Ivan Korade

Ivan Korade (17 December 1963 – 3 April 2008) was a Croatian Army general best known for his role in the Croatian War of Independence. Korade's long history of violent behaviour resulted in forced retirement in 1997 and culminated in a 2008 shooting spree in which he murdered five people before committing suicide.

Early life and military career Ivan Korade was born in 1963 in Velika Veternička, a village in Novi Golubovec municipality, near Zlatar, Hrvatsko Zagorje. Before the start of the Yugoslav 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 ("The Tigers") and became a battalion commander in 1992. He was badly injured in Dubrovnik in 1992, losing his left arm, but returned to action after only two weeks of recovery, and became the first commander of the newly formed 7th Guards Brigade ("Pumas") in 1993. His brigade was the first to enter Knin on 5 August 1995, and Korade raised the Croatian flag at the Knin Fortress. In 2001, he was convicted of violent behaviour and maltreatment of a man six years earlier, and Korade received a suspended eight-month sentence. Croatian authorities were criticised for allowing these incidents to occur. Croatian media reported that one of the victims was shot in the eyes and another was stabbed with a knife. He went missing after the killings and hundreds of police officers, backed by several helicopters, searched for him in the village and the surrounding area. The locals of Veternička publicly expressed a desire for him to be buried elsewhere. Mario Kusanić, the policeman fatally shot by Korade, was posthumously decorated with the Order of Petar Zrinski and Fran Krsto Frankopan.

By committing suicide, Korade escaped being tried for war crimes during Operation Mistral 2 in Glamoč, Bosnia and Herzegovina (1995), where he commanded over the "Pumas".

By decree of President Stjepan Mesić, all Korade's decorations - except for the Order of the Croatian Cross, a wound medal - were posthumously revoked.