Josip Jovià(21 November 1969 â 31 March 1991) was a Croatian policeman who was killed during the Plitvice Lakes incident. He is widely considered the first Croatian fatality of the Croatian War of Independence.
Joviàwas born on 21 November 1969 in the village of Arà ¾ano, near Imotski, to Filip and Marija JoviÃÂ. He was raised with four siblings, brother Tomislav and sisters Franka, Mirna and Anita. After completing his compulsory military service in a JNA Mechanised Infantry unit in Montenegro between 1987 and 1989, on 5 August 1990, Joviàjoined the Croatian Ministry of the Interior (MUP) Unit for Special Purposes in Zagreb. On 29 March 1991, the Plitvice Lakes management was expelled by rebel Krajina Serb police under the control of Milan MartiÃÂ, supported by paramilitary volunteers from Serbia proper under the command of Vojislav à  eà ¡elj. On Easter Sunday, 31 March 1991, Croatian police officers entered the national park to expel the Serb rebels. Serb paramilitaries ambushed a bus carrying Croatian police into the national park on the road north of Korenica, sparking a day-long gun battle between the two sides. Joviàwas struck by a burst of fire at the post-office building, penetrating his bulletproof vest. His colleague, Mladen PavkoviÃÂ, later described JoviÃÂ's last moments before he was transferred to the ambulance. When a Yugoslav People's Army helicopter landed to transfer him to hospital, Joviàwas already dead. He was buried with military honors at the cemetery in Arà ¾ano.
JoviÃÂ was posthumously promoted to the rank of major. He was awarded with the Order of Petar Zrinski and Fran Krsto Frankopan, Homeland War Memorial Medal, 1st Guards Brigade Memorial badge and Memorial Medal of the first killed Ministry of the Interior police officer during the Croatian War of Independence.
On 29 September 2011, the Croatian prime minister, Jadranka Kosor, opened the "Police Academy Josip JoviÃÂ" in JoviÃÂ's honour.