Draza Mihailovic Rehabilitated

BELGRADE – The High Court in Belgrade on Thursday rehabilitated General Dragoljub Draza Mihailovic, the commander of the WWII-era Yugoslav Royal Army in the Fatherland, restoring his civil rights, which he was stripped of in a politically and ideologically motivated trial staged by the communist regime in 1946.

Judge Aleksandar Tresnjev said that the court granted the rehabilitation request, annulling a ruling of July 15th, 1946, whereby Mihailovic was sentenced to death and shot by firing squad two days later.

The court established that the controversial ruling was made in an illegitimate trial for political and ideological reasons, and, under the law on rehabilitation, the decision cannot be appealed.

The announcement of the ruling was attended by many media professionals and the audience included Crown Prince Aleksandar Karadjordjevic, Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj, members of the Ravna Gora movement, Obraz, Women in Black and individuals wearing folk costumes and Chetnik symbols.

The first request to rehabilitate Mihailovic was filed in 2006 by his grandson Vojislav Mihailovic, who was later joined by several associations and parties.