991 Yugoslav campaign in Croatia culminated in theSiege of Dubrovnik,[16] and theBattle of Vukovar.[17] In November, Croatia, Serbia and the JNA agreed upon theVance plan entailing a ceasefire, protection of civilians in specific areas designated asUnited Nations Protected Areas, and the presence of UN peacekeepers in Croatia.[18] The ceasefire came into effect on 3 January 1992.[19] In December 1991, theEuropean Community (EC) announced its decision to grant formaldiplomatic recognition to Croatia as of 15 January 1992.[20]
On 7 January 1992, a pair ofItalian ArmyAgusta-BellAB-206L LongRanger helicopters operated by ECMM observers entered Croatianair space fromHungary.[21] The helicopters were painted white and unarmed.[22] They were flying from theYugoslav capital ofBelgrade toZagreb viaKaposvár, Hungary.[23] Authorities in Belgrade claim the helicopters were authorised to fly to Hungary, but that the pilots were warned they were not allowed to fly to Zagreb because no flights in Croatian airspace were permitted.[24] The EC dismissed those claims, saying that the flight was approved in advance by Yugoslav air controllers.[23] The approval was forwarded to theYugoslav Air Force operations centre, but the order was never forwarded to the 5th Aviation Corps inBihać,Bosnia and Herzegovina.[21]
After the two helicopters were spotted by a Yugoslav Air Force tracking radar near Bihać, a pair ofMikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s, which were on standby at theŽeljava Air Base near Bihać, were ordered to take off and intercept the aircraft.[24] The MiG-21s, assigned to the 125th Squadron of the117th Fighter Aviation Regiment,[25] were piloted byLieutenant Emir Šišić andCaptain Danijel Borović.[26] However, Borović declared that his aircraft had a problem with its engine, and Šišić took off alone. Šišić was guided to the incoming helicopters at an altitude of 3,000 metres (9,800 feet), and then ordered to make a full circle with his jet. As he turned around, he spotted the helicopters flying below his plane, at an altitude of 600 metres (2,000 feet). Šišić requested further orders and was told to shoot the helicopters down.[24] The order was issued by the duty officer at the Željava Air Base,Lieutenant Colonel Dobrivoje Opačić.[27]
Šišić pursued the helicopters, firing shots in front of the helicopters, but his aircraft was not armed withtracer ammunition and the helicopter pilots were not able to observe that they were fired upon. Flying at a speed of 1,000 kilometres per hour (540 knots), he switched to missiles and registered that the missile seekers had acquired the targets.[24] Šišić fired twoinfrared homingR-60 missiles.[21] One of the missiles flew between the two helicopters, while the other struck the engine of the lead helicopter.[24] The helicopter was shot down near the village ofPodrute, located in an area administered by the city ofNovi Marof, north of Zagreb.[27] The second helicopter had to crash-land to evade the attack.[23]
Five ECMM observers were killed in the attack, including four Italians and one Frenchman.[23] The victims wereLieutenant Colonel Enzo Venturini, helicopter pilot,Staff Sergeant Marco Matta, co-pilot, Sergeant Major Fiorenzo Ramacci, Sergeant Major Silvano Natale, andShip-of-the-line Lieutenant Jean-Loup Eychenne.[28] The Italian personnel were drawn from the5th Army Aviation Regiment "Rigel". The second helicopter carried a diplomat and three Italian ECMM observers, none of whom were harmed.[27] The crash site was toured by the police, ECMM staff and journalists,[29] and EC representatives visited Belgrade to receive a report on the incident from Yugoslav authorities. The action of the Yugoslav Air Force was condemned by theConference on Security and Co-operation in Europe,[24] theUnited Nations Security Council,[30] and theEC Council of Ministers. The Italian ambassador to Yugoslavia was recalled toRome for consultations. Subsequently, Italy cancelled an air traffic agreement with Yugoslavia, causingJat Airways to cancel Belgrade–Rome flights.[31] In addition, ECMM operations were suspended for several days.[32]
Yugoslav Ministry of Defence announced that it had initiated criminal proceedings against an officer, with four other officers facing military disciplinary action.[23] The commander of the Yugoslav Air Force,Colonel GeneralZvonko Jurjević was suspended.[33] The federal defense minister,GeneralVeljko Kadijević officially apologized for the incident and resigned his post.[34] Šišić wascourt-martialled in Belgrade in 1992, and acquitted based on claims that he shot at a ZNG helicopter illegally escorting the two ECMM helicopters.[21] In a 2008 interview, Šišić claimed that the ECMM helicopter crashed after being hit by a fireball caused by the exploding third helicopter.[35] His account is contradicted by crash scene eyewitnesses,[29] as well as Željava Air Base radar data, both of which indicate that only two aircraft were flying to Zagreb.[24]
Šišić and Opačić weretriedin absentia in Croatia, and both were convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Borović, who defected to Croatia a month after the attack, testified against Šišić.[21] Šišić was arrested by Hungarian police at theHorgoš–Röszke border crossing on 9 May 2001.[35] Hisextradition was requested by both Croatia and Italy. He was ultimately extradited to Italy in June 2002, where he was subsequently tried, convicted, and sentenced to 15 years in prison for five counts of homicide and causing an aircraft disaster. In 2006, he was transferred to Serbia for the remainder of the prison term.[21] He was released by Serbian authorities in May 2008.[36]
In 2013, the Appeals Court in Rome tried Opačić, General Ljubomir Bajić, commander of the 5th Aviation Corps, andColonel Božidar Martinović, head of the Yugoslav Air Defence operational centre in Belgradein absentia for the attack. Opačić and Bajić were convicted and each sentenced to 28 years in prison, while Martinović was acquitted. The court also ordered Serbia to pay compensation to families of those killed in the attack, in the provisional amount of 950,000Euros.[27] In a 2008 interview, Šišić said he regretted the deaths of the crew but felt no remorse for his actions.[35]
On 25 May 1993, Italyposthumously decorated the four Italian ECMM observers killed in the attack with theGold Medal of Military Valor, and the surviving three Italians aboard the second helicopter with theSilver Medal of Military Valor.[37] Eychenne was posthumously promoted tolieutenant commander effective 7 January 1992, and attributedMort pour la France on 14 April of the same year. He was decorated as theChevalier of theLegion of Honour.[38] The incident is commemorated annually in Podrute and the ceremonies held there are regularly attended by representatives of the Croatian government and military, representatives ofItalian andFrench Armed Forces, along withEuropean Union, French and Italian diplomats.[39]
