As Croatia marks the 30th anniversary of Operation Storm, a key military victory in the Homeland War, powerful stories of sacrifice and suffering continue to emerge. One such story is that of Stjepan Komes, a Croatian civilian brutally murdered for shaking hands with President Tuđman.
Remembering the hidden tragedies behind Operation Storm
In these days when we proudly celebrate the 30th anniversary of the victorious Operation Storm, through which Croatia liberated its occupied territories, we must also remember some of the incredible stories of suffering endured by the Croatian people during that time.
One such story was recently brought back into the spotlight by RTL, who published an interview with Tomislav Komes, the husband of Magdalena Komes, who has been elected mayor of Petrinja for the second consecutive term.
A handshake that cost a life
The story begins on 25 August 1991, when Croatia’s first president, Franjo Tuđman, visited Petrinja to assess the situation on the ground, as tensions had already begun to rise. He met with a group of locals, shared a coffee with them, and shook their hands.
Two weeks later, Petrinja fell. Within the grounds of the “Gavrilović” factory, Serbian forces assembled captured Croats, including Tomislav’s father, Stjepan Komes. At that point, Jugoslav Vidić, a member of Serbian paramilitary forces, singled out Stjepan from the group and, using a sharp metal object, severed his arm at the elbow.
The reason? Because he had shaken hands with Tuđman. Stjepan bled to death shortly after. After Operation Storm, his body was found in a mass grave.
A relentless pursuit for justice
Following liberation, the County Court in Sisak issued an indictment and a warrant for Jugoslav, but he remained elusive for years. A trial in absentia was held, resulting in a 20-year prison sentence.
Tomislav could not accept this as the end. He began his own search for his father’s killer in the hope of finding peace. The search took time, but at one point, through Google, he located a person with the same name and surname.
“The search engine listed his name as the owner of a butcher’s shop in the American state of Ohio. At first, I thought—no, that can’t be him. But then things began to add up. He had been a butcher at Gavrilović, now he’s working as a butcher in America. It could be him,” said Tomislav.
The investigation reaches the United States
At that point, the Croatian diaspora became very involved, and soon after, the American FBI, in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security, launched an investigation against him. It turned out it was indeed the same person.
Croatian authorities immediately began the process of extradition, but first, the man was prosecuted by the Americans for providing false information to the immigration office. He is currently serving a three-year prison sentence for that offence, which ends next year, in 2026.
Tomislav hopes that once that sentence is completed, the process of his extradition to Croatia will be initiated, so he can stand trial again for the murder of Tomislav’s father. Although he has waited too long for justice, Tomislav still hopes it will finally be served, as Croatia’s request for extradition remains active.
The importance of remembering
His wife Magdalena, the mayor of Petrinja, reminded RTL that Petrinja, after Vukovar, has the highest number of victims from the Homeland War.
“It’s incomprehensible that people who had just yesterday been sitting with you, eating, drinking, were godparents, even family members, friends you shared food and a home with—could have inflicted such beastly cruelty on Croats in ’91,” she said.
In these times when we proudly celebrate Operation Storm, we must also remember such stories, for they perhaps best reflect the true value of Croatia’s hard-fought independence and freedom—achieved in no small part thanks to that magnificent military operation.
