Returning to home to his native Croatia fresh of his victory over Pat Barry at Saturday nights UFC 115 event, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovi? told a local news agency, Net.hr, that after arriving in Canada for his fight that Canadian customs threatened to deport him for possible “war crimes.”
Canada customs held Filipovi?’s for four hours wanting to know about his war time service during the Yugoslav Wars in the 90’s and whether or not he had been involved in any war crimes.
“The first day I was kept for four hours and two more the next day. Although they were not satisfied with my answers let me to sleep through the city, the hotel, and asked to think about the questions raised. I was threatened deportation, but rose to Croatian Embassy, the Consul urgently flown in from Ottawa, and the UFC hired the best lawyer for immigration issues. They obviously knew what would happen because my lawyer welcomed the runway at the airport, “retells the Croatian gladiator and discovered the unpleasant details of the conversation:
“Testing has been painful for me, but I must say that the Immigration Bureau officials very correctly perform their job. They used what they have to, but there are obviously very interested in the military and police matters from the former Yugoslavia. Most of them are interested in my military service that I served the 1993rd and 1994th time, as conscripts, but I was not involved in combat activities. They asked me if I was involved in the torture of civilians, asking for names of command lines and tactical commander. are asking for my activities in Port ATJ where I joined a few years after the war. They gave me a list of names to be confirmed, but I did it. No one not named because it is still a matter of dignity and principles. I said to myself, if this bid is ready to return home. They could do with me what they wanted, yet they’ll let me fight, “revealed the Vecernji Cro Cop.
The article was translated from Croatian to English using Google Translate.