Ante Pavelic

Pavelić was seriously wounded by gunfire in Argentina in 1957. He subsequently left the country and took refuge in Francisco Franco's Spain, where he died in 1959 from his injuries.

State of the evidence

Well documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

When the Ustaše regime fell, Pavelić fled Zagreb, travelled through Austria and Italy and eventually reached South America. He settled in Argentina, avoiding a Yugoslav trial for the regime's crimes.

State of the evidence

Well documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Under Pavelić, the Ustaše regime pursued a policy of systematic violence against the Serbian population, combining massacres, expulsions, detention and forced conversions. Historical estimates refer to hundreds of thousands of Serbian victims of the regime.

State of the evidence

Well documented

Attribution

Command responsibility

Authorities of the Independent State of Croatia created and operated the Jasenovac complex, where Serbs, Jews, Roma, and Croatian and Muslim opponents were imprisoned, tortured and murdered on a mass scale.

State of the evidence

Well documented

Attribution

Command responsibility

Ustaše authorities racially persecuted Roma people, imprisoned them, notably at Jasenovac, and murdered tens of thousands. European and memorial institutions recognise this process as part of the Roma genocide.

State of the evidence

Well documented

Attribution

Command responsibility

The Ustaše regime imprisoned and murdered thousands of Jews in its own camps. In 1942 and 1943, Croatian authorities also handed over several thousand Jews to the Germans, who deported them, including to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

State of the evidence

Well documented

Attribution

Command responsibility

Following the Axis invasion and partition of Yugoslavia, the Independent State of Croatia was proclaimed and Pavelić became its Poglavnik. The new state was supported and militarily supervised by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

State of the evidence

Well documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

The Ustaše regime quickly adopted racial laws inspired by Nazi legislation, defining Jewish and Roma categories and removing legal and civic protections from those populations.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

The Ustaše and VMRO planned the Marseille attack in which King Alexander I of Yugoslavia was assassinated. Pavelić was considered one of the organisers and sentenced to death in absentia in France; Mussolini refused to extradite him.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

The Ustaše movement linked to Pavelić helped organise an armed attack against Yugoslav authorities in the Velebit/Lika region. The action was quickly suppressed but marked an important escalation in the movement's terrorism.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

After the establishment of the Yugoslav royal dictatorship, Pavelić left the country, developed ties with the Macedonian VMRO and signed a declaration of cooperation aimed at dismantling Yugoslavia. Yugoslav authorities sentenced him to death in absentia.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated