Zagreb - Croatia gave a hero's welcome to "independence fighter" Zvonko Busic, who returned home after serving 32 years in a US prison for a 1976 plane hijacking and a bombing that killed a New York policeman. Some 500 people with banners and flags sang songs as they greeted Busic at the airport in Zagreb, the Croatian capital.
"This is the happiest day of my life. If each of you could feel one per cent of the joy I feel, Croats would be the happiest nation in the world," he said after arriving in Croatia on Thursday night.
Busic, 62, was greeted by rock singer and Croatian ultra- nationalist icon Marko Perkovic, aka Thompson, and the crowd broke into songs associated with the Ustasha, Croatia's Nazi puppet government during World War II.
"Please behave, don't act like a mob. Don't let me be ashamed of you," Busic said.
Busic was granted parole last week on a life sentence.
In the fall of 1976, Busic and a group of compatriots hijacked a US airliner to promote the independence for Croatia, then part of communist Yugoslavia.
Busic and the crew had only fake explosives strapped to their bodies, but they left a bomb at New York's Grand Central train station.
Busic surrendered to police in Paris after the plane landed, but the bomb in New York exploded while police were trying to disarm it. Yugoslavia extradited Busic to the United States for trial.
Croatia proclaimed independence in 1991, helping cause Yugoslavia's bloody breakup.
The Croatian daily Jutarnji List warned ecstatic Croats that Busic is not "an ideal man," but a terrorist.
"Because of his past, Busic should spend the rest of his life privately, out of any political or public context," commentator Davor Butkovic said in Friday's edition.
Apart from three former politicians who greeted Busic upon his arrival, Croatian officials didn't comment on his return.
Busis planned to visit his hometown of Imotski, near the Adriatic port city of Split, whose citizens were organizing a celebration.
