Mandić's chief of staff is in Croatia instead of him, NSD says he visited Western Slavonia

The New Serbian Democracy (NSD) announced today that the Chief of Staff of the President of the Parliament of Montenegro, Andrija Mandić, and the spokesperson for the NSD, Marko Miličić, visited Western Slavonia at the invitation of the Bishop of Pakrac-Slavonia Jovan (Ćulibrko), and that he participated in liturgical gatherings on the occasion of the feast of the Holy New Martyrs of Jasenovac.

The NSD announced on their Facebook profile that Miličić, together with the former president of the Budva Municipal Assembly (SO), Đorđe Vujović, laid a wreath on Mandić's behalf at the monument to the Holy New Martyrs of Jasenovac, and presented the host - Bishop Jovan (Ćulibrko) of Pakrac and Slavonia - with a gift from the president of the parliament - the icon of Saint Basil the Wonderworker of Ostrog, which will in the future adorn the Cathedral Church in Pakrac.

"The main assembly was held in Pakrac, on Sunday, September 7, where His Holiness the Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, together with a large number of bishops and the believing people, consecrated the renovated Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, which healed the great wound of that city. Previously, on Saturday, the Holy Bishop's Liturgy was held in the Jasenovac Monastery, after which the memorial bust of Dijana Budisavljević was consecrated. The believing people, together with the bishops and priests, then went to the memorial mound of the Jasenovac complex, where the Slava cake and grain were consecrated. From that place, a message was sent that, although persecuted throughout history, the Serbian people are once again resurrecting with the Gospel, both elsewhere and in the area of ​​Western Slavonia, and that our people need peace and harmony most today," the NSD said.

The party headed by Mandić also stated that during the two-day meeting, Miličić had a brief meeting with representatives of the Serbian National Council in Croatia and other associations dealing with the status of the Serbian people in the Republic of Croatia.

Pakrac is a city in Croatia, in Požega-Slavonia County.

Western Slavonia is a geographical term and does not officially exist as a region in Croatia because the country is divided into counties.

Although not administrative units, Croatia is often divided into regions in geographical and cultural-historical terms: Slavonia (eastern part of the country), Central Croatia (Podravina, Moslavina, Banija, etc.), Croatian Littoral and Istria, Dalmatia (southern part by the sea), Lika and Gorski Kotar (mountainous part). These regions are used in tourism, economic analyses and cultural contexts, but have no legal or administrative role.

The Serbian Autonomous Region (SAO) of Western Slavonia was a self-proclaimed SAO within Croatia, and was established on 12 August 1991. Shortly after its self-proclaimed status, it was annexed to the Republic of Serbian Krajina (an internationally unrecognized parastate within Croatia), and was reintegrated into Croatia in May 1995 in Operation Flash.

On 25 July 2024, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia, in a note sent to the Embassy of Montenegro in Zagreb, informed Montenegro that Croatia had declared Mandić, Milan Knežević, a member of the Parliament of Montenegro, and Aleksa Bečić, Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro, undesirable in Croatia due to their systematic actions to undermine good neighborly relations with Croatia and their continued abuse of Croatia for domestic political purposes, thus alluding to the decision of the Parliament of Montenegro to adopt the Resolution on the Genocide in Jasenovac and the Dachau and Mauthausen camps at the end of June 2024.