Miro Barešić

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Miro Baresic
Alternate name(s):	Toni Saric, Tony Favik
Date of birth:	September 10, 1950
Place of birth:	Sibenik, Croatia
Date of death:	July 31, 1991
Place of death:	Croatia
Movement:	Croatian nationalism
Major organizations:	Croatian National Resistance^[1]

Miro Barešić was a Croatian nationalist militant convicted for the murder of the Yugoslavian ambassador to Sweden in 1971 and later released as a demand made in the hijacking of Scandinavian Airlines domestic flight.^[2]^[3]

1 Early Life

[edit] Early Life

Miro Barešić was born on September 10, 1950 in Sibenik, Croatia (then part of communist Yugoslavia). In 1968, as was required by any 18 year old, Barešić was called to attend military service. However, due to his political beliefs that the Croatian nation was deprived of any human rights, and that many of his relatives were killed by the communists, he refused the military service. As a result, he was convicted and forced to serve 6 months in the infamous Goli Otok prison, known as the "Alcatraz of Europe". In 1969, after the completion of his sentence, he escaped Yugoslavia to Italy where he was linked with members of the Croatian National Resistance movement, whom assisted him through Germany and ultimately Sweden.

[edit] History

Baresic and another Croatian militant were convicted in 1971 for the murder of the Yugoslavian ambassador to Sweden, Vladimir Rolovic, the former head of the Yugloslav Secret Police, UDBA. They began serving their sentences at a Swedish high security prison, but were released the following year as part of demand made by the hijackers of a domestic airline at Sweden's Bulltofta airport.

The hijackers managed to get the Swedish authorities to refuel the airplane and flew to Madrid. They surrendered themselves to the Spanish authorities once it was confirmed that Barešić was released from the Swedish prison and flown to Spain. The hijackers served a short prison senetence and Barešić was later acquitted of any involvement in the hijacking and was released from Spanish custody after 19 months. During these 19 months, the Swedish authorities made no request to Spain for his extradition, despite the two countries having an extradition treaty with one another. After his release, the Spanish and Paraguayan governments agreed that Barešić's life was in danger by the UDBA and arranged for Barešić to to fly to Paraguay, where he was given a new identity, Toni Sarić.

[edit] Life in Paraguay

His new identity in Paraguay was Toni Saric. Under that name he joined the Paraguay armed forces and rose to become a captain. Baresic was a close combat trainer and a professional karate athlete. He was later employed by the Paraguayan foreign service as the bodyguard for the Paraguayan ambassador to the USA in Washington D.C.

Sources are conflicted as to how his real identity was discovered. Some say that Barešić was part of an extortion ring that targeted Yugoslav immigrants; others say that he demanded that a Croation flag should be raised during the medal ceremonay of a karate competition that he had won.^{[citation needed]}

After his identity was discovered he was convicted by the American authorities for several offences and deported to Sweden to serve the remainder of his life sentence there. Barešić was released in 1988 and returned to Paraguay.

[edit] Death

When the civil war started in Yugoslavia in 1991, Barešić returned to Croatia from Paraguay. He was killed in fighting with Serb forces in July the same year, aged 40.