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Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2005 5:26 PM
Subject: Fwd: 200 Serb civilians killed by Croat forces in 1991
(DPA) In a message dated 8/17/2005 10:59:27 AM Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
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Copyright 2005 Deutsche Presse-Agentur Deutsche Presse-AgenturAugust 10, 2005, Wednesday 14:33:38 Central European Time 200 Serb civilians killed by Croat forces in 1991 Zagreb At least 200 ethnic Serb civilians were murdered by Croatian forces in 1991, the first year of Croatian-Serbian war, Croatia's Globus weekly said in its Wednesday edition. Murders of civilians took place shortly after the beginning of the war which broke out after Croatia declared its independence from the former Yugoslavia. The country's Serb minority was opposed to independence and organized an armed rebellion in which it seized one third of Croatia's territory, which it held onto for four years until the summer of 1995. Globus, Croatia's most influential weekly, said the 200 Serbs murdered by Croat troops had lived in the territory still under Croatian government control. Most of them were not involved in the rebellion. The figures are believed to be much higher than the 200 victims mentioned in Wednesday's article, Globus warned. In compiling the article, Globus researchers spoke with human rights organizations, survivors of the atrocities, members of the victims' families, non-governmental organizations and others. "They stayed in their homes, convinced that nothing bad would happen to them as loyal citizens of Croatia. Some of them paid for that decision with their lives," the report said. In Gospic, at least 50 Serb civilians were believed to have been kidnapped from their homes and executed by Croatian armed forces. Because of this, in 2003 Mirko Norac became the first and so far the only Croatian army general to be sentenced for war crimes. He is currently serving a 12-year jail sentence. Two other lower-ranking soldiers were sentenced as well. The Globus survey comes after a witnesses recently accused Branimir Glavas, until recently an important political ally of Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, of ordering the execution and torture of Serb civilians during the 1990s. According to witnesses, Glavas told his men to kill at least two Serbs in the eastern town of Osijek in 1991. The Croatian Chief State Prosecutor's office is currently conducting an investigation into war crimes committed in Osijek, but so far no arrests have been made nor any indictment for war crimes issued. Glavas, a right-wing nationalist whom Sanader expelled from his Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party some four months ago, has formed his own party and gained success in local elections in Osijek this May. Before they split, Sanader and Glavas were allies because Glavas had helped Sanader to become HDZ party boss three years ago. Glavas still plays an important role at the local political level in Osijek. He has been known as the political leader of eastern Croatia for years. Glavas denied any responsibility for war crimes, calling the witnesses "psychiatric patients". Prosecutions for war crimes were always difficult in Croatia. Many ordinary people believe that "our boys" could not have committed war crimes, and therefore should not be put on trial. Also, right-wing nationalists see nothing special in those war crimes. According to them, these things "happen in every war so why make a big deal out of it?". During last week's celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the "Operation Storm" offensive in which Zagreb regained its territory from Serbian insurgents, nationalists even booed Croatian President Stipe Mesic during his speech when he said that war crimes must be prosecuted. Observers say issue of war crimes and the need to face the dark side of the 1990s war is important for Croatia for two reasons: firstly justice needs to be done and murderers prosecuted; and secondly, by doing this Croatia will prove that it has really deserved to become a full member of the European Union. This March, the E.U. decided to put Croatia's accession talks on hold due to Zagreb's failure to arrest and extradite general Ante Gotovina, whom the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague charged with war crimes committed against the Serbs during Operation Storm. It is believed that up 700 civilians were killed during the operation. dpa im wjh LOAD-DATE: August 10, 2005
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