and thirty other journalists fled to Austria on 6 May 1945. While in the refugee camp, Mortigjija accepted a job to organize social activities, events, and lectures on Croatian history. He organized a committee of the Initiative-Croat refugees in Carinthia. He began publishing a newspaper on 1 March 1946 that would become the voice of Croatian refugees in Austria. Trial and death At the request of authorities of the new Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, the British occupation forces in Austria delivered Mortigjija into Yugoslavia on 2 September 1946. Mortigjija was investigated and put on trial in Zagreb. He was found guilty and was sentenced to "death by firing squad and the loss of all civil rights". The Supreme Court upheld the conviction on 8 September 1947. He was executed on 23 October 1947 in the area of Samobor. Later retrial In the late 1990s Tias Mortigjija's son, Mato Mortigjija, petitioned the courts for a new trial for his father. Mato Mortigjija's lawyer, Antun Mihočević, argued a long trial at the County Court in Zagreb. On 18 February 2003 a three judge panel acquitted Tias Mortigjija. "In his writings", noted panel, "Mortigjija did not personally exhibit positive totalitarian elements, and in any case did not approve abuse and intimidation..." Mortigjija's case is seen as a test case. In 1945, over 40 journalists were executed and 47 were banned from public work. Similar retrials for some of these journalists are expected. The verdict provoked a divided reaction by the public. Croatian daily newspaper Vjesnik published editorials that denounced the work of Nazi sympathizers such as Mortigjija. Other editorials claimed that the criticism was based on prejudice against the Ustaše movement. The verdict was greeted in some emigrant circles as a rare example of correcting injustice committed during by the communist Yugoslavian government. For example, President of the Association of Croatian Emigrants wrote to former Prime Minister of Croatia Ivo Sanader asking that Mortigjija's case be used as an example for other cases. Bibliography Tias Mortigjija: Dinko Tomašić u pravom svijetlu, Odbor hrvatskih pravnika, Zagreb 1937. Tias Mortigjija: Moj životopis (Priredio Trpimir Macan), Nakladni zavod Matice Hrvatske, Zagreb 1996. References 1913 births 1947 deaths People of the Independent State of Croatia Croatian collaborators with Nazi Germany Executed Yugoslav collaborators with Nazi Germany Executed Croatian people Ustaše Croatian journalists Executed writers People from Dubrovnik Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb