Remains of Vukovar hero Jean-Michel Nicolier found near Ovčara

Jean-Michel Nicolier (Photo credit: Fair Use)

A new mass grave has been discovered just a hundred metres from the infamous hangar at Ovčara, near Vukovar, revealing the remains of three men.

Minister of Croatian Veterans, Tomo Medved, has confirmed at a press conference this morning that one set of remains belong to Jean-Michel Nicolier, the French volunteer who fought and died for Croatia during the Homeland War.

– We found the remains, we exhumed three on September 25th at Ovčara, and one on Petrovačka dola. The three at Ovčara were taken from the hospital and all of them were found to have died violently.

We identified Josip Batorelo, killed at Ovčara at the age of 44, Zorislav Gašpar, a member of the 204th Vukovar Brigade, taken from the hospital on November 20th, 1991, killed at the age of 20, and Jean Michel Nicolier, born in 1966, a volunteer of the Croatian Army of Defense, came from France to defend Croatia from the Greater Serbian aggression.

He was wounded on September 8th, 1991, taken to Ovčara, tortured and killed at the age of 25 – said Medved.

We have also identified Croatian defender Dragutin Štit, his remains were exhumed in Petrovačka dola, he added.

Nicolier’s mother, Lyliane Fournier, and his brother, Paul Nicolier, travelled from France to be present today in Vukovar.

Nicolier, born in 1966, became a symbol of international solidarity during the Croatian War of Independence.

Moved by television images of the conflict, he left his home in France in July 1991 to join the Croatian Defence Forces. “I want to help these people, they need me,” he told his mother before leaving. “I have to go, but I’ll be back. You know I’m wild grass that never goes away.”

After arriving alone in Zagreb, Nicolier was sent to the front lines along the Kupa River before joining the defenders of Vukovar.

He fought bravely in the Sajmište district, one of the city’s bloodiest battlegrounds, where he was wounded on 9 November. Unable to leave, he was taken to the Vukovar hospital, later captured by JNA and paramilitary forces.

Together with wounded soldiers, hospital staff, and civilians, Nicolier was taken to the Ovčara farm and was executed on the night of November 20-21, 1991.

Jean-Michel Nicolier Bridge (Photo: Sokac121/ CC BY-SA 4.0)

Jean-Michel Nicolier was posthumously honoured with the Memorial Plaque “Vukovar 1991” and the Order of Nikola Šubić Zrinski for his heroism.

In 2013, citizens of Vukovar voted to name a new bridge across the Vuka River in his honour, the Jean-Michel Nicolier Bridge.

Bust of Jean-Michel Nicolier in Vukovar (Photo: Sokac121/ CC BY-SA 4.0)