Ilija Stanić

Ilija Stanić (born 19 October 1945) is the person who is believed to have assassinated Vjekoslav Luburić, a Croatian Ustasha General responsible for war crimes in Jasenovac concentration camp during World War II.

Stanić was born in Čelebići near Konjic, Yugoslavia. His father was a Croatian Ustasha who fought against Yugoslavia. In 1951, Stanić’s father died in a military operation.

Stanić left Yugoslavia in 1966. He was believed to have been an agent of UDBA, the Yugoslav secret police. After living in France and Germany, he settled in Spain. He worked at General Vjekoslav Luburić’s press in Carcaixent until April 20, 1969. That day, Luburić was assassinated and Stanić escaped. Since then, the Interpol has searched for him, but never caught him.

In 2003, Valencian journalist, Francesc Bayarri found Ilija Stanić in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and interviewed him. Bayarri has published a book on the subject, entitled Cita a Sarajevo ([Meeting in Sarajevo]).^[1]

In 2009, the Globus newspaper as per Jutarnji list, a Zagreb newspaper, published an interview with Stanić where he claimed that he killed Luburić because Luburić abandoned Pavelić. At the time of the assassination, Stanić was not an agent of Yugoslav secret police.^[2]

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