Busic’s hijacking was only one of a string of Croat terrorist acts in the US, Europe & Australia in the 1970’s & 80s:
Two Croatian terrorists released six hostages in Chicago Aug. 17 and surrendered to authorities 10 hours after seizing the West German Consulate in the city. [See 1977, p. 642A2]
The two Croatians had demanded the release of Stefan Bilandzic from a West German prison. Bilandzic, a leading Croatian nationalist, was serving a life sentence in West Germany for attempting to assassinate the Yugoslavian consul general in Dusseldorf.
(Croatian nationalists were fighting Yugoslavia to gain independence for their region. Croatia was currently one of the six republices that formed Yugoslavia.)
The siege in Chicago began in the morning of Aug. 17 when the two terrorists, described as Croatians from the Chicago area, entered the building on South Michigan Ave. where the consulate was located. They demanded to talk to the consul general, who was not in the building, and then pulled out pistols. One of the men also claimed to have a bomb in his briefcase. Eight persons in the office were taken hostage.
The building was surrounded by police, who started negotiations with the Croatians. One of the terrorists’ first demands was to speak to Bilandzic in West Germany. They said they wanted to block his possible extradition to Yugoslavia because they feared he would be killed by Yugoslavian authorities. They threatened to explode the bomb they carried if their demands were not met.
Two of the hostages were released early in the siege, including the daughter of the consul general.
A court ruling in West Germany earlier in the week, opening the way for Bilandzic’s extradition to Yugoslavia, apparently provoked the Coatian’s seizure of the Chicago consulate. The Yugoslavs had demanded Bilandzic’s extradition and that of seven other Croatians held in West Germany in return for the extradition of four West German terrorists held in Yugoslavia. [See p. 438E3]
Police in Chicago and West Germany credited Ivan Bilandzic, brother of the imprisoned nationalist, for bringing about the surrender of the two Croatians. Bilandzic entered the consulate and spoke with the two men for 90 minutes before their surrender.
In other events connected with Croatian nationalism:
* More than 200 Croatian exiles demonstrated in Cologne Aug. 13 to protest a West German high court ruling that permitted the extradition of Stefan Bilandzic.
* Croatian terrorists planted two bombs in New York City Aug. 14 and demanded the release of Stefan Bilandzic from West German custody. Neither of the two bombs exploded. One was found on a window ledge in a United Nations building and the other in a locker at Grand Central Station.
Notes found with the bombs denounced “the terroristic ways of Yugoslavia dictatorship and its genocide of Croatians.” Police said the bombs were large and well-made.
* An armed group of 19 Croatians was arrested by Australian police in a remote camp about 250 miles south of Sydney, it was reported Sept. 5. The Croatians had weapons, maps of their homeland and instructions on planting land mines.
The West German government announced Sept. 13 that it would refuse a Yugoslavian request for the extradition of three Croatians wanted in Yugoslaiva for terrorism. The three were among the eight Croatians sought by the Yugoslavian government in exchange for the four West German terrorists captured in Yugoslavia.
The West Germany decision was expected to make the Yugoslavs less likely to return the West German terrorists.
A West German court decided that there was insufficient evidence to justify the extradition of two of the wanted Croatians. The third Croatian, Stefan Bilandzic, was still under investigation by West German police, and therefore could not be returned.
Okay.