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Croatian police. Photo: EPA-EFE/ALEX HALADA.

Chinese citizen Sze Yat Lung, who is currently living in Croatia, was arrested on Monday after a video was posted on social networks showing him singing Croatian ultranationalist songs in a cafe in Imotski, where he was watching the finals of the European Handball Championship between Croatia and Spain.

Croatian media reported that the video was posted online on Sunday but has since been removed. The man allegedly glorified the WWII fascist Ustasa movement.

“Police received reports last night that inappropriate content was being sung at a catering facility in Imotski,” a spokesperson for police in the city of Split told media.

The spokesperson did not name the man but said that he was a “foreign national who was singing songs with unacceptable messages and with content that provokes hatred and intolerance”.

Police said that the man was brought to a police station on Monday morning, that he committed a public order misdemeanour and will be brought before the Makarska Municipal Court after a criminal investigation.

Forty-four-year-old Sze Yat Lung is already known to the Croatian public. Last February, he appeared in court after being charged with a public order offence for shouting “Za dom spremni” (“Ready for the Homeland”), a Ustasa slogan, in Imotski.

Slobodna Dalmacija newspaper reported at the time that Sze Yat Lung, who comes from Hong Kong, was living in Imotski with his 16-year-old friend Niko Chang. Chang reportedly shares his friend’s fascination with the Ustasa movement and has the ‘Za dom spremni’ slogan tattooed on his arm.

HONG KONG NA NOGAMA Imotski ‘Kinez ustaša’ na prosvjedu protiv Kine: Ima nas pola milijuna, spremni smo na sve…Vaša akcija “Oluja” nam je inspiracija… – https://t.co/qqAtX5tdXq pic.twitter.com/Gmn3tz1PKJ — Braniteljski portal (@branitelji) June 22, 2019

When a journalist asked Sze Yat Lung why he adores the Ustasa, he responded: “Because I admire how a small country can be so brave. World War II, they wanted independence. It’s a dream of Hong Kong people. We hate China. We hate China like Serbia. And we want independence.”

However, he insisted that he is not a racist.

“I don’t hate people for their skin colour or religion. I’m a right-winger. I say it proudly, right-winger,” he told Slobodna Dalmacija.

Article 325 of the Croatian criminal code says that people who “call for hatred or violence to be directed against groups… because of their racial, religious, national or ethnic affiliation” can be punished with a three-year prison sentence, while organisers of groups that spread hate can face up to six years in prison.

Article 325 also says that people who “publicly approve of, deny or significantly belittle criminal acts of genocide, acts of aggression, crimes against humanity or war crimes” can face up to three years in prison.

However, very few people who chant ‘Za dom spremni’ or display Ustasa insignia are prosecuted according to Article 325. Instead they are usually charged under misdemeanour legislation and fined.

The legacy of the Ustasa movement and its WWII-era Nazi puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia, has continued to be highly controversial in Croatian society. The use of the ‘Za dom spremni’ slogan by right-wingers has also provoked heated political debate.

Croatia’s government-appointed Council for Dealing with Consequences of the Rule of Non-Democratic Regimes said in February 2018 that the authorities should allow ‘Za dom spremni’ to be used as a salute “in exceptional situations” under strict conditions, such as by Croatian Defence Forces veterans of the 1990s war.