Croatian Chief State Attorney Ivan Turudic said before the burial service that the investigation into the murder, suspended in 2019 due to Serbia’s lack of cooperation, had now been taken over by the French authorities.

“We issued a decision to conduct an investigation into the murder of Jean-Michel Nicolier in April 2018. We sent a letter of request to Serbia to question Spasoje Petkovic, nicknamed Stuka, but this was not complied with,” Turudic recalled, adding the preliminary proceedings had collected a statement in which Petkovic admitted killing Nicolier.

“However, our request was not complied with by the Serbian side, as has been the case with a number of other similar requests,” said Turudic, adding that as this crime falls under the principle of universal jurisdiction, France can prosecute him, because Nicolier was a French citizen.

The French ambassador to Zagreb, Fabien Fieschi, recalled that the victim’s family had initiated proceedings in France, and that a judge has begun the process of cooperation with the judicial authorities in Croatia and Serbia.

“French police investigators were in Croatia in September, where they cooperated with Croatian authorities to obtain all the necessary elements for the investigation,” Fieschi said.

Asked about cooperation with the Serbian authorities, the ambassador said the French court had sent several requests for cooperation to Serbia, but he could not comment further.

“Jean-Michel Nicolier will have a dignified burial in the city where he chose to stay until the end, alongside the other defenders. His family will finally have a place to grieve,” Fieschi told BIRN, adding that while Nicolier had died fighting for Croatia, he was French – and “France does not forget its children”.

Among those attending the funeral were two Croatian ministers, Ivan Anusic and David Vlajcic, Vukovar Mayor Marijan Pavlicek, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ivan Penava, football coach Zlatko Dalic, former athletes Dubravko Simenc and Franjo Arapovic and the nationalist singer, Marko Perkovic Thompson.

The police have not estimated the total number of people at the funeral, but one of the police officers in charge of ensuring everything went smoothly said it was in the thousands.

“I don’t know exactly how many, but there must be over five thousand people here, maybe more, I would estimate, based on my experience with public gatherings,” the policemen told BIRN.

The thousand or so cars, motorcycles, vans and buses outside the cemetery confirmed his estimate.