Stupni Do massacre
Stupni Do massacre | |
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Location | Stupni Do, Bosnia and Herzegovina |
Coordinates | 44°07′30″N 18°19′25″E / 44.12500°N 18.32361°E |
Date | 23 October 1993 (Central European Time) |
Target | Bosniaks |
Attack type | Mass Killing |
Deaths | 37[1] |
Perpetrators | Croatian Defence Council (HVO) |
The Stupni Do massacre was a massacre committed by
Background
In April 1993, the
In conclusion, and as was pointed out by Captain Lanthier, an officer with the
June 1993 ultimatum
In June 1993, the Vareš HVO issued an
. The Daštansko villagers surrendered their weapons. In Stupni Do, before the expiration of the ultimatum, most of the villagers, fearing an attack, took refuge in neighbouring villages but returned home after several days. Knowing that theOctober 1993 attack
By October 1993 the Croat forces were isolated and found their freedom of movement increasingly limited. The Central Bosnian leadership of Croats was concerned about Vareš, which it feared might be handed over in the international
Units
On 21 October 1993, while Ivica Rajić and
The HVO units under Ivica Rajić command, including the Maturice and Ban Josip Jelačić Brigade, had participated in earlier operations against Bosnian Muslims villages in Kiseljak municipality and committed crimes against Bosnian Muslims, including murder, rape, destruction of property, arbitrary arrest and physical assault. Ivica Rajić knew, for example, that commanders and members of Maturice, including Miroslav Anić a.k.a. Firga, mutilated Bosnian Muslims and hung their heads in the "open market" in Kiseljak town. During the same time, Dominik Iljašević a.k.a. Como drove around Kiseljak with a cut off Muslim ear attached to the antenna of his car.[6]
Orders
On 23 October 1993, the head of the HVO Main Staff, Slobodan Praljak, ordered Ivica Rajić and others to "sort out the situation in Vareš showing no mercy towards anyone. Find people who are up to both the times and the tasks." Slobodan Praljak's order was known by local HVO commanders and soldiers and further escalated the highly charged and aggressive attitude against Bosnian Muslims in the Vareš area.[7]
Ivica Rajić ordered HVO forces including the Kakanj soldiers (who had demonstrated extreme aggression toward the Bosnian Muslim population in Vareš and showed a strong desire to destroy everything that was not Croat) to attack Stupni Do and Bogoš Hill and to arrest and detain military-aged Muslim men in Vareš town.[7]
Stupni Do is a village located in the
War crimes
In Stupni Do, HVO commanders and soldiers forced Bosnian Muslim civilians out of their homes and hiding places, robbed them of their valuables, wilfully killed men, women and
In terms of the Bosnian Muslims who died in the attack, at least the following were murdered: Three men and one woman were executed by being shot or having their throats cut; One woman was taken into a house by an HVO soldier where she was executed; Two elderly women, one of whom was an invalid, were found burned inside a house; One man was shot several times at close range after he refused to give an HVO soldier his money; When a group of Bosnian Muslims (one man, nine women and three children) attempted to flee, the man was shot and killed (his half-burned body was later found at the same location where he was shot), and two of the women and all three children were murdered in front of their house; Three of the young women who escaped the initial encounter with the HVO soldiers were then found hiding in a small cellar and murdered; Seven members of the same family (two men, three women and two children aged 2 and 3 years old) were found burned inside their shelter; One man, who had been severely wounded in both legs, was carried into a house which was later set on fire by HVO soldiers; (The man's burned body, together with another burned body, was later found inside the house.) One woman was taken into a room and shot, and the house then set on fire.[11]
Two international witnesses gave evidence of what they found in the village in the aftermath of the attack. The first, Rolf Weckesser, was an ECMM monitor who tried to get to the village on the morning after the attack but found the HVO blocking the road and refusing entry: the soldiers appeared to be drunk and were yelling and said: "We did not like this job, but we had to do it, and we do not like our leaders." On 27 October 1993 the witness finally succeeded in getting access to Stupni Do with the assistance of the local battalion of UNPROFOR (Nordbat). He found a scene of complete destruction with the houses still smouldering and about 20 bodies burnt beyond recognition, some of them the bodies of children. There were no indications of fighting.[12]
In Vareš town, HVO including members of the Apostoli and
Cover-up operation
On 23 October 1993, Ivica Rajić reported to Dario Kordić, Milivoj Petković, Tihomir Blaškić and Mario Bradara (commander of the Ban Josip Jelačić Brigade): "I made an assessment and in the morning hours I carried out an attack on Stupni Do and Bogoš [...] The town of Vareš has been mopped up and all Muslims of military age placed under surveillance. [...] As of today, Vareš is Croatian and we shall fight to keep it that way - you must help me."[1]
Between the evening of 23 October 1993 and 26 October 1993, Ivica Rajić refused several requests by the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) to enter Stupni Do and the two local schools in Vareš town in order to investigate what had happened at these locations.
Aftermath
Ivica Rajić left Vareš town on 26 October 1993, leaving Boro Malbašić and Krešimir Božić in command.
On 1 November 2010, Miroslav Anić, a former member of the 'Maturice' Special Purposes Squad with the Croatian Defence Council that's suspected of having committed war crimes in Vareš, Kiseljak, and specifically the Stupni Do massacre, surrendered to authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.[18][19]
References
- ^ a b c d ICTY 8 May 2006, pp. 9–10.
- ^ ICTY 3 March 2000, p. 209.
- ^ ICTY 3 March 2000, pp. 211–212.
- ^ a b ICTY 8 May 2006, p. 7.
- ^ a b ICTY 26 February 2001, p. 254.
- ^ ICTY 8 May 2006, pp. 7–8.
- ^ a b ICTY 8 May 2006, p. 8.
- ^ ICTY 26 February 2001, p. 255.
- ^ ICTY 26 February 2001, p. 257.
- ^ ICTY 8 May 2006, p. 6.
- ^ ICTY 8 May 2006, p. 10.
- ^ ICTY 26 February 2001, pp. 255–256.
- ^ ICTY 8 May 2006, pp. 10–11.
- ^ a b ICTY 8 May 2006, p. 11.
- ^ a b c ICTY 8 May 2006, p. 12.
- ^ ICTY 8 May 2006, p. 13.
- ^ ""Stupni Do" (IT-95-12): Ivica Rajić Case Information Sheet:" (PDF). ICTY.org. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
- ^ Arslanagic, Sabina (2 November 2010). "Bosnia Press Review - 2 November 2010". Balkan Insight.
- ^ "A Former "Maturice" Member Surrenders". Balkan Investigative Reporting Network. 1 November 2010.
Sources
- "Prosecutor v. Ivica Rajić a.k.a. Viktor Andrić, Case no. IT-95-12-S, Sentencing Judgement" (PDF). ICTY.org. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. 8 May 2006.
- "Prosecutor v. Tihomir Blaškić, Case no. IT-95-14-T, Judgement" (PDF). ICTY.org. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. 3 March 2000.
- "Prosecutor v. Dario Kordić & Mario Čerkez, Case no. IT-95-14/2-T, Judgement" (PDF). ICTY.org. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. 26 February 2001.
External links
- Burns, John F. (28 October 1993). "U.N.'s Grim Documentation At a Massacre Site in Bosnia". New York Times.
- Ivica Rajić Guilty Plea Statement
- A story about the Stupni Do massacre and following events written by a UN soldier