Bio

Ivan Korade was born on 17 December 1963 in Velika Veternička. That village is in the Novi Golubovec municipality, near Zlatar in the Hrvatsko Zagorje region of Croatia. Before the wars, he worked as a central heating installer.

His military career began in 1991 when he volunteered for a special operations police unit. After the Croatian National Guard was formed, he joined the 1st Guards Brigade, known as "The Tigers." He became a battalion commander in 1992.

In 1992 he was badly injured in Dubrovnik and lost his left arm. He returned to action after about two weeks of recovery. In 1993 he became the first commander of the newly formed 7th Guards Brigade, called the "Pumas."

His brigade was the first to enter Knin on 5 August 1995, and Korade raised the Croatian flag at the Knin Fortress. He returned to fight in Bosnia in September 1995. He retired in 1997 after causing brawls during football matches at the club "Bojovnik 7."

Murder Story

On 1 April 2008, Ivan Korade was charged with the 27 March murders of four people in his native village, Velika Veternička. The victims included a 16-year-old boy, a 62-year-old female relative, and two men, one of whom was his former aide Davor Petriš. Croatian media reported that one victim was shot in the eyes and another was stabbed.

He went missing after the killings. Hundreds of police officers and several helicopters searched the village and the surrounding area. The manhunt lasted eight days. At first, police detained him as a person who could help in resolving the case. A few days later, officers found Korade’s vehicle near a forest and began searching there. Police later saw a person who fit Korade’s description with a thermal camera but did not manage to arrest him.

On 3 April 2008, police found a broken window and a bottle of alcohol at a house and moved to investigate. Rifle gunfire started from the house and one police officer was wounded. He died on the way to the hospital. Police surrounded the house, used tear gas, and then entered. Korade was found dead inside the house. He had been hiding there. Surrounded with bombs and other weapons, Korade apparently committed suicide, although local media claimed he had been killed by police.

Korade was buried at Petrova Gora, and many of his comrades attended the funeral. Some locals of Veternička wanted him buried elsewhere. The policeman who died, Mario Kusanić, was posthumously decorated with the Order of Petar Zrinski and Fran Krsto Frankopan. By committing suicide, Korade avoided being tried for alleged war crimes during Operation Mistral 2 in Glamoč, Bosnia and Herzegovina. By decree of President Stjepan Mesić, all Korade’s decorations except the Order of the Croatian Cross were posthumously revoked.