The Municipal Misdemeanour Court in Split has acquitted Marko Skeja and twelve members of the Home Defence Forces (HOS) of charges of disturbing public order and peace, N1 reported, citing the Dalmatinski portal. They had been accused of shouting the salute "Za dom spremni" in Knin on Victory Day in 2022.
The indictment was filed by the Knin Police Station under Article 5 of the Misdemeanours Act on Public Order and Peace. It related to a gathering held in front of the monument in Ante Starčević Square. In her reasoning, the judge stated that "Za dom spremni" was the official motto of the Ustaše movement and the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) regime. As a totalitarian symbol, she assessed it to be contrary to the Constitution and banned in public spaces.
However, the judgment refers to recommendations from the Council for Dealing with the Consequences of Undemocratic Regimes, which state that exceptions exist to the general ban. The salute in question is part of the official coat of arms of the HOS. Therefore, its public use may be permitted at events paying tribute to fallen veterans who fought under those insignia.
The court also relied on a judgment by the High Misdemeanour Court from March 2025. In that case, which was almost identical, an acquittal for Skeja, the wartime commander of the Ninth Battalion of the HOS, was upheld. "Taking into account all the circumstances of the event, the court considers that this event also falls under the exception regarding the ban on public use of the salute Za dom spremni," the judge stated in her reasoning.
Miće Ćuk and Renato Hittel attended the announcement of the judgment, while Skeja did not attend. "We expected this. This was the only possible outcome. We hope we will no longer be reported after every commemoration in Knin," Ćuk said. He also called on the Minister of Veterans to support the use of the salute in exceptional circumstances.
Hittel assessed that earlier convicting judgments, as he put it, had been handed down "under certain political pressure" and expressed hope that such proceedings would not occur in the future.
