Nationalist or pirate? Croatia charges tourist for flying skull and crossbones

Last week police accused a holidaymaker on the Croatian island of Vir of flying a Serb nationalist Chetnik flag – he claimed, however, that it was actually a pirate flag.

The locals who reported the tourist believed his flag resembled the one flown by Serb paramilitaries when they entered the Croatian town of Vukovar during the war in 1991.

The police charged the man, who has not been named and is both a Swiss and Croatian citizen, for displaying “inappropriate symbols” on 5 August – the anniversary of Operation Storm, a victory for the Croatian army against Serb forces in 1995.

“It is not a Chetnik flag, it is a flag from Pirates of the Caribbean,” the accused man told the Slobodna Dalmacija newspaper, claiming that he had only used it to please his son.

“My son who came here on holiday from Switzerland is a huge fan of Johnny Depp and his Caribbean pirates from the film… so I wanted to delight him more with his favourite topic,” he added.

According to reports, the tourist alleged that the flag had been flying since the beginning of July, and that local people had only taken issue on the Operation Storm anniversary.

Source: Balkan Insight