Marko Hranilović was the secretary of the separatist Croatian Rights Youth  in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia

Kingdom of Yugoslavia

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...

. He is most famous for being part of an alleged show trial against several Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

n nationalists in 1931.

Hranilović was implicated in the trial after the arrest of Stjepan Javor on October 31, 1929. Javor was the head of the HPO, and through his torture Yugoslav authorities were able to implicate several others. The HPO was accused of being a terrorist organization, while Hranilović was accused of the murder of journalist Toni Schlegel.

During the course of the trial, the HPO was accused of associating with the nationalist exiles Ante Pavelić

Ante Pavelic

Ante Pavelić was a Croatian fascist leader, revolutionary, and politician. He ruled as Poglavnik or head, of the Independent State of Croatia , a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany in Axis-occupied Yugoslavia...

 and Gustav Perčec. Hranilović vehemently denied any contact with these figures, and proved to be one of the most combative in court. He pleaded not guilty to all charges. He sparred with the court several times, including one instance where he called himself a "citizen of imprisoned Croatia".

Vladko Maček

Vladko Macek

Vladko Maček was a Croatian politician active within the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the first half of the 20th century. He led the Croatian Peasant Party following the assassination of Stjepan Radić, and all through World War II.- Early life :Maček was born to a Slovene-Czech family in the village...

 and Mile Budak

Mile Budak

Mile Budak was a Croatian Ustaše and writer, best known as one of the chief ideologists of the Croatian clerofascist Ustaše movement, which ruled the Independent State of Croatia, or NDH, from 1941-45 and waged a genocidal campaign against its Serb, Roma and Jewish minorities, and against Croatian...

, two prominent Croatian figures, served as attorneys for the defence. Maček, as leader of the Croatian Peasant Party

Croatian Peasant Party

The Croatian Peasant Party is a center and socially conservative political party in Croatia.-Austria-Hungary:The Croatian People's Peasant Party was formed on December 22, 1904 by Antun Radić along with his brother Stjepan Radić. The party contested elections for the first time in the Kingdom of...

, was essentially the leader of the Croats

Croats

Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...

 within the kingdom at this time.

Despite the defence's best efforts, Hranilović was sentenced to death. He was hanged along with Matija Soldin on September 25, 1931. His closing statement to the court read:

"I do not recognize before this court the actions for which I'm accused, since I didn't commit them, and even had I committed them, I would have been right to do so for my Croatia and for her liberation. The struggle for the liberation of Croatia which the national representatives conduct abroad, seeks victims, and if I am to be one I gladly contribute my martyrdom to her, for my people, because I sprang from them and nothing is too hard for me, and I am ready for all sufferings and humiliations."